Millions of hobbit-lovers and elf enthusiasts are being cajoled to advance the frontiers of knowledge by joining a £40 000 study of why the Lord of the Rings is so popular.
Deploying 13 languages on the internet, researchers from universities in 20 countries are asking a series of questions of fans in an attempt to pin down the attractions of fantasy fiction. ”We’ve taken on a tough task,” said Professor Martin Barker of the department of film at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. ”The little bits of research that have been done in this area are very unconvincing.
”To have 20 countries participating is unprecedented and I am just wondering how our computer will cope.”
The questions are targeted exclusively at admirers of JRR Tolkien’s trilogy, including posers like ”Where and when is Middle Earth to you?” which would baffle the uninitiated. The study is being publicised in almost every country, from China to Colombia, to search out national variations in response to the books and films.
The study was launched yes terday to coincide with the final part of the film of the Lord of the Rings, the Return of the King, which went on general release last week and broke all records. The opening night box office take in Britain was over £3-million and its US tally of £19,2-million smashed the previous best set by Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999.
Prof Baker said that the story, often presented as an ”English myth” yet hugely successful when filmed with American money in New Zealand, posed interesting cultural issues. Eastern European fans tended to place Middle Earth in Poland, while South Americans went for remote parts of Paraguay and Brazil.
The year-long study will also monitor the lavish media coverage given to the three films.
The project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, was triggered by an internet message called eFrodo which opened to show George Bush as Sauron, the leader of the forces of darkness, wearing Tolkien’s ring of power. Prof Baker has previously examined responses to the films Judge Dredd, Crash and Being John Malkovich.
The questionnaire is on Lordoftheringsresearch.net
Another fantasy classic, CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is to be made into a film in New Zealand, Wellington’s Dominion Post reported yesterday.
The director, New Zealander Andrew Adamson, best known for his work on the Oscar-winning animated feature Shrek, was quoted as being ”excited” by the project.
The film is expected to be the first of five based on Lewis’s seven Chronicles of Narnia books. – Guardian Unlimited Â