Episode Details

"Tolkien is turning in his grave", Elon Musk tweeted on September 5, 2022 having watched (i.e. not watched) the first episode of Amazon's new series The Rings of Power. Whether it's a new Galadriel-centered TV-show, the Peter Jackson trilogies or just people writing fantasy a little differently: right wingers are very happy to claim J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) as their own, their own reactionary impulses as fealty to his legacy, and his magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings (1954) as a source of right wing shibboleths. As guest Michael Lutz (part of the Ranged Touch network of podcasts) explains, that view manages to be both not entirely inaccurate and somehow completely misguided. Moira and Adrian ask Michael: What role does Tolkien's Middle Earth play in nurturing reactionary impulses within sci-fi/fantasy fandom? (If you'd like to hear more of Michael's analysis of The Lord of the Rings, head over to Shelved by Genre, where Michael, Cameron Kunzelman, and Austin Walker read their way through all of Tolkien!)