facher83 said:
I did not call Tolkien anything other than a good author, of which many can be. Your original post was to discredit writing techniques and the idea that being made a movie does not mean greatness - no, it does not, but consider the Bible and Tolkien in the same phraseof print production and you have to question why bringing movies in to it at all is grounds for making a point. Making movies has nothing to do with making books. Take Star Wars, for instance... dozensupon dozens or more authors take on the SW cosmosand write stories that are certainly in greater depth and detail than George Lucas ever could have... it doesn't take away from the story at hand. I could rant on Pong, about it being too simple and that better refinements are worth playing, but it's silly. Sure, it's true, but it's as if I would only want to stand on a pillar and preach how much more knowledgable I am than the other 500 million people who have heard of Pong but who have not heard of the Infinity Engine games. As with most art forms, credit where deserved usually is given AFTER the person's death. Sorry to say it, but maybe your opinions of your authors will become realized in 80 years, just as that of Beethoven and Mozart, but there will always be people who discredit pioneers just for the sake of doing so. |
That's just silly. He wasn't doing any slander of Tolkieen, simply stated he's overrated, and compared to others who followed him, not as good of a fantasy author. I've been reading fantasy with pretty devotedly for most of my life; the point he makes is completely right. Until you broaden your horizons, there's no way you can claim that Tolkieen is some inarguable lord of fantasy.
You even manage to discredit yourself with your pong metaphor. If you'd only played Pong, I'm sure it would seem like a fantastic game. However, we've all played games significantly more complex and better than Pong. Nobody would claim that Pong is a brilliant game that will never be equalled simply because it was basically the first videogame.
And your last line about Beethoven and Mozart makes no sense. Feist, Eddings, Donaldson and Brooks hold more respect within fans of the genre than Tolkieen does. Look up a few of reviews, and see what they say about their better books. And that's without having a multi-million, three movie Hollywoodization made to drag a couple million fans on their bandwagon.
Crusty VGchartz old timer who sporadically returns & posts. Let's debate nebulous shit and expand our perpectives. Or whatever.