People often talk about how recent "adaptations" of JRR Tolkien's works and his world, seem to be attempting to divert or subvert his message into something qualitatively different; with devices such as Mary-Sue Girl-Bosses, nasty "hobbits", and sympathetic orcs.
But probably a more potent subversion is less recognized: which is the use of Tolkien's names to label "tech companies" - corporations whose mission and activities are inversions of JRR Tolkien's personal values (and this applies whether it is good or evil names that are being deployed).
In so far as such corporations achieve high visibility, this must have an effect of weakening and tainting, if not actually usurping, the nomenclature, when it is encountered in Tolkien's works.
Is this just deranged fanboys cashing-in? Is the inevitable harm to JRRT an accident? Or maybe the corruption is intentional; because Tolkien is a threat to the corporate totalitarians?
Well, make up your own mind.
7 comments:
Well I remember being in my university's data center in the early 80s and seeing some sort of peripheral device labelled "gandalf" and thinking how cute -- and then immediately thinking through "can they do that? [i.e. appropriate a character's name]" Evidently, yes they can.
I own several computers and I always try to come up with colorful host (i.e. machine) names. Maybe I should start using names from the Bible? Woke political heroes' names? People I have known in life whom I didn't particularly ever really like? Hmmm...
@P. Only a few Tolkien words are trademarked, it seemed - one of them is Hobbit.
Strictly, Tolkien got the name Gandalf from the Icelandic Poetic Edda, so probably that word couldn't be restricted - however, of course, in practice - nobody would ever have heard of a name extracted from a list of dwarves if it hadn't been for JRRT.
I'm not saying that this species of corruption could realistically be prevented, just that it is a fact - and something likely to increase, I would guess.
"Is this just deranged fanboys cashing-in? Is the inevitable harm to JRRT an
accident? Or maybe the corruption is intentional; because Tolkien is a threat to
the corporate totalitarians?"
I think it is mostly cashing-in, but not necessarily by fanboys. The marketers
have no doubt taken advantage of the name recognition. I wish they could have
been stopped, but it's probably too late for that now.
I also think the harm is real but not necessarily intended. I think it's more
a matter of disregard for whatever harm they're doing to JRRT's legacy.
They're simply doing whatever they can get away with.
The movies and that abominable television series on the other hand... That I
think is deliberate and malicious, like all works of the Enemy. I am deeply
saddened, even wounded, by the fact that so many people now think that those
travesties faithfully represent Tolkien's vision or his deeply held moral
beliefs.
Gee, I wonder if Sherry Gottlieb was ever charged a royalty for the name of her Southern California bookstore, A Change of Hobbit. And she listed herself as "Sherry Gottlieb, Hobbitch."
Sorry about the formatting of my previous comment, which I composed offline before copy/pasting it in. I wasn't really going for a free-verse look!
cae has left a commen:
Well, in the case of "Palantir", my thinking has been that it might be a rather nefarious 'tribute' to Tolkien. I mean, it's a huge (kinda scary) technology company specializing in large data analytic software platforms, AI tech for weapons & intelligence gathering, etc...
So, it seems plausible to me that "Palantir" was chosen as being both somewhat descriptive and also (perhaps primarily)as being a benevolent 'sounding' - due to Tolkien affiliation - name for a company involved in some (quite likely) malevolent enterprises...
...A sort of whitewashing by 'reference to beloved fiction' type thing.
Carol
Tolkien himself would indeed regard the co-option of his names as much worse than poor adaptations. As it is, the infamous Rings of Power TV show is pretty much forgotten except when it airs.
It's certainly different than the obscurity Tolkien imagined in his allegorical story. But, fortunately, just like in that story, whatever Tolkien is doing now, he is forever free from these psychopathic freaks and all their "inevitable" rubbish.
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