So, thanks to JC for the link to news about a petition asking Amazon Studios not to give their forthcoming Tolkien series the Game of Thrones treatment, with intimacy counselors and the like.
https://wng.org/roundups/fans-beg-amazon-to-keep-middle-earth-clean-1625606930
Given that this pits 50,000 fans against $250,000,000 dollars, I'd call that Quixotic.
What's more interesting is that the journalist who wrote this piece, Collin Garbaring, clearly put some time in, down to researching the correct titles of papers from the recent Tolkien Society's seminar, and even seems to have watched some of the audience chat and Q&A from that event. He knows who Shippey is, and his significance, and located a credible Inklings scholar (Louis Markos) for a relevant quote.
For the curious, here's what seems to be the original petition, or two versions thereof, or perhaps two similar petitions, with widely divergent numbers given for sign-ees:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-prime-keep-nudity-out-of-amazons-lotr-series
--John R.
--current reading: Lindop's THE THIRD INKLING
--current viewing: THE ROOK
1 comment:
Maybe not too quixotic, recall how fan outrage altered Arwen's intended role in LOTR? I think they need to be very careful how they treat the fans, if they turn on the series it could easily, easily crash. GOT's violence and nudity were perfectly in line with Martin's books, his fans would have been outraged without it. The opposite is true here, and I'm not sure that nudity would add enough non-fans to make up for those lost.
On the otherhand, fan acceptance of Fellowship did give Jackson the confidence to butcher the rest of the films unforgivably (IMO) so who knows.
It could also be very overblown. I can see an "intimacy coordinator" being hired for Tolkien appropriate, fully clothed scenes that involve a kiss, for example.
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