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Caesar

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Posts posted by Caesar

    Silmarillion Movie. . .

    in The Silmarillion/Unfinished Tales

    Posted · Edited by Caesar

    The fact is that it is not possible to make a single movie on the Sil. Whereas LoTR is a single story with the same main characters throughout, the Sil is a collection of Tolkien stories that span several centuries. What is possible is to take a single story from the Sil, or a group of related stories, and (using both the Sil and the HoME books) make a movie about that.

    My main problems with the LoTR movies are that they have created a mountain of generic Middle Earth games and products based on a single man's perspective of Tolkien's legendarium. Besides that, the movies are innaccurate in many places (sorry, I'm a purist :)) and this in turn has spawned innaccuracy in the games and merchandise based on the movies (I ruined the first LoTR movie for my friends when we went to see it with my constant remarks on inaccuracy- I had to go see the second and third movies alone. I could get into the (at least in my opinion) disgraceful representation of Middle Earth in the game BfME. But dont get me wrong on this, I think the LoTR movies were great, especialy with the amazing visual effects, and the cast were all perfect for their parts (y).

  7. Hello, I cant edit my sig

    in Help & Feedback

    Posted

    Its not so much that I want to edit my sig (I just want to make a minor change), but that I want to know why I cant edit my sig. I know that there have been updates to the forums recently so I want to know if that might be the reason I cant edit my sig or go into the My Assistant feature.

    What inspires Genocide?

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted · Edited by Caesar89

    We can extend this to a more general problem, that within one society, we might seek unanimity, concorde, agreement. Yet, when different people coexist, there is not such agreement. And then, perhaps, to some, it is so difficult that it might be easier to kill peoples...

    Hmm, an interesting, and very plausible theory. In this search for unanimity, do we not also crave a strict totalitarian regime to unify and force a single opinion on society (just one of my thoughts)?

    In Canada, the government has done this to all aboriginal people still extent 50 years ago... They did not kill people, actually, but they destroyed all social links between the young and the eldery, leading to a democide

    Ah yes, the residential schools. While they were harsh and abusive, I think we are missing the fact that the schools also taught the aboriginals how to live in the modern world, before then they basicaly lived like they had lived for 300 years.

    Religion Survey

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    I guess the only exception would be violence in the name of religion, which I believe is unjustified even if, say, your holy book calls for the killing of infidels.

    Well, if you think of what the situation in the middle east was like at the time when Mohammed began having his "visions" (I'm not muslim, so I havent decided for myself whether they were real or not) then you can sort-of see why the muslims have that attitude- almost every tribe or faction in arabia had their own belief system and their own deities, so in order to unite them under one God, military force is almost completely necessary.

    What inspires Genocide?

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted · Edited by Caesar89

    That's not quite true. Hitler was not the primary source of anti-semitism

    I am not trying to say that Hitler started anti-semitism, but that he is responsible for the dramatic rise in anti-semetism in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Before Hitler, Germany did not stand out as an anti-semitic country compared to other European countries at that time.

    Anti-semitism is firmly grounded in the largest religions in the world -- Islam, Catholicism, Christianity -- and thus is grounded in the fabric of social consciousness.

    To some extent I would have to disagree with this. Islam did not originaly have any teachings against Judaism itself (although they did have teachings against other religions in general), in fact Judaism (besides Christianity) was the only other religion allowed in the early Islamic countries. The real problems between Jews and muslims didnt really start until the Jews siezed Israel from the Palestinians in 1946 and the wars between Israel and many Islamic-centered countries that followed that take-over.

    As for anti-semitism being grounded in Christianity- while there are no actual teachings against Judaism (or any religion), anti-semitism has existed in Christianity for much of it's history.

    A Christianized Arda?

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    Professor Tolkien, like most great writers in the fantasy genre, drew on the mythologies (for lack of a better word) of various cultures for the themes in his legendarium. The first couple chapters of the Sil are reminiscent of the Christian stories of Satan and the creation (or at least John Milton's version of it in Paradise Lost), but the similar stories are found in other cultures and religions. We also find throughout his works parallels to Norse mytholgy (such as Beowulf), and even classical Greek mythology. I think the greatest inspirations for the themes found in Tolkien's works would be the Celtic and Norse traditions, as Tolkien was a professor of Celtic studies (including the Anglo-Saxon language).

    Religion Survey

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted · Edited by Caesar89

    Please take a minute to answer the survey and post any comments you might have regarding religion or theology. If you selected Christianity in the first poll please select your specific denomination in the second poll.

    Here is one of my favorite quotes regarding religion:

    I came to the conclusion long ago … that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu … But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian. - Mahatma Gandhi

    What inspires Genocide?

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    Morgan is correct - genocide is less often the work of a single madman (Hitler) and more often the work of a society (the Tutsis vs. Hutus).

    Prior to 1933 Germany was not known for anti-semitism when compared with many other European countries at that time. When the German press mentioned Jews it was often in neutral or positive tones. Of course the Holocaust was due to the German people (they elected Hitler; they fought for Hitler; they ran the concentration camps for Hitler), but they were provoked into anti-semitic beliefs by Hitler.

    There was a logic to it. Aodolf Hitler took a population that seemed to do well moneywise, even in the depression, and used them as a scapegoat for Germany's problems. He used the Jews as a way of uniting the German people via a common enemy; not an enemy in another country or in another part of the world, but an enemy that lived, and worked alongside everyone else, an enemy that everyone knew and thus an enemy that everyone would hate.

    This also brings in another possibility to Hitler's anti-semitism- politics. It could very well be that he was only anti-semitic as a way drumming-up support.

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