"Tolkien and Diversity" "A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities LotR"

[horsesoldier]

Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien's Worlds

How about no, Sultana?

Also, that photo of a previous conference looks a little threatening. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE WHITE PEOPLE. WE'RE SO SORRY.

[Ghostmaker]

Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien's Worlds

How about no, Sultana?

Also, that photo of a previous conference looks a little threatening. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE WHITE PEOPLE. WE'RE SO SORRY.

"People". Heh.

Also, yeah, let's project Indian mythology into a book that was specifically written drawing on old Anglo-Saxon myths. 'Yeah that makes sense.'

[KingCheops]

Is that one asshole seriously trying to assign a gender to an elemental/angel being?

[Ghostmaker]

Wanna see something funny? Go to https://archive.is/ecZNo and check out the time schedule. Notice how long each 'seminar' is. 30 minutes. It's like even they know they can't make bricks without clay.

I mean, look at these.

Cordeliah Logsdon – Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings

Here, let me speed this up: 'There aren't any. LOTR predates the current trans-trender fad.'

Clare Moore – The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien

This might not be half bad on its own, but considering the context, I expect it will be stupid whining about how the other hobbits don't validate Frodo and his missing finger.

V. Elizabeth King – "The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire": Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien's Middle-earth

Wasn't the line in question an analogy for why Gandalf didn't trust Saruman after he'd escaped Orthanc?

Christopher Vaccaro – Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Saruman wasn't queer. Sit down.

Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien's Worlds

Projection is a bad thing. Nobody's stopping you from developing a fantasy world based on Hindu mythology -- except for maybe yourself. That might be the issue here...

Nicholas Birns – The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism

Huh? I actually had to look up the Lossoth -- they're LOTR's version of the Inuit, and had aided Arvedui (the last king of Arnor) after Angmar pushed their shit in. Arvedui gave them the Ring of Barahir and told them to ransom it to his kin, if he was lost (which, sadly, he was). I grant there's a story to be told there, but what does racism have to do with it?

Kristine Larsen – The Problematic Perimeters of Elrond Half-elven and Ronald English-Catholic

Can I have more drugs? 'Cause I can't see how this even makes sense.

Cami Agan – Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth

This one could be interesting, but my guess is that it will suck like the rest. The reference is to conversations between a human woman, Andreth, and the king of Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund. The conversations centered on the differences between humans and elves, a particularly intense topic since Andreth had been deeply in love with Finrod's brother, Aegnor.

Sara Brown – The Invisible Other: Tolkien's Dwarf-Women and the 'Feminine Lack'

Already explained in the LOTR appendices, Sara, assuming you know how to read. Dwarf women are few and look very similar to the men, which gives rise to the old myth in-universe of dwarves spawning from the earth.

Sonali Chunodkar – Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic's Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm

I hope this is allegorical; desire for the One Ring is not a good thing.

Robin Reid – Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My!

Nobody cares. Fuck off with you.

Joel Merriner – Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings

Uh... I guess this could be kinda interesting, considering how much of LOTR was samizdat during the Soviet years.

Eric Reinders – Questions of Caste in The Lord of the Rings and its Multiple Chinese Translations

Someone's trying to justify their student loans, I guess.

Dawn Walls-Thumma – Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community

Once again, we see how 'representation' is somehow more important than quality. I hate these people so much.

Danna Petersen-Deeprose – "Something Mighty Queer": Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien

Someone needs to destabilize this person's income stream.

Martha Celis-Mendoza – Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien's scholarship and fandom

Another cry for 'muh duhversity'. They spawn like mushrooms in the dark, buried in shit.

These idiots are setting academia back and they don't even know it.

[hedgehobbit]

Just Some Guy does a great breakdown of this seminar. He's more knowledgeable on Tolkien than I am.

[Spinachcat]

Accelerate.

[Trond]

Just Some Guy does a great breakdown of this seminar. He's more knowledgeable on Tolkien than I am.

This guy sounded vaguely familiar, so I watched a few of his videos.  I had no idea what a big Tolkien fan he is. He pretty much got it pegged.

[Rob Necronomicon]

I was pretty horrified after seeing all this sludge... I really hope that this has no real effect on future Tolkien's material that is made in the future.

Not including the new Amazon thing, as that is already going to be woke as fuck.

[Ratman_tf]

I was pretty horrified after seeing all this sludge... I really hope that this has no real effect on future Tolkien's material that is made in the future.

Not including the new Amazon thing, as that is already going to be woke as fuck.

With Christopher Tolkien gone, there's no one to stop them.

[Rob Necronomicon]

I was pretty horrified after seeing all this sludge... I really hope that this has no real effect on future Tolkien's material that is made in the future.

Not including the new Amazon thing, as that is already going to be woke as fuck.

With Christopher Tolkien gone, there's no one to stop them.

True... God help us all.

[BoxCrayonTales]

Is that one asshole seriously trying to assign a gender to an elemental/angel being?

Tolkien did it first. All the valar and maiar are assigned genders and sometimes spouses despite being naturally purely spiritual in nature. If they don't reproduce sexually, then this makes no sense. But that's part and parcel of ancient myth anyway.

Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien's Worlds

How about no, Sultana?

Also, that photo of a previous conference looks a little threatening. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE WHITE PEOPLE. WE'RE SO SORRY.

"People". Heh.

Also, yeah, let's project Indian mythology into a book that was specifically written drawing on old Anglo-Saxon myths. 'Yeah that makes sense.'

Well, Indian myth is descended from Proto-Indo-European just like Norse and Teutonic. There are bound to be similarities owing to shared heritage.

And technically, Indians are Caucasoid.

[Godfather Punk]

V. Elizabeth King – "The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire": Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien's Middle-earth

Wasn't the line in question an analogy for why Gandalf didn't trust Saruman after he'd escaped Orthanc?

Gandalf about Pippin messing with the Palantir.

Which has fuckall to do with the resettlement of the the various elves across the map, the dwarves fleeing Moria, the Rohirrim, the halflings from the Anduin valley... Maybe the 'Traumatic Stress' is about Pippin feeling bad because he got caught. Who knows.

[KingCheops]

Is that one asshole seriously trying to assign a gender to an elemental/angel being?

Tolkien did it first. All the valar and maiar are assigned genders and sometimes spouses despite being naturally purely spiritual in nature. If they don't reproduce sexually, then this makes no sense. But that's part and parcel of ancient myth anyway.

I was specifically referring to the Istar since its about Saruman but yeah sure the Valar and Maiar were gendered.  The Istar all looked like men but there's zero mention of any sexuality about them whatsoever.

[Ghostmaker]

V. Elizabeth King – "The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire": Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien's Middle-earth

Wasn't the line in question an analogy for why Gandalf didn't trust Saruman after he'd escaped Orthanc?

Gandalf about Pippin messing with the Palantir.

Which has fuckall to do with the resettlement of the the various elves across the map, the dwarves fleeing Moria, the Rohirrim, the halflings from the Anduin valley... Maybe the 'Traumatic Stress' is about Pippin feeling bad because he got caught. Who knows.

That was it. Thanks.

Ironically, Pippin's misadventure with the palantir gave Gandalf and Aragorn some much needed intel (Saruman's contact with Sauron) as well as warning them away from trying to use it. Gandalf admitted he yearned to use it to look back upon better, brighter places and times. Aragorn would later face off with Sauron through the palantir, though by his own admission, 'my will was enough -- barely'. A feint, to draw Sauron's eye towards him and away from his borders where Frodo and Sam were trying to infiltrate.

All this postmodernist crap disgusts me. It's pissing into a perfectly good bottle of beer and declaring it's 'improved' somehow.

[Pat]

Is that one asshole seriously trying to assign a gender to an elemental/angel being?

Tolkien did it first. All the valar and maiar are assigned genders and sometimes spouses despite being naturally purely spiritual in nature. If they don't reproduce sexually, then this makes no sense. But that's part and parcel of ancient myth anyway.

I was specifically referring to the Istar since its about Saruman but yeah sure the Valar and Maiar were gendered.  The Istar all looked like men but there's zero mention of any sexuality about them whatsoever.

The Istari are Maiar, and the only time sexuality comes into play in Tolkien's works is when there's some grand romance, and the wizards had a job to do. They weren't wandering around forests, singing to birds, and falling in love with elfkings. (Or maybe Radagast did, but we see so little of him we never know.)