https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/1.6752807
The Lord of
the Rings and its far right fans
2 years ago
Why is Lord
of the Rings and fantasy novels so intriguing to conservatives and the far
right? Journalist John Last has been researching the links between The Lord of
the Rings and Italian fascist movements. He talks about how the Italian prime
minister’s love for Tolkien is interwoven with her politics.
How The Lord of the Rings became a symbol for
Italy's far-right
For Italy’s neo-fascist ruling party, J.R.R. Tolkien’s
fantasy epic is a fitting symbol of their beliefs
On its surface, The Lord of the Rings is often read as
a story about an epic battle between good and evil.
But in the decades since it was first published, the
series has taken on many different meanings, including for neo-fascists in
Italy who have adopted the tale as a potent symbol of their beliefs.
Although the link between J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy
epic and Italy's far-right is not new, it's a phenomenon that has re-surfaced
with new vigor since politician Giorgia Meloni was elected as the country's
prime minister.
Meloni's party has its roots in neo-fascism; she's
also a proud devotee of Middle Earth lore.
Italy-based journalist John Last has spent time
researching the links between The Lord of the Rings and Italian fascist
movements. He spoke to Tapestry host Mary Hynes about how the Italian prime
minister's love for Tolkien is deeply interwoven with her politics.
You have suggested The Lord of the Rings has quite a
different meaning, depending on where you are in the world. Tell me how this
epic is understood in parts of Europe as opposed to North America.
When you think about The Lord of the Rings in the
North American context, you might think of the hobbits as a kind of fairly
harmless group of protagonists, and it being a fairly clear story about good
versus evil. But in Europe, there's this sort of interesting intellectual
history that connects Tolkien's work and his magnum opus, The Lord of the
Rings, with this sort of darker intellectual tradition that's connected deeply
with fascism and the far-right.
A man with a beard and glasses stands with a blue sky
and castle-like building in the background.
Italy-based journalist John Last has researched the
links between The Lord of the Rings and Italian fascist movements. (Submitted
by John Last)
And that group doesn't see The Lord of the Rings as a
story of simple country folk, fighting a battle of good versus evil, but they
see in that same story a lot of themes about progress, modernity, the battle
for identity for the past, and the future that we in North America don't really
think about when we read these texts.
At the heart of the relationship in Italy between the
far-right and a love of The Lord of the Rings, is an ideology called
traditionalism. What do I believe in, if that's my worldview?
So to make it very simple, what traditionalism
believes in is this idea of a primordial ancient tradition that is
fundamentally opposed to modernity. And so one way of understanding this is
that the typical narrative about modernity, about progress since the French
Revolution is that it's progress. Like, we've been moving forward; things are
getting better.
What traditionalism does is it inverts that logic. It
says, every one of those steps towards progress — representative democracy,
egalitarianism, women's emancipation — those are all steps away from this
tradition that is really the pure thing that orders society, that gives our
lives meaning.
And so with that comes this vision of history as one
of apocalyptic, long-term decline, where we are inexorably headed towards a
worse society, where we are getting further and further from that ancient
tradition that bound us together.
And of course, with that comes racial elements, this
idea that there once was a kind of purity to our societies that came from
racial homogeny that has been miscegenated [interbred] over time in a way that
has made our societies worse.
And traditionalism has always kind of been marginal to
fascism and to far-right thinking in Europe. It's never been the central theme.
But one of the things that it's had an outsized influence on is the philosophy
of fascism, the way that fascists and neo-fascists think about their place in
the world, think about history, and think about the sort of ideology that their
societies are based on.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures with
her hands as she gives an interview.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a
self-described Lord of the Rings fan. (Alessandra Tarantino/The Associated
Press)
And if we bring this back to The Lord of the Rings,
when you look at Middle Earth, where do you see traditionalism?
It's in Aragorn's claim to divine kingship, for
instance. That's a traditionalist idea; that monarchy comes from birthright, it
comes from ancient lineage and nothing, no amount of dislocation can change
that.
It's there in the elves and the fact that they possess
a kind of primordial wisdom, which the hobbits immediately recognize. Whenever
they see elves, they're sort of entranced by them, right? And that's because
hobbits are close to that tradition, but they don't have it, whereas elves live
that tradition, right?
And it's there in Mordor's inversion of it. You see it
in the fact that Mordor and the agents of Mordor, like Saruman, are engaged in
industrial activity. They're burning trees, they're building plants, and that
is a very traditionalist idea.
Traditionalism emerges at a time when factories were
relatively new phenomena, and the same with urban living and all of those
things. And so, it's fundamentally a reaction to that kind of world.
Is it clear to you, from what you've read, what you've
gathered, what you've researched, how much of this existed in Tolkien — existed
in the original [text] — and how much was just sort of wallpapered on by
decades of fascists who are trying to find their own new heroic narrative?
There's been a really lengthy debate among experts of
Tolkien about how much of this stuff is present in the text. There certainly is
racial essentialism. A lot of the early critics of Tolkien talked about how
there were class distinctions between orcs and hobbits and race of men.
But let me put it this way: if Tolkien saw what
neo-fascists in Italy thought of his book today, he would probably be a little
disappointed to say the least. He never very much liked Hitler, and the Nazis.
And unlike a lot of conservatives of his time, he didn't really look at the
fascist project and see hope or see the sort of fulfilment of his ideology.
Tolkien was a much more small-c conservative. He cared
about the Shire, and that idea of sort of small communitarian, simple living.
The grand narratives of statehood that these fascists and neo-fascists are
endorsing is fundamentally a little bit at odds with the sort of simple Shire
folk.
A man wearing a suit with greying hair smiles at the
camera. The photo is in black and white.
The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is seen in
this 1967 file photo. (Associated Press)
The prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, has a
long history with Lord of the Rings. Her party, Fratelli D'Italia, brothers of
Italy, is rooted in neo-fascism. Has Meloni been explicit about why she loves
the saga, as someone who is on the very far-right of the political spectrum?
People on the far-right of the political spectrum are
very rarely explicit in public about anything these days, especially when they
become prime minister of Italy. But she has been explicit in saying that this
text, for her, is not really fantasy. It's a kind of manifesto.
And of course, she has long seen the world in
mythological terms. She's modelled herself after some of these characters.
She's organized and rallied around these images. Her last speech on the
election campaign last fall, she was introduced by a line from Aragorn, from
the books.
You've been giving a lot of thought to this for a long
time — this relationship between The Lord of the Rings and the far-right. Has
it changed the way you approach the series? Is there any part of you that can
curl up with them and say, I'm going to binge and turn off my critical
faculties for the night?
No, unfortunately. But one thing I would say is that I
don't know if The Lord of the Rings, for me, at least was ever that. I think it
always engaged me on a deeper level, like it has for so many other people.
There was always a degree to which it encourages you to think about this
magnificent fantasy world in a way that's much deeper.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tayo Bero
Journalist
Tayo is a radio producer and writer with CBC. A
self-proclaimed foodie, she is also passionate about equity, inclusion and
making sure the people around her stay woke. Find her on Twitter at @tayobero
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