Last December, Tolkien fans celebrated the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. In two recent essays on this site, media and cultural critic Titus Techera takes this opportunity to comment on both the films and the books from which they are drawn. Techera’s essays were particularly focused on Tolkien’s politics, and although Techera is a keen essayist, I believe he has underappreciated the complexity of Tolkien’s political views. In this essay I will offer an alternate reading, showing how Techera has misunderstood Tolkien’s views of both monarchy and democracy.
Source:
AIER
