Very excited to finish reading this. I just rewatched the trilogy a couple weeks ago and had so many of the same feelings. They were my favorite films for years but I was affected at a much deeper level this time—the level of myth. I am reading the books now for the first time.
That's so cool, Eli! What stood out to you when you were watching? I hope this piece can illuminate some other aspects of the myth for you. Those films are so unbelievably resonant and amazing. I don't know if anything will ever be made again that is quite as good. I wish I could write a whole piece on just how awesome Peter Jackson and his team were and how much respect I have for how they created and adapted the books, but alas I don't know if people want to hear about us gushing about moviemaking as much as we like doing it haha.
Much of what you name at the start of this piece: earnest, unironic heroism. Courage. Light vs. darkness. Things that have fallen out of fashion lately, and which I myself have felt coy about in the intervening years since these films released.
I can till watch them now and feel why so many people can cringe at certain moments. But some deeper, younger (eternal?) part of me could feel the truth of those moments.
I love the way you are putting this. The next piece in this series is going to focus a lot more on why these earnest heroic tales have fallen out of fashion, and reiterate how that isn't really good for our conception of ourselves. I like what you said about those themes touching on something deeper and eternal within yourself, because I think it's totally true, and its illuminating because that "young" (perhaps idealistic, earnest, sincere) part of ourselves is often what we strive to get back to as we age and are weathered by life. I'm actually taking a lot of inspiration in this series from the writer of The Whale, who in an interview talked about how cynicism is often unjustly equated with sophistication, and how cynicism in storytelling is "intellectually bankrupt", I think is how he put it. That really struck a nerve in me because that's essentially how I feel about certain stories, mirroring the difference between the "Escape of the Prisoner" vs. the "Escape of the Deserter" as I mention in this piece. Anyway - I've always been and probably always will be a sentimental, emotional, and idealistic person, and perhaps I am just trying to compile evidence and agreement to convince myself that that's also a valid, if not important, way of moving through the world lol.
Have you guys come across Immediate-return vs Delayed-return society theory by Dr Leonard Martin? If he's right, Becker's ideas only apply to people who have a delayed return on effort: immediate-return hunter-gatherer peoples and people in flow states have no fear of immortality, or concerns about life's meaning. Fear of death is a pathological response to not living as we have evolved to, as are all the other stories we tell ourselves.
Episode 6 of Peter Bauer's podcast on rewilding is informative.
Hi Benn! I'm checking it out now. I found his essay on TMT. I agree with you that it's a pathological response to our cultural narratives and environments, and I believe that the way we react to our understanding of mortality is key to the conundrum of pathological human culture. Becker talks a bit about the difference between hunter-gatherers vs. agriculturists, for instance, in Escape From Evil, but I'm interested to read more of this analysis by Dr. Martin. I do think that Ernest Becker's work is instructive insofar as recognizing that the majority of people on earth have been swept up/enclosed by the dominant culture, which is a death-denying, neurotic, pathological culture, and therefore we need to learn how to cope with (and be conscious of) this change in our psychological makeup in order to be a less destructive society. I look forward to listening to Bauer's podcast with Dr. Martin! Thank you for sharing :)
Very excited to finish reading this. I just rewatched the trilogy a couple weeks ago and had so many of the same feelings. They were my favorite films for years but I was affected at a much deeper level this time—the level of myth. I am reading the books now for the first time.
That's so cool, Eli! What stood out to you when you were watching? I hope this piece can illuminate some other aspects of the myth for you. Those films are so unbelievably resonant and amazing. I don't know if anything will ever be made again that is quite as good. I wish I could write a whole piece on just how awesome Peter Jackson and his team were and how much respect I have for how they created and adapted the books, but alas I don't know if people want to hear about us gushing about moviemaking as much as we like doing it haha.
Much of what you name at the start of this piece: earnest, unironic heroism. Courage. Light vs. darkness. Things that have fallen out of fashion lately, and which I myself have felt coy about in the intervening years since these films released.
I can till watch them now and feel why so many people can cringe at certain moments. But some deeper, younger (eternal?) part of me could feel the truth of those moments.
I love the way you are putting this. The next piece in this series is going to focus a lot more on why these earnest heroic tales have fallen out of fashion, and reiterate how that isn't really good for our conception of ourselves. I like what you said about those themes touching on something deeper and eternal within yourself, because I think it's totally true, and its illuminating because that "young" (perhaps idealistic, earnest, sincere) part of ourselves is often what we strive to get back to as we age and are weathered by life. I'm actually taking a lot of inspiration in this series from the writer of The Whale, who in an interview talked about how cynicism is often unjustly equated with sophistication, and how cynicism in storytelling is "intellectually bankrupt", I think is how he put it. That really struck a nerve in me because that's essentially how I feel about certain stories, mirroring the difference between the "Escape of the Prisoner" vs. the "Escape of the Deserter" as I mention in this piece. Anyway - I've always been and probably always will be a sentimental, emotional, and idealistic person, and perhaps I am just trying to compile evidence and agreement to convince myself that that's also a valid, if not important, way of moving through the world lol.
Rewatching Lord of the Rings tonight
Yesss!!!
Have you guys come across Immediate-return vs Delayed-return society theory by Dr Leonard Martin? If he's right, Becker's ideas only apply to people who have a delayed return on effort: immediate-return hunter-gatherer peoples and people in flow states have no fear of immortality, or concerns about life's meaning. Fear of death is a pathological response to not living as we have evolved to, as are all the other stories we tell ourselves.
Episode 6 of Peter Bauer's podcast on rewilding is informative.
Looking forward to the next essays.
No fear of mortality, rather...
Hi Benn! I'm checking it out now. I found his essay on TMT. I agree with you that it's a pathological response to our cultural narratives and environments, and I believe that the way we react to our understanding of mortality is key to the conundrum of pathological human culture. Becker talks a bit about the difference between hunter-gatherers vs. agriculturists, for instance, in Escape From Evil, but I'm interested to read more of this analysis by Dr. Martin. I do think that Ernest Becker's work is instructive insofar as recognizing that the majority of people on earth have been swept up/enclosed by the dominant culture, which is a death-denying, neurotic, pathological culture, and therefore we need to learn how to cope with (and be conscious of) this change in our psychological makeup in order to be a less destructive society. I look forward to listening to Bauer's podcast with Dr. Martin! Thank you for sharing :)