9
Something that occurred to me while watching Lord of the Rings. (piefed.blahaj.zone)
submitted 5 days ago by queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone to c/tolkien@lemmy.world
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The fact that it takes forever to watch all three movies is part of the charm for me, and I think it is for others. It is something of a commitment that has to be planned for. I think it's similar to the tactile slowness of listening to a vinyl album vs. just pulling the songs up on your phone. The length of the movies necessitates a mini-ceremony and that itself becomes part of the fun. But it struck me that it's the kind of story that should seem like it takes forever. Like, getting through it and feeling like you've struggled a little bit to achieve something that at times feels impossible is very on theme. Fighting Sauron is hard and it feels like it takes forever and there's no guarantee that you'll actually make it to the end, even if you do somehow manage to make some progress sometimes. Your fellowship might break up. Hell you might not even have a fellowship to begin with. You might also be alone, in a place full of people who, if they saw you, would happily see you dead if not kill you themselves. You might have to be there for a long time, and it's gonna suck almost the whole time. That's what it can feel like when you're fighting Sauron.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com -2 points 4 days ago

per gemini;

  1. The Shift from Metaphor to Narrative

The first half of your text is about media consumption (vinyl records, planning, and ceremony). The second half shifts into the internal logic of the story (the Fellowship, the threat of Sauron, and the isolation).

The Break: You transition from talking about watching a movie to being in the world of Middle-earth. These are two different "modes" of thought that deserve their own space.
  1. Rhetorical Escalation

You start with a cozy, nostalgic tone ("part of the charm," "mini-ceremony") and end with a very dark, visceral description of being hunted and alone.

The Impact: By keeping them in one paragraph, the dark intensity of the ending feels rushed. Splitting the paragraph allows the reader to reset their emotional state as the stakes of your argument get higher.
  1. The "Theme" Pivot

The sentence "But it struck me that it's the kind of story that should seem like it takes forever" acts as a bridge.

The Logic: In a well-structured essay, this sentence would either end the first paragraph or begin the second. Keeping it in the middle of a giant block hides the most important intellectual "click" of your argument.
  1. Visual "Breathing Room"

Ironically, while you argue that the movies should feel like a long struggle, a piece of writing should generally avoid being a struggle to read.

The Reader's Experience: Without a paragraph break, the reader’s eye has no place to rest. They might skim the middle sections, missing your nuanced points about the Fellowship breaking up or the feeling of being alone in a crowd.
[-] queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

I'm glad that you cited your source, because this is nonsense and I'm happy to take it apart for both of us. But for the sake of all of us, please don't take literary criticism from an LLM seriously, that's not what they do. All they can do is generate free-association text-adjacent word salad with mostly valid grammar, which, in the case of literary criticism, means they can only approximate the mean of all criticisms for all similar texts. At best, this makes them inane; at worst, it makes them convincing liars. Do not trust them.

  1. The shift from metaphor to narrative: It's kinda telling on how LLMs operate that it describes a simile as a metaphor (which is possibly technically correct in that you could consider similes a type of metaphor) but it completely misses the metaphor of the, as it calls it, "internal logic of the story". It misses how that particular description of LotR is related to the preceding analysis, and only sees them as two discrete thoughts that would be better served by being separated by a paragraph break. They are not and they would not.

  2. Rhetorical Escalation: I am at a bit of a loss here. I guess being on a long, difficult journey is sadder than playing a record, and therefore the piece has "rhetorical escalation"? Is any tonal shift considered an escalation? Can a paragraph not contain two tones?

  3. The "Theme" pivot: this is the most insulting one of all, I think, because it hearkens back to the most braindead "rule" of writing paragraphs: the topic sentence must be the first sentence of a paragraph. That rule is for journalists writing baby-food news mash for people who scan newspapers for interesting paragraphs and I refuse. I'll put my paragraph breaks where they make sense for the story I'm telling, and sometimes I'll throw a volta in the middle of a paragraph. I might even put it in the middle of a sentence if I so please. Finally and least importantly, "the most important intellectual "click""? ugh.

  4. Visual breathing room: Funny that this point directly invokes the specter of readers skimming my work. maybe I should break each sentence out into its own paragraph so readers don't have to read in between the scary lines. Or, maybe it's just twelve sentences that form a cohesive point. If people can't handle that in one block, I think I'm at peace with them not reading it. I don't think I'm asking too much. Especially from the LotR crowd.

this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
9 points (84.6% liked)

Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.

1581 readers
1 users here now

For all things Tolkien, Lord of The Rings (LotR), and The Hobbit across all media. Speak friend and enter.

Rules:

Please report any rule violations.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
ahimsabjorn@lemmy.world
Pabo@feddit.nl
bhappy@lemmy.world
Historical_General@lemm.ee
Historical_General@lemmy.world