Immerse yourself in Tolkien's Middle-earth on Thursday, October 1st, from 2:00 - 5:30 PM for Fellowship, Fantasy, Film: Tolkien on the Big Screen and Beyond. Join Faculty members as they reflect on the books' and adaptations' influence on popular culture and society. This afternoon of Scholarship and Conversation will feature four faculty talks and light refreshments. 

Featured Speakers: 

Paul Cote: On Hobbits and Hippies: Tolkien and the End of The New Hollywood 2:15 - 3:00 PM 

By the late 1970s, the anti-establishment rebellion of Hollywood's American New Wave was rapidly giving way to the age of the crowd-pleasing blockbuster. In this period, Tolkien emerged as an unlikely influence on a handful of filmmakers still trying to make experimental counter-cultural films on a large scale. In this talk, we'll explore the influence that the Lord of the Rings novels had on directors like John Boorman, Ralph Bakshi, and Jim Henson, and discover why Tolkien's work - now the heart of a massive multimedia franchise - was once seen as a hopeful alternative to blockbuster escapism. 

Peter Grybauskas: "Ridiculously Long Sandwiches": Notes on the Elder Days of Tolkien Film Adaptation 3:00 - 3:45 PM

Chip Crane: Book vs. Film: Understanding Tolkien through Peter Jackson's Lens 4:00 - 5:00 PM

What are some of Peter Jackson’s most important changes to The Lord of the Rings in adapting it from book to screen? We will look at a few of these and discuss how Jackson’s changes to heroism, agency, and the nature of evil for 21st-century audiences can also help us better understand Tolkien’s text.

Porter Olsen: One More Step: Of Boundary Crossings and Courage in Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings 5:00 - 5:30 PM