I confess that what led me to these videos was a search for a quote by J.K. Rowling (which I have yet to find at this writing) where, allegedly, she compares her writing to J.R.R. Tolkien’s. Please don’t read anything into what I just wrote. I wanted to see what she actually said, as apparently people are upset at what is being reported. Maybe one day I’ll find the sound bite or whatever it was.
What I did find was a series of interesting lecture videos by Dr. Ted Sherman @ Middle Tennessee State University on YouTube. I haven’t had time to watch them all but I enjoyed watching the lecture below. Dr. Sherman has an engaging lecture style and he digs deep into the topic.
In this 1 hour, 13 minute video, Dr. Sherman provides the first in a series of lectures of “On Fairy Stories”. I’ve never been a big fan of lecturing on the lecture (Tolkien’s presentation). I’m not sure why. But once a lecturer grabs my attention I can usually get into these kinds of presentations. I think most people who have an interest in Tolkien’s ideas will agree with much that Dr. Stevens has to say here. Students of literature, especially undergraduates still taking classes, should appreciate what Dr. Stevens points out about pop culture icons.
“Captain America is not about comics … Captain America is ‘fairy story’.” That is so true. What makes our heroes engaging for modern audiences is the same thing today that made them engaging for audiences a thousand years ago. There has to be more to the hero than just the details of the story. Whether the story is intended for children or not doesn’t matter. You’ll never leave behind those childhood heroes whose stories enthralled you.
When he gets into the Harry Potter books Dr. Stevens points out that the series “grew up” with the audience. After the third book in the series the writing and the stories became much more mature. In my opinion that was a result of J.K. Rowling’s growth as a writer as much as it was necessary to keep Harry Potter engaging for his audience. But as Dr. Stevens points out (citing Tolkien), children have a natural ability to believe in “impossible” things. We love great fairy stories (as children or as adults) that make us stop wanting to believe only in the possible or the real. That is how you cross over into that “secondary world” of fairy stories.
Sorry, I am blending my own thoughts in with Dr. Stevens’ presentation. But that is what a good lecturer does: he or she makes you think about what they are telling you. You can come to different conclusions from the lecturer, but as long as you think about what they are saying in a rational way, you’re learning. We can all learn from these kinds of videos because they make us think about what the lecturers are saying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KctgRX5_i70