Chomsky and Zinn's deleted audio commentary of the Lord of the Rings

[lauralh]

Zinn: This is absolutely established in the books. Pipe-weed is something all the Hobbits abuse. Gandalf is smoking it constantly. You are correct when you point out that Middle Earth depends on pipe-weed in some crucial sense, but I think you may be overstating its importance. Clearly the war is not based only on the Shire's pipe-weed. Rohan and Gondor's unceasing hunger for war is a larger culprit, I would say.

edit: page 2!

Zinn: I mean, look at how the Elves greet people — with arrows. Is that so different from the Orcs?

Chomsky: Right. And they're supposed to be nature-worshippers. It's sort of sickening and very bourgeois.

Comments

[suxdonut.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOLLOLOLOLOL

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

"[The Orcs] can't kill even one of these little Hobbits who just received their swords only a few days ago. One would think that if the Orcs were as bad as the corrupt Man-Elf coalition says, they would be a lot better at fighting. It lends credence to the farming hypothesis — that they were trying to scrabble out a meager existence in the land in Mordor."

[chris.livejournal.com]

i've heard the audio of that before. its spot-on.