Ignorance and the 'Lord of the Rings"

[Cullen]

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.)

[systemcr4sh]

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

-Dan

[Drezzy]

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...

[raj]

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

[Lee]

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!!!

[Jay O'Connor]

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

[Chris K.]

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.

[Jay O'Connor]

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?

[Chadzilla]

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?

[Cullen]

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.

[Albert]

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

Never mind. Don't answer that.

[Jay O'Connor]

> 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?

[Sven A]

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.

[Jay O'Connor]

>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.

[J.R.]

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.