If I were able to, I’d link this thread to the current one in Cafe Society – “What differentiates good parodies from bad ones?” (with my not wanting to hijack that thread); and especially to Qadgop the Mercotan’s post #8 therein. Unfortunately, my computer skills are poor; and the rags-and-tatters of instructions which I seem to have re linking between threads, turn out to be meaningless to me “on the ground”.
So: I need to quote-by-typing-out, Qadgop as above, to start this thread of mine. He writes, on the subject of parodies: “The reader also has to be familiar with the subject being parodied plus the cultural references that are used to parody the subject… I’m thinking of Bored of the Rings in particular. I consider it brilliant, but I can relate to all the references to the 1960’s culture. [Those unfamiliar with that culture, would be likely to find the parody bemusing / incomprehensible / meaningless.]”
I’m an – as they go, I feel – lacklustre and mediocre Tolkien fan; but I have always greatly enjoyed the books LOTR and, to a lesser extent, The Hobbit – having discovered them in my teens in the 1960s. I became aware of the existence of BOTR in the 70s at latest; and being of that vintage, I’m sure I’d pick up the references. However: I have never read BOTR, nor much wanted to. I’ve always sort-of felt that long, thorough, intricately-closely-corresponding parodies of this kind, are done to a work toward which the parodist feels at least some dislike / scorn. Parodying in a basically ugly way, a work which one adores: is something that I don’t really get. I love Tolkien’s books as described above – always have done; and have always had in mind: that being so, why would I want to read a scurrilous parody of them? From excerpts of BOTR which I’ve read, I’m sure that I would find a lot of it, truly funny – but I continue to feel: I’ll happily pass on this satirical work, thank you very much.
Finding that Qadgop the Mercotan – in the very top rank of the Dope’s Tolkien scholars and passionate lovers – delights in BOTR: I have to wonder whether I, a small-time dabbler (I haven’t undertaken the Silmarillion, nor wish to), am being as priggishly precious as I’m being ridiculous, in persisting in wanting to avoid Harvard’s famous piss-take of Middle-Earth. I’d be interested to find out whether I’m the only Tolkien fan, of any degree however low, who holds to this maybe ridiculous scruple – or whether anyone else is similarly weird about this issue.
I loved BoTR when I read it. But that was back in the Bronze Age (high school) right after I read LoTR for the first time. Even though it was the early 80s and not the 60s I easily got all the references. I have a feeling it would not age well if I read it today.
It was many years later that I discovered the book was co-authored by Douglas Kenney who co-wrote *Animal House *and Caddyshack. He was Stork in Animal House.
I think BOTR is hilarious, and I don’t think it is disrepectful or scornful at all. To the contrary, I don’t think you can write a parody that good without a deep appreciation for your source material.
I only read Lord of the Rings so I could appreciate Bored of the Rings.
FOTR was the first book I ever picked up and failed to finish (at the Tom Bombadil chapters, which I later learned is not surprising). I had no desire to go through three volumes of that (I still don’t: the only other multivolume epic fantasy I ever read was The Book of the New Sun, which, of course, is really a single novel broken into four volumes for marketing purposes). All my friends were reading LOTR and I wasn’t interested.
Then they started talking about Bored. I wanted to read it (I was a fan of the Harvard Lampoon and their Life Parody, plus The Surprising Sheep, and subscribed to the National Lampoon almost as soon as it was published), but they said I’d never appreciate it. They also had me read The Hobbit, which I liked a lot. So I gave it another shot. I slogged through it, hoping it might have something like The Hobbit (it eventually did, in The Two Towers). I also bought a copy of Bored sealed it in a bag, and used that as incentive. After I finished the trilogy, I tore open the bag and read BOTR in a day.
It was worth it.
As for the cultural references, that’s primarily in the character names, which are mostly trademarks. Some are old ones, but others – like Frito, Pepsi, Spam – are still active so that even a modern reader will get the idea.
I hated BotR and found it sophomoric and boring. This was, admittedly, years ago, and maybe I’d “get it” now, but it seems unlikely, since if anything, my tolerance for puerile humor has gone down.
It reminded me of a bad Saturday Night Live sketch.
I heard of Bored of the Rings before I read Lord of the Rings (I was reading The Hobbit at the time). After I finished LOTR, I sought out BOTR (It wasn’t hard – it was all over the place). I loved it. It’s true that many of the references from the 1960s have been lost*, but I think a lot of the book still stands up. Heck, it was reprinted not that long ago. It was reprinted even before the Peter Jackson movies came out.
The Hasrvard Lampoon folks have recenbtly come out with The Slobbit, a parody of The Hobbit, but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty poor. There are moments of brilliance in the National Lampoon parody Doon (or Frank Herbert’s Dune), but in general, it seemed to try too hard. I wasn’t that fond of Harvard Lampoon’s The Hungry Games parody, either.
To find a decent Harvard Lampoon parody you have to go back to the 1960s, to Alligator, their parody of the James Bond novels. It’s the closest kin to Bored of the Rings, right down to parodying the covers and advertising of the paperback Bond books, just as BOTR parodied the paperback Ballantine Book covers.
*After I went to school up in Massachusetts, I realized that the authors drew from their experiences there for random references I would otherwise never have gotten, from the names of Massachusetts towns to the hot fudge sundaes at Bailey’s Ice Cream parlor, in harvardc Square not far from the Lampoon castle.
I love the The Lord of the Rings: I’ve read it more times than I can remember, and of course have read The Hobbit, but also The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and Narn i Chîn Húrin.
I have never been interested in reading Bored of the Rings, so count me as an abstainer. But I might read it some day. I think I’d probably get all the references Qadgop the Mercotan mentions.
I introduced Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) to Bored of the Rings many years ago when she was Girlfriend (n+1), and she enjoyed it so much that she read Lord of the Rings.
I loved it from “(Hobbits) do not like machines more complicated that a garrotte or a Luger…”
I have a great friend, a true Tolkien nerd: off the top of his head, he can do things like rattle off the list of all the sons of Fëanor and their histories. He loves BOTR. So indeed I may also have to give it a try some day.
Locally, in fantasy/sf fandom, Bored of the Rings is still one of the most quoted books of all. You can say, “Toes! I love hairy toes!” to just about anyone at a Westercon or Worldcon, and they’ll know exactly what it means.
Open with “We Boggies are a hairy folk” as a password, and you’ll get the countersign, “Who like to eat until we choke.” It’s become a cultural hallmark of organized fandom.
The single serious reason not to read it is…once you do, you’ll never read Lord of the Rings again without the jokes from BOTR tickling the edges of your consciousness. You won’t be able to read about Tom Bombadil without hearing the whining voice of Tim Benzedrino.
The book will change you, and you will not be able to construct a firewall between the two works.
For most of us…that doesn’t matter a damn! BOTR is that funny.
(Why, oh why, did they not make a movie of it during the period of Peter Jackson’s trilogy?)
There are a few parts that stayed with me over the years. I couldn’t help but think of this when watching Martin Freeman.
Stumped at last for a riddle to ask, he cried out, as his hand fell on his snub-nosed .38, “What have I got in my pocket?” This Goddam failed to answer, and growing impatient, he paddled up to Dildo, whining, “Let me see, let me see.” Dildo obliged by pulling out the pistol and emptying it in Goddam’s direction.
