Prisoners of Gravity: Tolkien (Part 3/3)

Originally broadcaster November 24th, 1993.

This part includes clips with Sean Stewart, Carole Nelson Douglas, Suzy McKee Charnas and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Prisoners
• of
• Gravity
• TVO
• TVOntario

[amaxamon]

this was such a great show - before the 'net transformed fandom into the weird beast it is now. ah, the good ol' days...

[Teddog3000]

I dunno. There's some parts of fandom that I enjoy and which only exist because of the net.

On the other hand, the current trend of self-righteous, simpleminded vapid fanatics annoys the crap out of me. These would be the type of people who write long, gushing blog posts about the summer's Transformer and G.I. Joe movies. You probably know the type.

(Sadly, most of these fans are my age. I hate my generation)

[anvilofcrom]

A few ugly butch dykes at the end of this clip think Tolkien is sexist....avoid!

[jrcadet4]

S0 glad you've preserved PoG and uploaded it here. I and others worked VERY hard to persuade PBS to license the show for US broadcast; they only ever picked up four episodes, then tried to produce an inferior copy called FUTURE QUEST. Ah, well...

[amaxamon]

@Teddog3000 Yes & yes.

[ttobinupinit]

Basically, what I'm saying is that to hold Tolkien up to the modern day standards of sex and class is to be a self-absorbed fool who only looks for themselves in whatever they read, and a waste of time. There is no need to look down your nose at the one thing that inspired you to write the most... after all, if it wasn't your thing, move on to something else. An while Gloria Steinham is a great writer, she could never write something like LOTR... she lacks the imagination for it. No sexism there

[ttobinupinit]

case, a male military and combat veteran) than read a person who attributes their own personal writing style to a voice that is inauthentic (where nearly every male character in an Anne Rice novel is either Gay or Bi-Sexual) and doesn't ring true. Not to say that I don't read or enjoy Rice's work, but it's a consistent thing that lots of guys have complained to me about in the past. But guys just read it more for the fun and relaxation than some hidden inner meaning that isn't there.

[ttobinupinit]

chores while the men drink all night long, but to be honest, men still outnumber women in the military because men pick up on and seem to take great personal value from tales of heroism and epic adventures than women do. That is changing (slowly, but still changing) for the better, but it isn't sexist to speak of what is and what was. When one reads too much into something, they often miss the point. I'd rather read a writers work that speaks in a voice they're good at (in this case,

[ttobinupinit]

of a mostly dead genre of writing, than to whine that there was sexism or classism or blah blah blah... it was meant to be a book about an ancient culture that was based on real ancient cultures, and not a world that didn't exist yet... leave that stuff to sci-fi, that's what they're good at. Tolkien knew enough about history to speak quite knowingly on how old societies did work, and women in the kitchen? That shit still goes on today! I don't agree with women doing all the background

[ttobinupinit]

I see only women that are picking nits instead of enjoying the story. If you want to complain about anything in the LOTR series, it's much more obvious that Tolkien's writing style is very, very long-winded and boring for the most part. How many people skipped over two pages of text when he went on a long. unnecessary ramble regarding a rock that had seen six ages of strife? I did, and I love fantasy. But, it's more important to give credit for a book that lead to a slow rebirth

[SvenTviking]

As for sexism. Galadriel is one of the most powerful and wisest beings in middle Earth. She did no washing up. She did not wear a ring of power for nothing

Eowyn killed the Witch King of Angmar. No other being could do that, man,Dwarf or elf.

Again, no dishcloth.

[SvenTviking]

The influence of the two World wars in Tolkien is there if you look. The western front is before the gates of Mordor in the desolation, and in the mere of dead faces. Frodo suffers from, basically, post traumatic stress disorder or shell shock. Thats why he is allowed to go to the west.