Thursday, September 25, 2008

A People's History of Middle Earth

KPBX had a reading last night of a piece from McSweeney's Internet Tendancy
Chomsky: If we're going to get into the socio-economic reasons why certain structures develop in certain cultures… it's mainly geographical. We have Orcs in Mordor — trapped, with no mineral resources — hemmed in by the Ash Mountains, where the "free peoples" of Middle Earth can put a city, like Osgiliath, and effectively keep the border closed.

Zinn: Don't forget the Black Gate. The Black Gate, which, as Tolkien points out, was built by Gondor. And now we jump to the Orcs chopping down the trees in Isengard.

Chomsky: A terrible thing the Orcs do here, isn't it? They destroy nature. But again, what have we seen, time and time again?

Zinn: The Orcs have no resources. They're desperate.

Chomsky: Desperate people driven to do desperate things.

Zinn: Desperate to compete with the economic powerhouses of Rohan and Gondor.
I missed the opening segment so there were a few minutes of confusion until I caught on.

1 comment:

rbbergstrom said...

At first, I was really digging it. Then this...
Zinn: And the writing on the ring, we learn here, is Orcish — the so-called "black speech." Orcish is evidently some spoliation of the language spoken in Rohan. This is what Tolkien says.

Chomsky: From what I understand, Orcish is a patois that the Orcs developed during their enslavement by Rohan, before they rebelled and left.


Ahem.

I must inform you, the Black Speech is actually a spoliation of the language spoken in Rivendell. The Black Speech is based upon Elvish, as any true geek would already be aware. This improper categorization is a travesty, I assure you.

Worst linguistic misidentification of Orcish ever.