32. He's Being Ganged Up On By These Mean Little Jerks!
11/01/21 • 75 min
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: Sam Gamgee. For all that Frodo Baggins is the Ringbearer and makes something close to the ultimate sacrifice for the fate of the world—at least right until the very last moment—it’s Sam, son of Bag-End’s gardener who seems to only join Frodo at first to help take care of a new house in Buckland, who ends up being the key figure in The Lord of the Rings that helps Frodo on the quest and who remains most grounded in the whirlwind of fates surrounding his steps, down to having the book’s last words. Thanks to a variety of notable performance interpretations over the years, especially and most indelibly Sean Astin’s marvelous turn in the Peter Jackson films, he might just be the most warmly regarded character as well even beyond the book readers. What is the full meaning and understanding behind Tolkien’s well-known comment about Sam being a tribute to his batmen during World War I, and who were the batmen and private soldiers in general in that conflict? Does the understandable characterization of Sam as ‘just’ a simple hobbit belie a notable depth evident even from the start of the book, and how did Tolkien conceive of Sam as distinct from hobbits in general? What fully went into Astin’s portrayal of Sam in particular for the films, and how much of it was also something provided by other key creative forces? And what was the American radio production team from 1979 exactly thinking when they cast Lucille Bliss as Sam?
Show Notes.
Jared’s doodle. What can you see on the horizon, indeed.
Wanna be like Oriana? Here’s how to apply to the Warner Bros.’ Writers Workshop.
A summary of the Lenny Henry radio interview with some key quotes.
Willow does have its fanbase, and this planned new series could be good.
The Wheel of Time is coming and we await with interest...
Dune, yes. We quite like it. (Tolkien himself did not.)
Letter 246 to Eileen Elgar, which has a lot of background information on Sam and other characters and their motivations and personalities.
You can find plenty of Sean Astin clips of him portraying Sam out there. As for the others? Some samples: Roddy McDowall for Rankin-Bass, Bill Nighy for the BBC, Michael Scholes for Ralph Bakshi and Lucille Bliss for NPR/The Mind’s Eye (skip ahead to 7:15 in that one).
The famed Tolkien/Sam Gamgee correspondence. Who knew, indeed?
Shakespeare’s rustic characters were something stock, and indeed were often termed ‘clowns’ rather than fools or jesters. Here’s a little more about that.
The Marx quote was from the Communist Manifesto, and indeed, ‘the idiocy of rural life.’
More on that hand-holding moment.
John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War is well worth a read.
Batmen are a thing, and nothing to do with DC.
Sean Astin’s autobiography There And Back Again is a very key read for anyone interested in the J...
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: Sam Gamgee. For all that Frodo Baggins is the Ringbearer and makes something close to the ultimate sacrifice for the fate of the world—at least right until the very last moment—it’s Sam, son of Bag-End’s gardener who seems to only join Frodo at first to help take care of a new house in Buckland, who ends up being the key figure in The Lord of the Rings that helps Frodo on the quest and who remains most grounded in the whirlwind of fates surrounding his steps, down to having the book’s last words. Thanks to a variety of notable performance interpretations over the years, especially and most indelibly Sean Astin’s marvelous turn in the Peter Jackson films, he might just be the most warmly regarded character as well even beyond the book readers. What is the full meaning and understanding behind Tolkien’s well-known comment about Sam being a tribute to his batmen during World War I, and who were the batmen and private soldiers in general in that conflict? Does the understandable characterization of Sam as ‘just’ a simple hobbit belie a notable depth evident even from the start of the book, and how did Tolkien conceive of Sam as distinct from hobbits in general? What fully went into Astin’s portrayal of Sam in particular for the films, and how much of it was also something provided by other key creative forces? And what was the American radio production team from 1979 exactly thinking when they cast Lucille Bliss as Sam?
Show Notes.
Jared’s doodle. What can you see on the horizon, indeed.
Wanna be like Oriana? Here’s how to apply to the Warner Bros.’ Writers Workshop.
A summary of the Lenny Henry radio interview with some key quotes.
Willow does have its fanbase, and this planned new series could be good.
The Wheel of Time is coming and we await with interest...
Dune, yes. We quite like it. (Tolkien himself did not.)
Letter 246 to Eileen Elgar, which has a lot of background information on Sam and other characters and their motivations and personalities.
You can find plenty of Sean Astin clips of him portraying Sam out there. As for the others? Some samples: Roddy McDowall for Rankin-Bass, Bill Nighy for the BBC, Michael Scholes for Ralph Bakshi and Lucille Bliss for NPR/The Mind’s Eye (skip ahead to 7:15 in that one).
The famed Tolkien/Sam Gamgee correspondence. Who knew, indeed?
Shakespeare’s rustic characters were something stock, and indeed were often termed ‘clowns’ rather than fools or jesters. Here’s a little more about that.
The Marx quote was from the Communist Manifesto, and indeed, ‘the idiocy of rural life.’
More on that hand-holding moment.
John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War is well worth a read.
Batmen are a thing, and nothing to do with DC.
Sean Astin’s autobiography There And Back Again is a very key read for anyone interested in the J...
Previous Episode
31. There Was So Much Math!
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Nature of Middle-earth. The newest official Tolkien book is anything but a cohesive volume, instead being a collection of remaining unpublished writings from the overall Tolkien archive about Middle-earth, written mostly in the late 1950s and late 1960s, with a heavy focus on more philosophical and generally foundational concepts and aspects of Tolkien’s creation. Edited by Carl Hostetter with the full approval of Christopher Tolkien before the latter’s passing, it’s at once detailed scholarship and the source of a variety of new wrinkles and outright surprises concerning Middle-earth. What can be made of the deep discussions of Elvish culture and life, and the literal differences as a species from Men? How did Tolkien address the concept of Elvish reincarnation in particular, and what exactly did that imply in terms of what the Valar could do? What does it mean that Tolkien constantly chose to frame everything from the point of view of referring to ‘scholars’ and authorities rather than simply leaning into his own creative process? And how delightful is it to learn that Númenor was the home of a legendary annual bear dance?
Show Notes.
Jared’s doodle. Besides bears, we learn that Númenor has a lot of cliffs.
The California redwood parks are among the best.
TheOneRing.net’s summary of the Howard Shore semi-news/demi-rumor/whatever it might be.
Star Wars: Visions is a treat.
Red X by David Demchuk is the book Jared’s illustrated. Check it out!
The Nature of Middle-earth -- order away!
Vinyar Tengwar and the E.L.F. info is there for you.
Kristine Larsen’s extensive bibliography on her work on Tolkien and astronomy is very well worth the investigation.
The Isaac Newton story Ned mentioned is a little more involved than that—here’s a 2014 interview with an author who wrote about Newton’s papers in more detail.
Now if you’ve not seen Spirited Away, we do highly recommend it.
The Notion Club Papers is too underdiscussed, really. It’s a very interesting, strange effort.
Flat-earth Catholics, well...we’ll just link this. (It’s not ‘pro-flat earth,’ rest assured.)
Neoplatonism! We understand if you’re already asleep.
If you want a little more about the phenomenal world...
The Magisterium is VERY much a thing.
So let’s talk the Gnostics!
Enjoy some more about bear dances in our world. As for Finnish bear cults...
You can support By-The-Bywater and all of Megaphonic on Patreon, and thank you if you do!
Next Episode
33. Perry and Mippin.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about our collective choice of topic: Peter Jackson’s version of The Fellowship of the Ring. Released twenty years ago this month, there’s simply no question regarding the sheer force of the impact that the first part of the massive effort to create a three-film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings had. It squarely placed the story directly into more mainstream popular culture, transformed the nature of the longtime fandom and appreciation around the books, and became the anchor point of any number of adaptations and interpretations since. But besides fond memories of a suddenly wild and exuberant time, looking back with a more critical but still appreciative eye is useful in acknowledging flaws and curious decisions as well as reflecting once more on just how striking a film it is. What does a wider consideration of that time in history tell us, not least of which was the shattering impact of 9/11 three months prior, as well as being caught in a continuing new wave of sf, comic book and fantasy adaptations? Are all the various casting choices that the team made for the film successful, as well as the adaptational choices themselves? How does the film succeed as a film straight up, and what are its best moments? And is Legolas really a mink stole? (Admit it, you’d love to see it.)
[Thanks to Michael Collins from This Is Your Mixtape for editing this episode!]
Show Notes.
Jared’s doodle. This was exactly what he looked like, no question.
Will Poulter, via a larger GQ feature, on why he couldn’t make the Amazon series. No biggie, it happens.
The Daily Mail (yeah, we know) story on Christopher Tolkien’s will. We hope everyone was happy and there were no Succession-style shenanigans.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. You KNOW. Stream it if you don’t. (But NOT the remastered version, as we say later in the episode.)
Yes, true, a certain first Harry Potter film a month beforehand did cast a shadow...
That first web-only featurette from 2000. LOTS of questions resulted among the fans. Then there was the first overall trailer...
LordOfTheRings.net isn’t around any more but the Internet Archive turns up things. (TheOneRing.net is eternal.) As for Ain’t It Cool News...never mind.
Elijah Wood really was inspired casting, and darn if he didn’t deliver, eyes and all.
Ian McKellen, goddamn. Enjoy some diaries.
And indeed, Bob Shaye. Thanks for that call.
Ah, AOL Time Warner.
The ‘pity and mercy’ scene as filmed. So, so necessary.
Andrew Lesnie was truly a craftsman and artist, and is much missed.
Polygon’s yearlong series on Jackson’s original trilogy is well worth a read, and the horror movie essay is one of the best.
The ‘Boromir trains the hobbits’ scene is a delight. (And yes, Ned did a little spoonerism with the names there...)
If you want Arwen’s hero moment, come and click here.
Cate Blanchett fully arrives in the film and we’re all in awe.
The
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