65. Escape Isn’t Possible with “Modern” Storytelling – On Fairy Stories, Part 5
What are we supposed to recover from? And why do fairy stories provide it? And why do we need to escape? And how do fairy stories break us out? As we get closer to finishing out “On Fairy Stories,” ...
22 Aug 202359min
64. Movies are NOT Sub-Creation – On Fairy Stories, Part 4
When Tolkien talks about Fantasy, he doesn’t simply mean fiction stories set in sword-and-sorcery worlds. Fantasy is the highest form of sub-creation, the “most nearly pure form”–and the most potent....
15 Aug 20231h 8min
63. Kids Ruin Everything – On Fairy Stories, Part 3
This week we discussed “Children” from the “On Fairy Stories” by Tolkien. He pushes back against the coupling of fairy-stories and children, making the point that, “If fairy-story as a kind is worth ...
8 Aug 202352min
62. Tolkien Still Matters : with Nick Groom, author of Tolkien in the 21st Century
This week Michael and I talked with Professor Nick Groom, author of Tolkien in the 21st Century: The Meaning of Middle-earth Today, releasing Sept. 5, 2023 (apologies for some some of the echo in the ...
1 Aug 20230s
61. An Interview with Peter Jackson : It’s for the fans!
On December 2, 2003, I was invited to join a few other journalists to interview the actors and crew of The Lord of the Rings. For me (Jonathan), for a “kid” in his mid-20s who turned a website into on...
25 Jul 202328min
60. The Origins of Fantasy – A Soup with Distance and Time: On Fairy Stories, Part 2
Diving into what the origin of fairy stories is, we realize–once again–that Tolkien doesn’t give us an encyclopedic answer, but instead lays out some boundaries that help us better understand where fa...
18 Jul 202346min
59. Talking Tolkien with Renowned Artist Ted Nasmith
Ted Nasmith has been creating visions of Middle-earth since the early 1970s when he decided to send JRR Tolkien one of his early pieces–and the professor responded with encouragement! In addition to ...
11 Jul 202347min
58. Is Star Wars a Fairy Story? – On Fairy Stories, Part 1
This week, Michael, Dan, and I discuss the first part of Tolkien’s seminal essay “On Fairy Stories”, where Tolkien defines what a fairy (aka fantasy) story is. Why is this important? Well, the “fairy ...
4 Jul 20230s
