I’d laugh harder but this is uncomfortably accurate.

THE SANDMAN (2022-)

.....I refuse to apologize for the absolute hellscape this blog is going to become once this show drops

I will literally sell my soul just to keep that series going. 

You could say he’s rather Dream-y…

I will see myself out.

watching the rings of power trailer

A message to the writers of the fandom from Javi 💜

a friendly reminder 🔫🙂

(ID is added in alt text)

Jeff Bezos claiming to be a “fan” of Lord of the Rings and this show being his “passion project” is such a perfect example of how you can be a fan of something and still not understand it at all. 

Learning this drove me mad. I have so many thoughts about this. Sorry for the incoming rant :’D

So one of Tolkien’s biggest influences was The Arts and Crafts Movement. He has said he took very intentionally inspiration from William Morris, one of the most influential figures inside the movement. The Arts and Crafts Movement started in the mid-19th century and it was an artistic movement born in England as opposition towards the industrial revolution. They basically birthed modernism in arts and no one ever talks about them. The movement was built on top of industrial reformist and anti-capitalist thinkers of late 18th and early 19th century. I’m saying they were socialists.

They believed industrialization and capitalism led to financial, moral, spiritual and creative decline of society. This can be seen very easily in how Mordor, Saruman and the orcs industrialize destroying nature, creating artistically uninspired war machines and being just evil. It’s depicted as efficient but it’s all for more efficient suffering.

The Arts and Crafts Movement sought to elevate traditional craftsmanship and applied arts in general on the same level with fine arts. They believed people’s life could be improved with beauty in day to day life and in home. Beauty was achieved with devout craftsmanship by a content craftsman in a good working environment. This was the most important standard of art. They also believed division of labour would prevent the craftsman of truly enjoying his work. These ideas are woven into every fiber of Tolkien’s writing. It’s very apparent with the hobbits, who appreciate their home and the little everyday joys the most in life. It’s in the care which Tolkien writes about elf and dwarf craftsmanship. A lot of importance in the worldbuilding is put on crafts, which culture and life is build around. The whole story is build around them. In Silmarillion the Silmarils are more than just MacGuffins, they are an example of craftmanship of highest order. Same with the Rings of Power, their creation is almost as big of a story as the quest to destroy them. In his world craftsmen have higher appreciation than warriors. Fëanor was the high king of Ñoldor and the most famous smith ever. Celebrimbor was also a prince and the second famous smith ever.

Another big thing in common with Tolkien and The Arts and Crafts was both of their interest in the Medieval. The Arts and Crafts Movement didn’t advocate for feudal system ofc, they were socialists, but while they wanted to revive medieval crafts, they didn’t want to just recreate Gothic style (Neo-Gothic style was the dominant style in applied arts when Arts and Crafts Movement was born) they wanted to use the methods honed for centuries and create new things that would fit for the new age and modern life. Function was just as important as beauty for them. I think this is also displayed in Tolkien’s attitude towards creation. He translated medieval texts like Beowulf, but he wasn’t just content in repeating old things, with mythology traditions in mind he created his own world and own stories.

They were both also more or less anarchists. Tolkien wrote to his son, that his politics are closest to anarchism. The Arts and Crafts Movement’s brand of socialism was anarchist. They advocated for communal living and communal non-hierarchical artist guilds (with various success in achieving that). The whole movement was self-organizing and with no authority figures. Even William Morries who is often seen as the one, who really kick-started the movement in practice, wasn’t in important roles in any of the biggest organizations inside the movement. Tolkien’s anarchism isn’t very overt in his writing, the world is very monarchist (his second favorite option for societal structure was bizarrely parliamentary monarchism) and vaguely feudalist, but I think it can be seen in the themes of co-operation and comradery. There is a distinct “let’s band together to oppose the expanding imperialist” energy in his stories.

So what about Jeff Bezos? Do we think he relates to these themes? Agrees with them? Is it the reason why he allegedly loves these books? Or would Tolkien despise everything about him and what he represents? Who can tell.

But in my humble opinion, his dream of a fully automated online everything-shop would horrify Tolkien. I’m guessing Tolkien would be pretty pissed about Amazon’s working conditions and the very high level of mechanization that has taken the division of labour inside Amazon warehouses to a logical extreme. Tolkien also probably wouldn’t appreciate the very hierarchical and dictatorial regime inside the company or the fact that it’s monopolizing the whole fucking world. Since environmentalism was so important to Tolkien, I think he maybe would appreciate the least Amazon’s terrible part in the destruction of our ecosystem.

tl;dr: If Jeff Bezos was in Middle Earth, he would be a manager in Mordor.

How do you absolutely hate everything you’ve seen from the LotR series especially today but also make it clear to the racists that you are absolutely not with them

Like fuck I want to support this purely bc they’re bitching that the diverse casting is ruining it, but so far the diversity is the only thing here that ISN’T a mistake

Also get these super gendered outfits and workplace acceptable short male hair the fuck away from my androgynous elves