I'm a terrible geek...

[bubba-mudd]

...I've never read The Lord of the Rings books nor watched the movies.

[jtv]

I had this discussion with a friend just recently. It's my opinion that if you see the LotR movies, you don't need to read the books. I know this is usually blasphemy, but the movies are so close to the story and spirit of the books that in this one case I think it's true.

Sidenote, this discussion came up (somehow) as part of another interesting discussion we were having. She's taking some videogame themed class, and she was writing a paper on "The most influential female character in videogames". She was having trouble deciding between Glados and Cortana, to which I responded "Neither of them are actually female, they just happen to have female voices. Maybe this is a trick question by your professor". (I realize there was some revelation about Glados' origin in Portal 2, but just ignore that for sake of this convo). This sparked a long 15 minute debate that surprising a few of my coworkers (non-geeks) joined in on, about the nature of non-sexual beings in fiction. For example, we think of both C-3PO and R2 as males. C-3PO is more understandable, because he looks like a male. Even though technically he's not. But why do we think of R2 as male? Do his beeps sounds male?

Sorry to sidetrack your thread, but I thought it was an interesting point for discussion.

[bubba-mudd]

Originally Posted by jtv

I had this discussion with a friend just recently. It's my opinion that if you see the LotR movies, you don't need to read the books. I know this is usually blasphemy, but the movies are so close to the story and spirit of the books that in this one case I think it's true.

Sidenote, this discussion came up (somehow) as part of another interesting discussion we were having. She's taking some videogame themed class, and she was writing a paper on "The most influential female character in videogames". She was having trouble deciding between Glados and Cortana, to which I responded "Neither of them are actually female, they just happen to have female voices. Maybe this is a trick question by your professor". (I realize there was some revelation about Glados' origin in Portal 2, but just ignore that for sake of this convo). This sparked a long 15 minute debate that surprising a few of my coworkers (non-geeks) joined in on, about the nature of non-sexual beings in fiction. For example, we think of both C-3PO and R2 as males. C-3PO is more understandable, because he looks like a male. Even though technically he's not. But why do we think of R2 as male? Do his beeps sounds male?

Sorry to sidetrack your thread, but I thought it was an interesting point for discussion.

I want to take that class! LOL

I'm sure its how the world views gender roles that influences our perceptions of R2 and similar things. As James Brown sang, "It's a man's world." We've been inundated with examples of how men & women are expected to act and their respective roles: housewife, bread winner, the "man of the house," etc. It's the same as my original post. When you say "geek" or "jock" certain connotations are associated with those terms. I find it interesting what makes a person a geek or jock or whatever. I've certainly had a foot in both worlds most of my life.

Certainly a dissertation could (and probably has been) be written on how gender roles in video games mirror those in society. I believe art imitating life is not some trite saying. It is the truth.

[rokov]

I haven't read the books either, but I just found the audiobooks on Youtube (Audible doesn't have them) so I'll be rectifying that soon.

[axtimus_prime]

You miss some awesome bits from the books still. Namely http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bombadil

[damnedeyez]

Originally Posted by axtimus_prime

You miss some awesome bits from the books still. Namely http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bombadil

I still think there should've been a 30second pan looking out over a forest where you heard some faint singing...at least in the extended editions.

Personally, I never really though of R2 as any gender. Maybe briefly male after seeing the actor inside in a picture back in the 80s, but otherwise no. Of course, any discussion on that might lead to linguistics and how any number of languages assign a gender value to many things/words.

[tsmith15]

I don't think art (video games) imitate real life well because women in real life who dress with little clothing are usually skanks, but in video games they kill people.

[darth-ed]

The Tolkien books were what got me into reading. My third grade teacher read The Hobbit to us after recess, and I loved it. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were some of the first not-written-for-kids novels I read in 4th/5th grade. The first novel I ever read was actually the novelization of Star Wars (you probably could have guessed that), but The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings came very shortly after that. They're also the only books I've re-read multiple times.

The movies are great, but the books are richer and deeper and well worth reading in my opinion. I love The Silmarillion, too.

[axtimus_prime]

I've tried so many times to read The Silmarillion... Just can't do it. It's like picking up a bible to read.

[gm_wil]

Originally Posted by bubba-mudd

...I've never read The Lord of the Rings books

Same here . . . loved the movies though.

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