>>6112019I remember Christopher Tolkien (JRRT son) pursued several lawsuits against companies for cheapening and undermining the ethos of literary estate, in particular LOTR slot machines lol though the cynic in me inevitably assumes this was some manner of extracting ongoing revenues from the intellectual property after Tolkien the author sold the film rights apparently for GBP100,000 in 1968. You can read about all the legal contortions in depth here (use
archive.ph or .is if you need access)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/battle-middle-earth-christopher-tolkien-fought-peter-jackson/>“Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of our time,” is how Christopher described the wave of Tolkien-mania unleashed by the Jackson films. “The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has gone too far for me. Such commercialisation has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of this creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: turning my head away.”
In particular Christopher Tolkien saw Peter Jackson as his nemesis as he regarded the Hollywood films as diverging from the literary spirit and worldbuilding intentions of his father (just imagine what he would have thought of amzn Galadriel tee hee hee). I do remember watching the Peter Jackson films in 2002-03 etc and being slightly uncomfortable with the New Zealand landscape, the trees and rock formations look wrong though I suppose if in JRRT's imagination the world was also partially inspired by South Africa (his upbringing, apparently he was bitten by a spider there as a child, hence Shelob etc) so maybe an entirely Anglo Saxon / British flora and fauna look was never entirely appropriate. I also remember hearing that "Men Of The West" etc line in Return Of The King and wondering at the time back then if it would be used to incite wars, lo and behold, the PLTR Palantir, the Anduril etc countless other VC aerospace defense startups lol named after the lore. The Tolkien estate should charge a royalty for every missile and exploding fpv drone lol
