School project

[Strange-Looking Lurker]

Note to mods: I realize this really should be in the Hobbit forum, but please don't move it...that forum is pretty much dead and I would like to get some answers to my questions. Thanks.

The question is "What is one piece of work (book, movie, etc.) from the past 100 years that every educated person should (read, watch, etc.)?" I'm doing a 15 minute group presentation on it, and my group has chosen The Hobbit. I would very much like to hear you guys input, and if there's anywhere else y'all could point me that would be very helpful.

Some thoughts I had....

1 The Hobbit contains all the basic elements needed to understand modern fantasy as a genre. The quest. An old wizard. Dragons. Tall mountains, dark forests, those types of things. Any thoughts on this? Anybody know of any quotes or papers by PhD's on this subject?

Any thoughts on how Tolkien changed how elves in particular are shown in books and movies?

2 The Hobbit provides a mythology for English speaking people, which otherwise they would not have. Any thoughts on how most other languages/cultures have a mythology?

Any other thoughts at all? I'm really excited about this project and want to do it justice, so any help from y'all would be great!

PS...yes, I know it would actually make more sense to do this project over LOTR, but the other two guys in my group haven't read it, and we don't really have enough time for them to read it AND get the presentation ready.

[Curubethion]

Both of those questions would most definitely fit LOTR much better. The second one can't apply to the Hobbit at all, IMHO. It was a children's story, not a mythology. LOTR and the Sil provided the true mythology.

[Valandil]

I tend to agree with Curubethion...

moving to LOTR Books.

"Strange-looking Lurker" - welcome to Entmoot. We hope you'll stick around and enjoy it. But we need to place all threads according to where they belong - not according to where each particular member thinks they will be most beneficial to their own purposes. :)

[Anglorfin]

You could talk about how Tolkien defined the now very common fantasy archetypes. Nowadays all elves are tall. There are orcs in almost every piece of fantasy/adventure literature or video game. Even Hobbits and Ents have made appearances.

And while Tolkien didn't exactly invent the old wizard, he was possibly the only one (to my knowledge anyway) to develop such a complicated background and character story for all of his characters. Compared to Gandalf, Merlin looks very one-dimensional. Of course you don't get all of this from the Hobbit though. . .

Dwarven miners aren't exactly new either. But say the word "dwarf" to anyone today and it's hard not to think of Gimli.

There's a lot more, but I just woke up. It's great because some of this stuff my friends and I have talked about before. About what an impact Tolkien had on the genre. Once I'm less blurry-eyed I'll try to write some more.

[brownjenkins]

Since the question seems to be along the lines of "why it is a great book", you might want to bring in some of the bigger themes it explores.

One of the biggest being that a small, somewhat unremarkable individual, can make a big impact through dedication and determination.

[Curubethion]

The archetype angle is an excellent angle to pursue, since The Hobbit really began the archetypes found in LOTR. I'd really keep that one in mind. You've got all the roles there...wise guide, bumbling bumpkin, warrior, comic relief, conniving shapeshifter...everything!