Before and after the movie

[Mister Underhill]

Esty, you’ve made several fine points, as usual. You’re quite right, of course, that you can only get so much conversation out of examining the details of a dead author’s works, a fact which is probably at least as big a reason for old-time member attrition as any other factor. People move on to new interests and new enthusiasms. But are you surprised that a Tolkien fan should show a bit of nostalgia for the irretrievably lost past? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I miss the challenge of poring through obscure corners of HoME in an effort to back up a tenuous theory; I miss the battles with BW, who now posts almost exclusively in his role as Chief Wight and head policeman; I miss Mithadan’s always stimulating topics and thoughtful debates; I miss the synergy of a good back-and-forth with Sharkey in a thread where one post seems to build off of another; I miss galpsi’s wry, inside humor.

All things change. Still, it’s not only the boards that have changed. I find I have much less free time to post now than in months gone by for one thing, and also I find that I burn out on deep Tolkien discussions more quickly than before. To paraphrase the wise man – of making many posts there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Sometimes Tolkien’s books need to be read and enjoyed simply as stories, rather than picked apart, analyzed, and dissected. It’s fun to pop the hood and check out all the engineering and the mechanical details that make the car go, but sometimes you should just go drive it around.

As time goes by and the population of the Downs changes, certain popular topics, some of which you mentioned, recur again and again. And again the wise man’s words apply: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” It’s tough to muster up a reply to the thirty-third iteration of the “Who/What is Tom Bombadil” debate, and somewhere along the line I acquired a subliminal aversion to any thread with “Balrog” in the title.

Yet the Downs continues to draw many intelligent, articulate, and funny members. You figure out whose names to look for as you’re scrolling through the daily topics, the ones you can count on for a thoughtful contribution or a laugh or two. And as often as not, one of these bright people comes up with a new topic, or a new angle on an old topic, that you hadn’t considered before. That’s one of the joys of the Downs, which I still heartily enjoy. Another satisfaction which can only be enjoyed over time is to watch members, particularly the younger members – I’ll omit names to spare embarrassment – grow and mature.

Now I’m really starting to sound like a codger, and I perceive that I have strayed well off the before-and-after-the-movie topic. Suffice to say that the Downs has been indelibly changed by the movie’s release – but its plucky heart continues to rot inside its decaying chest. Long may it moulder!