Stupid orcs. Stupid fellowship. Stupid ring. Funny parodies.
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And now, on to the Diaries. Which is why you all came here in the first place.
The first Lord of the Rings movie was closely scrutinised by Tolkien fans, much talked about by the press, and much anticipated as a merchandising bonanza by the studio execs and foreign investors. Meanwhile, some of us got sick of the whole phenomenon before the trailers were even being shown in theatres. I was one such a person. I did attend the movie (I was on the planet, after all) in the company of friends, on Christmas Day. I went once and as such did my duty as a human being living in a first-world nation. I wasn't interested in going again. I wasn't interested in seeing the other two films.
And then...
A woman wrote up fictional excerpts from the secret diaries of the movie characters. The first installment was released the same day that the movie hit theatres. Then she created another diary excerpt. And another. And still another.
Word spread through mailing lists, news groups, and blogs. Readers created graphics to go with the diary entries' themes. The phenomenon reached what anthropologists define as a cult: it had regular followers who actively recruit other followers, and all followers actively participate in the events, creating buttons and banners and like-sounding diary entries. Some of these "offerings" are posted in the comments after the original entries, but many are archived throughout the Internet, existing as one-off blog entries or smaller "drabble" pieces in other fan fiction archives.
You don't have to be a raging fan of Lord of the Rings to enjoy the diaries. It does help to have either read the book, or seen the movie at least once. To write your own...all you need is imagination and a wicked sense of humour.
Text on the following pages originally written by Cassie Claire (yep - Cassandra Claire wrote these before she got her book contracts). Reprinted with permission from the author.
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