68. Passive Reference.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Oriana’s choice of topic: “What feels like Tolkien?” One way that any number of works of art, whether books, most obviously in a fantasy genre, games, visual art or of course dramatic adaptations of his work has been described, marketed as and more is that something ‘feels’ like Tolkien, a sense of a particular atmosphere or vibe that acts as its own qualifier. But then again, what exactly does that mean, and in what contexts can that be seen to mean something more specific than just a vague sense of appreciation. There’s no one answer to be had in the end, but there are various ways to explore the topic and consider possible framings. What does Tolkien’s Catholicism mean in terms of how his work might be described and considered, and how might his work differ from the assumptions and projections placed onto it as a result? How does Tolkien’s gift for describing the natural world shape assumptions about what kind of writer he is seen to be or taken as, and what are the possible parallels to be made in the work of others? What are the ways in which movie and TV adaptations of Tolkien’s work inevitably change how it is presented and shaped via the written word, and are there better equivalents to be found? And can Terrence Malick just squeeze in the time and do that Silmarillion adaptation Oriana dreams about, assuming she can write the screenplay?

Show Notes.

Jared’s doodle. Perhaps the trick for feeling like Tolkien is pipe-smoking.

That Ansel Adams knockoff shot Ned mentioned. It DID work rather well.

Various reports on The War of the Rohirrim footage at NYCC are out there – here’s io9’s.

Philippa Boyens clarifying the whole Hunt For Gollum/two films thing via Empire.

The stupid ‘Grand-Elf’ thing from The Rings of Power. Dear heavens.

The War of the Rohirrim 'tapestry’ – if you insist.

Much thanks to everyone for all the responses to our Bluesky question for this episode!

If you’ve not seen a Terrence Malick film, do yourself a favor. Have a taste. 

Our Sword of Shannara episode. Woo boy.

Ralph C. Wood is a professor of theology at Baylor, so, that noted, but his reflections on Tolkien and melancholy feel appropriate given Tolkien’s beliefs and experiences.

Evelyn Waugh! Graham Greene! Of an earlier generation, G.K. Chesterton! (There are plenty of other Catholic writers of Tolkien’s time of course.)

William Morris! James Branch Cabell! Lord Dunsany! E. R. Eddison! Robert E. Howard! (And again, plenty of other fantasy writers of an earlier time out there.) Then there’s Frank E. Peretti, who has a more, shall we say, specific approach.

The Lev Grossman ‘hey kids did you know?’ book review mentioned. Ease back, guy.

Wells For Boys! (More about that. Also you should absolutely be checking out all the work of Julio Torres at this point.)

We learned about this after recording, but Angela Collier’s video from last year about finally ‘reading’ Lord of the Rings via Andy Serkis’s audiobook is a good watch.

Our episode on the Rankin-Bass Return of the King. That was a thing.

Our episode on the Scouring of the Shire.

Marlon James’s 2019 Tolkien lecture.

Our episode on resisting Tolkien.

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