Another contrarian (positive) take on "Rings of Power"

What if this Amazon franchise contains worthy content, while the writing simply misses the Tolkien target?

When it comes to life here at Rational Sheep, I love reading comments. I respond whenever I can.

I especially appreciate long, detailed quotes from readers who have clearly interacted with the mass-media trends that are at the heart of this Substack project.

At this stage, we have a growing number of “free” list readers and even more “followers.” The “paid” reader list is very small, in terms of Substack norms, but I have noticed that I frequently get comments from “paid” readers. Keep them coming!

By the way, I am reading up on Substack “chat” options — print, audio or video — and I hope to start having monthly chats with the “paid” crowd in the future. I will announce any upcoming chat in advance.

A personal aside: I now have a solid Internet connection in our 125-year-old house here in the Tri-Cities area in Northeast Tennessee. As it turns out, there wasn’t an existing Internet cable to this house. Imagine that, in this day and age.

Back to the comments situation. So far, troll activity has been all but non-existent — even when I have written about hot-button topics like the “woke” trends in the battles to control the Walt Disney Company. Here’s that headline again: “Disney Wars: $Billions at stake, as well as ... The future of entertainment franchises that ordinary Americans offer to their children.”

Disney is a Ground Zero topic for an obvious reason — The Mouse now controls some of our culture’s most popular franchises in mass culture, starting with “Star Wars,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar and, obviously, the sweeping history of Disney entertainment products for children and families. Many fans claim that Disney money and clout has even influenced the look and contents of the legendary “Doctor Who” sci-fi series.

Similar debates have been swirling around the legacy of Inkling J.R.R. Tolkien and the “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” streaming franchise produced for Amazon Prime. I addressed that online war earlier this week in this post: “‘The Rings of Power 2’ -- Culture wars or mere streaming-era TV?” Here are two key bytes:

… It’s easy to view “The Rings of Power” as yet another clash between “red” culture and “blue” culture in a bitterly divided America. And let’s face it, there is no way around the fact that Tolkien represents a more traditionally conservative, Catholic approach to life, faith and truth — so much so that a few deep-blue chattering-class types have labeled him the patron saint of the “far right.”

However, it’s possible to have a more nuanced take on this hyper-expensive Amazon empire attempt at franchise building, taking a stance somewhere in between “It’s great (If viewers have open minds)” and “It’s a woke abomination uglier than a cave troll.”