[LOTR] Idiocy or satire? You decide.

[Wolf72]

agree with boss1 ... it was mildy amusing,

 

[KnowTheToe]

Unsuccessful comedy for the most part, although there were a few doozies. It was so over the top I lost interest and did not read the whole list.

 

[Sixchan]

The ring, which is seen to be at least two inches in diameter at the beginning to fit the polish sausage-sized finger of Sauron, suddenly fits Frodo's child-sized finger later. I guess this movie takes place in a world where rings magically change sizes on their own.

This is satire? Why is speaking the blatantly obvious satire? It's a magic ring! You even see it change size once it's taken from Sauron's finger!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

This is satire? Why is speaking the blatantly obvious satire? It's a magic ring! You even see it change size once it's taken from Sauron's finger!

It is, indeed, satire. It's satirizing the kind of criticisms you see, especially on the internet. The writer knows it's a magic ring; the point is that he's lampooning the kind of idiocy that led to the Two Towers protest movement (which apparently started out as a joke also). Many people actually thought that the title was trying to capitalize on the World Trade Center, and didn't know the book had been around for 50 years. I can see people saying "hey, that ring seems to keep changing sizes!" and mean it as criticism of the film's continuity.

The person who created a reply site I kind of felt sorry for. However, it seems so hard to believe that someone could be so oblivious to the original writer's intent, that I almost suspect the reply to be another satire perpetrated by the same writer, to lambast the criticisms he's received about his article.

This reminds me a bit of SciFi Universe Magazine's infamous "50 Reasons Why We Hate Return Of The Jedi" issue, with that title emblazoned in big type right on the cover. It was a funny issue (actually, every issue of it was funny), but apparently even George Lucas caught wind to it and was very displeased. I still miss that magazine.

 

[Sixchan]

Hmm. I guess all this time with the D&D rule that "one size fits all" has made this like someone saying "1+1=2" and calling it satire.

And I think it sounds a little too serious in tone...

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It isn't very funny, but it's definitely satire.