Badmovies.org Forum

I was surfing a bit today and I came across an article on the next "Lord of the Rings" movie, namely a petition to have it retitled.  It is, simply, an amazing display of ignorance, and the reason you dig a bit deeper before opening your mouth on a subject.

Below, I have copied the meat of the article, namely a statement coming from the petition site:

"Those of us who have seen 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' know what an amazing director Peter Jackson is. When I learned that there apparently was to be a sequel, I was overjoyed. However, Peter Jackson has decided to tastelessly name the sequel 'The Two Tower'. The title is clearly meant to refer to the attacks on the World Trade Center. In this post-September 11 world, it is unforgiveable that this should be allowed to happen. The idea is both offensive and morally repugnant. Hopefully, when Peter Jackson and, more importantly, New Line Cinema see the number of signatures on this petition, the title will be changed to something a little more sensitive."

Rereading this statement, I get equal feelings of amusement and disgust.  And to think, before I went online, I would miss news like this.  The mind boggles.  

What do you think?
_________________________________________________________________
I found the article at Film Threat (www.filmthreat.com).  A direct link to the article is http://www.filmthreat.com/News.asp?File=NewsOne.inc&Id=773 (how long that link is good, I don't know.)

Oh Man. Thats one of the stupidest things i've ever hear in my life.

-Dan

I'm not a LOTR fan by any stretch, but even that is too stupid...

Doesn't this part of the story deal with, ya know...TWO TOWERS? I f**king hate dumb people...

Stupidity knows no bounds.  The petition is actually at petitiononline.com, and it just goes to show that you can have a petition on anything.  There's even one to stop wombat abuse in their natural habitat of Afghanistan http://www.petitiononline.com/Wombats/petition.html

It's people like this that make me wish being stupid was a criminal offense! I mean, s**t, The Two Towers was a book well before the Sept. 11 incident! And the movie was filmed well before then to. This has nothing to do with The World Trade Center, it's just an awful coincidence. WAKE THE f**k UP PEOPLE!!!

Take a look at the signatures.  Those will really make a difference :)

Forgive me, but how many morons who call themselves "real-blooded, patriotic Americans" think that changing a name to a title of a film that is based on a book that was written 50 years ago going to make a difference? J.R.R Tolkien wrote THE TWO TOWERS and had it published in the 1950's, in no way that has a connection with 9/11. That and saying Peter Jackson and New Line are being cruel with using that title. Bulls**t!

I am sorry everybody, but it just p**ses me off to see that we have these self-indulgent a***oles making a pettition to change a name of a film! A film based on a well-known author that has the EXACT SAME TITLE! What's going on here?

Stupid a***oles go around thinking that a title of a film will offend because it nearly SUGGESTS it's based on some bad incident that happened here in the U.S. What is going on with society now? It just makes me want to cry.

OK, maybe a silly question, but what two towers are the Two Towers?

Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul?

Minas Tirith and Orthanc?

Does the tower where Frodo was held prisoner play in?

In related News - New Line Cinema did discuss changing the title of The Two Towers with Jackson shortly after 9/11.  Jackson respectfully declined to (with New Line's blessing) for the following reasons

Firstly - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is based on a well known work of literature that most people will know predates the American Tragedy of 9/11.

Secondly - Enough time will have passed between the release of the film and the tragedy for audiences to tell them apart emotionally.

Thirdly (and least important) - The Fans of the RIngs Trilogy would tear them all new collective a***oles for doing so and it wasn't worth the insult.

There is high degree doubt in my mind that the whole thing is joke.  If it isn't a joke, when did we become a nation of emotionally immature children that can't cope with getting our buttocks kicked good and hard on occasion?

Jay O'Connor wrote:
>
> OK, maybe a silly question, but what two towers are the
> Two Towers?
>
> Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul?
>
> Minas Tirith and Orthanc?
>
> Does the tower where Frodo was held prisoner play in?

I don't know myself (been FAR too long since I've read the books; I only recognized the last tower mentioned) however I CAN answer the last one:

The tower Frodo is a prisoner in doesn't come up until "Return of the King."  Neither does Shelob, unfortunately, though I can understand the reasoning behind it.

This has got to be a joke... right? I mean, people couldn't be that stupid... could they?

Never mind. Don't answer that.

> The tower Frodo is a prisoner in doesn't come up until "Return of the King."

Whoops...I just read them all in quick succession a few months ago and I forgot that.

Ok, Orthanc, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul?  Which one's out?

In the book, the Two Towers are Minas Morgul and Orthanc. But in the Two Tower trailer, Orthanc and Barad Dür are refereed to as the two tower - Gandalf talks about the alliance between Saruman and Sauron and their Two Towers.

>Barad Dür

Doh...I was thinking of that one but I forgot it when I started writing the list

I would tend toward Orthanc and Minas Tirith.  They seem to be the main focus for much of the activity.

I can't stand this inane "post-9/11" bulls**t. A couple of buildings got knocked down, GET OVER IT! They're taking out violence and gore from  TV shows and movies to be "sensitive". So this stuff is worse now just because of the attacks? I was in the dentist's a few days ago, flipping through 6 month-old magazines, and in all the television and movie reviews they said, "But, really, can we laugh at a TV show in this post-September 11th world?" YES, WE CAN!!!!!!!! I'm not as much of a p***y as these people, 9/11 did ot affect me in a profound way, I still like watching the same entertainment I did before. I actually saw on CNN that some people are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from seeing the attacks on TV. That's really, really funny.

It has to be a joke - wombats are from Australia, not Afghanistan...so the same for the LOTR petition??  Too stupid to be real - please?

Some of the petitions are jokes (at least I hope they are-- that's why I included the wombat one.)  Some of them are sincere, honest attempts at making the world a better place, no matter that they have no basis in reality.

At least now we know that there are in fact people who are stupid enough to go to the abandoned campground where thirty years ago a group of kids were brutally murdered and the murderer was never caught. . .Newt wrote:

J.R. wrote:
>
> I can't stand this inane "post-9/11" bulls**t. A couple
> of buildings got knocked down, GET OVER IT! They're taking
> out violence and gore from  TV shows and movies to be
> "sensitive". So this stuff is worse now just because of the
> attacks? I was in the dentist's a few days ago, flipping
> through 6 month-old magazines, and in all the television and
> movie reviews they said, "But, really, can we laugh at a TV
> show in this post-September 11th world?" YES, WE CAN!!!!!!!!
> I'm not as much of a p***y as these people, 9/11 did ot
> affect me in a profound way, I still like watching the same
> entertainment I did before. I actually saw on CNN that some
> people are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from
> seeing the attacks on TV. That's really, really funny.

Gee, will be able to watch Deanzilla trash NYC ever again???

I concur, time to get over it and move on.  All this hand wringing and sympathy posing just makes us look emotionally weak/immature.

Hummm....if its true, or if its false, it might be at Snopes.com, the web site for confirming or denying urban legends. Oh,Lord i hope its just a joke.

 This would have made me cry for the future of America...if I cared. As it is, I think it's damned funny. Every time I start having some faith in humanity (that these movies don't squash) something like this comes up. I'm glad that Peter Jackson was able to wield the mighty sword of common sense that seems to become duller each day in order to keep the original title. As for 9/11. Yes, it was terrible. Yes, we should not forget it. But, we also shouldn't keep bringing it up and using it as an excuse or an oppertunity. It reminds me of when some guy in a movies says "It's just like 'Nam" or something like that. Don't overuse it, just cope and move on.

Quite true. It has become an easy excuse. For a while, every time I saw on the news that some company was sacking a bunch of people, they would always blame 9/11. Didn't matter if it couldn't possibly have been the cause. Trim the payroll and look like the victim, how convenient.

As for this petition, I'm no longer surprised at the examples of ignorance I see. Just one more example of someone having a knee-jerk reaction instead of taking some time to get the facts. Plenty of people around who are willing to advertise their stupidity loudly. What's one more?

One thing I really wish more people would do is learn the proper way to conduct a petition.

c'mon guys. don't get suckered by a fake jokey petition.

have a look at a typical page of "signatures."

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?twotower&851

Wow!  That's a lot of voided signatures...though I had to chuckle at "MY GRAMMA DIED THREE!!!!!!"  and the "how tasteless" comments...if they only knew Jackson's older work...muhahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Man!  I saw THIS one!

"Whoever this Tolkein guy is, he's an insensitive ashole if he's making a movie with a title like that. I'll bet he's not even American!! What gives him the right!!!!"

"Whoever this Tolkein guy is, he's an insensitive ashole if he's making a movie with a title like that. I'll bet he's not even American!! What gives him the right!!!!"

Now I saw this comment on the petition as well, and it just shows the ignorance of these individuals. And if they are just "joking around", regardless it still makes them look like a dumbass.

Tolkien was definately not an American but from Britian. But his works are welcome in the USA to those who are not ignorant.

Actually Tolkien was from South Africa, but was educated (at University level) and taught in England.  He was good friends with fellow teacher C.S. Lewis who penned a fantasy series of his own, The Chronicles of Narnia).  Tolkien wrote The Hobbit for his children (much the way Milne did with Winnie the Pooh), then he expanded the story to The Lord of the Rings to give England a mythic tale of its own.  The series is quite popular, but, as is the case with most genre work, not highly respected on the academic level (Tolkien got quite a lot of ribbing and lost a great deal of prestige as a language professor in academic circles when he published the books).

As far as the 'Tolkien guy' post, and others, if I know that person, or poster, I can usually tell if they are being sarcastic.  But some people are actually that clueless (believe me, I've met some and they are frightening).  Whether it is serious or satire can be debated until the cows come home and offer me a glass of milk to drink while installing the new PC they brought with them.   "Moo."

> He was good friends with fellow teacher C.S. Lewis who penned a fantasy
> series of his own, The Chronicles of Narnia).

They were friends in a group called "The Inklings"  Tolkein would read what he was working on aloud to the group and C.S.Lewis was very encouraging of Tolkien in his work on LotR.

C.S.Lewis was also influential in Tolkein's conversion to Christianity

Jay O'Connor wrote:
>
>  
> They were friends in a group called "The Inklings"  Tolkein
> would read what he was working on aloud to the group and
> C.S.Lewis was very encouraging of Tolkien in his work on LotR.

Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall there!?!

 
> C.S.Lewis was also influential in Tolkein's conversion to
> Christianity

Other way around actually - Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic and it was he that converted the Atheist Lewis to Christianity (or at least the depth of his faith did).

Now who says b-movie fans lack depth?

What dozy wazzock wrote this?

"The Two Towers" is the title of Tolkien's second LOTR book!  Always has been!  Naming the film "The Two Towers" has f**k all to do with 9/11!