Monica Sanz - Shadows of Middle Earth: Tolkien in subculture, counterculture and exploitation

From The Tolkien Society Seminar 2020

WARNING

This presentation contains allusions to adult content.

ABSTRACT

Tolkien has marked literary and cinematographic mainstream history with an unfading print, but we normally ignore that his influence has also reached the darkest and unknown corners of artistic expression. From political movements to dark rooms in hippie clubs, travelling through b-series movies and porn, Tolkien has been adapted to the underground languages and media with peculiar readings on his work fitting diverse realities and sensitivities. Normally these subcultural/countercultural worlds are ignored in the academic studies and conferences but this lecture also calls for their place into consideration.

The most known kind of adaptations have already been broadly explored in multitude of papers, books and lectures, and the subcultural movements included in this dissertation deserve also a little attention. For instance, some underground artistic expressions such as graffiti or drag have, through time, transcended into mainstream art. These movements will also be present in the lecture, with stunning examples fit for any audience and reaching a high art quality that deserve to be known.