| Clearly y'all have not heard the fine alternative audio commentary for Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky :
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/unused-audio-commentary-b... It's really a joke, but hysterically brilliant. (Edit - including a snippet of the 'commentary' below): ZINN: You’ve spoken to me before about Mordor’s lack of access to the mineral wealth that the Dwarves control. CHOMSKY: If we’re going to get into the socio-economic reasons why certain structures develop in certain cultures… it’s mainly geographical. We have Orcs in Mordor — trapped, with no mineral resources — hemmed in by the Ash Mountains, where the “free peoples” of Middle Earth can put a city, like Osgiliath, and effectively keep the border closed. ZINN: Don’t forget the Black Gate. The Black Gate, which, as Tolkien points out, was built by Gondor. And now we jump to the Orcs chopping down the trees in Isengard. CHOMSKY: A terrible thing the Orcs do here, isn’t it? They destroy nature. But again, what have we seen, time and time again? ZINN: The Orcs have no resources. They’re desperate. CHOMSKY: Desperate people driven to do desperate things. ZINN: Desperate to compete with the economic powerhouses of Rohan and Gondor. |