Image via Wikimedia Commons
I’ve just started reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit to my daughter. While much of the nuance and the references to Tolkienian deep time are lost on her, she easily grasps the distinctive charms of the characters, the nature of their journey, and the perils, wonders, and Elven friends they have met along the way so far. She is familiar with fairy tale dwarfs and mythic wizards, though not with the typology of insular, middle-class, adventure-averse country gentry, thus Hobbits themselves took a bit of explaining.
While reading and discussing the book with her, I’ve wondered to myself about a possible historical relationship between Tolkien’s fairy tale figures and those of the Walt Disney company which appeared around the same time. The troupe of dwarves in The Hobbit might possibly share a common ancestor with Snow White’s dwarfs—in the German fairy tale the Brothers Grimm first published in 1812. But here is where any similarity between Tolkien and Disney begins and ends.
In fact, Tolkien mostly hated Disney’s creations, and he made these feelings very clear. Snow White debuted only months after The Hobbit’s publication in 1937. As it happened, Tolkien went to see the film with literary friend and sometime rival C.S. Lewis. Neither liked it very much. In a 1939 letter, Lewis granted that “the terrifying bits were good, and the animals really most moving.” But he also called Disney a “poor boob” and lamented “What might not have come of it if this man had been educated—or even brought up in a decent society?”
Tolkien, notes Atlas Obscura, “found Snow White lovely, but otherwise wasn’t pleased with the dwarves. To both Tolkien and Lewis, it seemed, Disney’s dwarves were a gross oversimplification of a concept they held as precious”—the concept, that is, of fairy stories. Some might brush away their opinions as two Oxford dons gazing down their noses at American mass entertainment. As Tolkien scholar Trish Lambert puts it, “I think it grated on them that he [Disney] was commercializing something that they considered almost sacrosanct.”
“Indeed,” writes Steven D. Greydanus at the National Catholic Register, “it would be impossible to imagine” these two authors “being anything but appalled by Disney’s silly dwarfs, with their slapstick humor, nursery-moniker names, and singsong musical numbers.” One might counter that Tolkien’s dwarves (as he insists on pluralizing the word), also have funny names (derived, however, from Old Norse) and also break into song. But he takes pains to separate his dwarves from the common run of children’s story dwarfs.
Tolkien would later express his reverence for fairy tales in a scholarly 1947 essay titled “On Fairy Stories,” in which he attempts to define the genre, parsing its differences from other types of marvelous fiction, and writing with awe, “the realm of fairy story is wide and deep and high.” These are stories to be taken seriously, not dumbed-down and infantilized as he believed they had been. “The association of children and fairy-stories,” he writes, “is an accident of our domestic history.”
Tolkien wrote The Hobbit for young people, but he did not write it as a “children’s book.” Nothing in the book panders, not the language, nor the complex characterization, nor the grown-up themes. Disney’s works, on the other hand, represented to Tolkien a cheapening of ancient cultural artifacts, and he seemed to think that Disney’s approach to films for children was especially condescending and cynical.
He described Disney’s work on the whole as “vulgar” and the man himself, in a 1964 letter, as “simply a cheat,” who is “hopelessly corrupted” by profit-seeking (though he admits he is “not innocent of the profit-motive” himself).
…I recognize his talent, but it has always seemed to me hopelessly corrupted. Though in most of the ‘pictures’ proceeding from his studios there are admirable or charming passages, the effect of all of them is to me disgusting. Some have given me nausea…
This explication of Tolkien’s dislike for Disney goes beyond mere gossip to an important practical upshot: Tolkien would not allow any of his works to be given the Walt Disney treatment. While his publisher approached the studios about a Lord of the Rings adaptation (they were turned down at the time), most scholars think this happened without the author’s knowledge, which seems a safe assumption to say the least.
Tolkien’s long history of expressing negative opinions about Disney led to his later forbidding, “as long as it was possible,” any of his works to be produced “by the Disney studios (for all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing).” Astute readers of Tolkien know his serious intent in even the most comic of his characters and situations. Or as Vintage News’ Martin Chalakoski writes, “there is not a speck of Disney in any of those pages.”
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in 2018.
Related Content:
J.R.R. Tolkien Snubs a German Publisher Asking for Proof of His “Aryan Descent” (1938)
110 Drawings and Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien: Of Middle-Earth and Beyond
J. R. R. Tolkien Writes & Speaks in Elvish, a Language He Invented for The Lord of the Rings
Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC.
Times change. Disney should be allowed to bring Middle Earth to Disney theme parks.
Did you honestly read the article?
Cause everything they have touched is but a modern day mockery or a disgusting parody of older IP’s.
Star wars is stagnant, Indiana Jones is dead in the water, and the Muppets are stuck in limbo.
They would only turn Lotrs, into an artificial sugary mess oozing with commercialization and stripped of it’s language and identity till it looks like Candy Land. So you think that’s a good idea?
Out of respect for the author of a powerful, and exhaustive body of work, Disney should not have a chance to do anything to LOTR or Middle Earth.
It’s not a question of social norms today, or Disney’s evolution over time, it’s a question of respect for the creator and his clear, explicit, and clear headed opinions.
Why did Disney need to adapt this story? Disney is just Disney, it’s not worth ruining J.R.R. Tolkien’s dignified stance to give them a project. Even in the 21st Century, some things must and can stay sacred.
Absolutely no!
There are constant rumors (and I think that’s all they are at this point) that Universal’s Epic theme park will be expanded to include a Tolkien section. In fact, I heard this mentioned in the most recent episode of Disney Food Blog on YouTube (but that doesn’t mean it’s true).
Tolkien writes of dwarves and elves because this is standard in British English. If you prefer dwarfs and elfs, enjoy your Americana. By the way, fawn is spelled faun (CS Lewis). Mark Twain, as in, two countries separated by a common language.
Disney should have adapted Charles Dickens. Disney doing the “Pickwick Papers” or “The Old Curiosity Shop” would make more sense.
Tolkien blandly assumed that no American could adapt his works. I’d put the Rankin and Brass “Hobbit” up against the 3D trilogy they did a few years ago.
Tolkien, a man of many wonderful virtues simply couldn’t get beyond his upbringing to see much of any worth in America. It’s kind of sad really, much like Orwell he ignored America because he was trained to. Orwell’s blindness cost him his life which penicillin might have saved. Tolkien never paid a similar price.
While I have my own set of issues with all three of these people. Disney was a cultural pioneer. He wasnt a writer, he was a creative dreamer. His influence changed the world.
The advancement to engineering in the building Disney Land and Disney World alone is significant.
I dont see Tolkien or Lewis making any significant contributions. While I enjoy reading their stories.… that’s about it.
Tolkien sounds like an Effite Snob.
He’s criticizing Disney circa 1933 to 1972 when they were at their Best, Peter Pan, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Fantasia which are all Masterpieces.
I appreciate his works as literary classics but this insane cult like worship of this man is ridiculous.
( People Condemning Rings of Power because it’s Not ” Tolkien” whatever the Hell that means )
Also people are confusing Disney under Walt with Disney under Iger which are two different companies entirely.
ALL OF THIS 💯💯💯💯💯
WELL SAID 👍👍👍
Agreed 100%!
Yeah,after what disney has done to Star Wars, that is an emphatic HELL NO!!
Lol, Disney wouldn’t make LotR “Candy Land”. Modern Disney would just make it lame and gay. Disney doesn’t sugar coat everything anymore, just gay-code everything.
Although, Amazon has done a great job at doing that already. Amazon killed LotR without Disney’s help.
Assuming you may be GenX like me… we were the first generation really brought up with a metric sh!t‑ton of IPs.I think we assumed they were all timeless… and I also think we’re learning that they’re not. Sure, some have more staying power than others, but some just wither and die, or worse, become unrecognizable.
6–7, my friend, 6–7
Your’s like Tolkien’s & Lewis’is an opinion and we all know what opinions are like…
Rings of Power is in my opinion respectful of Tolkien. I love that series very much. Why criticize that and not Peter Jackson? Parts of LOTRs was brilliant, but much if it was awful, making changes to pander to a US audience, like skateboarding Legolas in The 2 Towers. The Hobbit movies were plain offensive to the Tolkien name and clearly a money spinner. And the War of the Rohirrim was a box office flop. As a Tolkien fan, I’m staying well away from anything more that Tolkien churns out. As for Rop, I can’t wait for series 3. For one, it has no skateboarding elves.
Rings of Power is in my opinion respectful of Tolkien. I love that series very much. Why criticize that and not Peter Jackson? Parts of LOTRs was brilliant, but much if it was awful, making changes to pander to a US audience, like skateboarding Legolas in The 2 Towers. The Hobbit movies were plain offensive to the Tolkien name and clearly a money spinner. And the War of the Rohirrim was a box office flop. As a Tolkien fan, I’m staying well away from anything more that Tolkien churns out. As for Rop, I can’t wait for series 3. For one, it has no skateboarding elves.
I decided to start watching Rings of Power, and I know that Amazon didn’t have that much material to adapt, but the series is an affront compared to the legendary work of Tolkien. They get everything wrong, in such an obvious matter, the geography of the map, names of the city, they put characters in situations that have nothing to do with it, it’s all a mess. They took the celebrity character and made the elf so weak, it’s pitiful, Galadriel is irritating, full of arrogance, not even close to the great elf she is, and let’s talk about Elrond and Galadriel’s kiss, I believe that the screenwriters and directors traveled well, they don’t read Tolkien, they don’t have a shred of knowledge of the work.
Beware of the wormtounge ^
As a child I loved anything Disney while a cartoon version of Tolkien’s The hobbit scared me. But as I’ve matured, I’ve grown to appreciate Tolkien’s stories and have found Disney’s to be ‘sickly sweet’. Their works have a completely different feel and purpose. It’s understandable that Tolkien wouldn’t want his artistic work to be skewed in a way to make its feel and purpose unrecognizable.
Precisely. Disney cares nothing for preserving literature. Disney only cares about its bottom line, and has thus far infantilized and distorted beyond recognition almost every story they have laid their hands on. The retelling of any story should enhance it, not bastardize it until it’s meaningless.
Just cannot stand Walt Disney. He was a nazi pedophile and anything he touched was made awful. Americans think Winnie the pooh is American ! In fact all the really half decent films are British and even then you have to be careful as Walt has his fingers in the pie!
I think the Disney Company should be kept busy adapting Anthony Trollope’s novels. The Eustace Diamonds come to mind.
He definitely did not like Jews, had no respect for Women and looked down on black people.…but where the Hell did you get the Pedophile thing from??
Sounds like the same deep feelings felt by people who hate Trump so deeply it makes them mentally ill, aka Trump Derangement Syndrome-TDS. In Tolkien’s case it would be DDS, Disney Derangement Syndrome 😂
Totally agree with Clarabell’s assessment. If Tolkien wanted nothing to do with Disney then he would be mortified by the most recent adaptation of The Hobbit. Even Jackson’s lauded LOTR turned dwarves into comic relief and in my opinion were ok movies but terrible adaptations. ROP on the other hand, although far from perfect, captures at least more of the respect for the genre. Of all the Tolkien inspired works, it’s my favorite, but that’s not to say I think it’s even close to what Tolkien created. They’re different mediums for different audiences and so I’ll take what I can get.
The spelling “dwarves” was never standard in any country begore Tolkien. He knew that and recognized it in one of his letters.
Hate to break it to you but literature is many times more important than engineering.
The most interesting part of the article for me was getting a glimpse of an old-world sensibility reacting to the technological marvel of animation with disgust and alienation. Some of my earliest memories are watch cartoons animals on a screen as my consciousness was still forming. To imagine two fully grown sensitive men encountering it as a new development and rejecting it as unwholesome, gives me perspective on what’s specific to my own mental architecture.
“Nothing in the book panders…”
Michael Moorcock begs to differ.
No.
Absolutely not.
You must be a gen Z, so much anger and hate. Walt Disney was not a Nazi pedophile, your disdain is uncalled for and obviously you are not aware of his history. He was as someone else pointed out, a dreamer a weaver of fantasy and creativity. There’s room for all creatives, it’s not limited to British culture and authors.
You are poorly informed. Orwell died of a ruptured pulmonary artery. Penicillin does NOT repair that.
I found all things Disney as creepy,even as a child. Didn’t like their cartoons or movies, had no desire to ever visit a Disney property. Hard pass on all things Disney.
It would be an abomination and a betrayal of all Tolkien’s sensibilities to put his works through the Disney machine. I cannot even watch Disney nature specials, they are so saccharine and artificial-drama creating they are unwatchable.
Disney doesn’t reflect the world or it’s beauty, richness and diversity. It only provides a pasteurized, anodyne, inoffensive version of any story. It is a shame (for instance) that the memory of the great works of Lewis Carroll and the Brothers Grimm will now forever be tainted and bastardized by the Disney cultural annihilator.
It is well documented that Walt Disney would electrocute babies, by the hundreds, in a huge pool and then have sex with the bodies. He had secret underground bunkers where he would mutilate animals and people into creature modeled after his animated characters. He also kissed his dad on the mouth. I rest my case.
Disney DID adapt a Dickens story…or have you never heard of ‘Oliver and Company’?
Its amazing to hear all the comments of adults hating Disney stories and m9vies that were made for children. May be Disney characters are “dumbed down”, for lack of a better expression, but when your main audience are children, is it not a parent’s job to protect them from the harsh realities of life as long as they can? I’m saying that parents can’t or shouldn’t, but if one had the choice to have their little enjoy the silliness of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the LoTRs before bed, perhaps the Disney might be more likely to give them pleasant dreams. Why is that one has to love one or the other? Its much like the way may view Christmas! Young ones love Santa and the elves making gifts, teens like the gifts and money, but all like the holiday! Everything has its place, so why is there so much hate and fighting?!
I’ve never disagreed more with someone. What a terrible take, in complete contradiction with this article as well. Shame on you.
My ass it should
…its kind of like adults getting upset over the live action remakes of Disney cartoons. While it may disappoint them that the remakes don’t live up to what they remember, but the remake is for enjoyment many of children. Did they like it? While the author of LoTHs may not have been impressed by Disney’s take on elves and dwarfs, but do children?! The movie was not necessarily made for the parents that brought their children to see the film and if the children are happy, the patent made not have to like the film!
…its kind of like adults getting upset over the live action remakes of Disney cartoons. While it may disappoint them that the remakes don’t live up to what they remember, but the remake is for enjoyment many of children. Did they like it? While the author of LoTHs may not have been impressed by Disney’s take on elves and dwarfs, but do children?! The movie was not necessarily made for the parents that brought their children to see the film and if the children are happy, the patent made not have to like the film! Just a thought.
Just NO
Thanks for posting about the spelling of dwarves! I always assumed that “dwarves” was the correct spelling because I read “The Hobbit” & LOTR as a kid. So it’s just the difference between British & American spellings. As an English teacher, I find these differences fascinating!
I don’t know about “elves”, but at the time Tolkien wrote about “dwarves”, “dwarfs” was the accepted plural, even in England. Tolkien’s editor even corrected “dwarves” to “dwarfs” in Tolkien’s work. Tolkien was the one who popularized the use of “dwarves”.
Tolkien said that the actual plural of dwarf was dwarrow, but he didn’t like the sound of it. So, he used dwarves instead.
So, pre-1937, “dwarfs” was standard British English.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists dwarfs as the standard and notes that Tolkien popularized dwarves as an alternative to be used for fantasy and mythical beings.
Also a story theif…
Can you back up these serious charges with actual facts? There’s a ton of documentation about Disney’s life to draw upon, so please provide sources.
And if you can’t immediately pinpoint where your information came from, then you really don’t know enough to be commenting on a person’s life, hard stop.
And if you say you don’t have the time to provide sources, then maybe you should invest your time in reading rather than commenting. Second hard stop.
The comment above was in response to “A griffin.”
Will,
The word “pedophile” in the description of Walt Disney, is a common tactic of the “Entitled American Liberal” in their efforts toward “negative marketing” much in the same way the term “gluten-free” is used to sell items naturally devoid of “gluten”. It is a terrible game of “Capitalistic Semantics” (a term I have just come to mind).
A fawn is a young deer. A faun is a mythical creature (½ man,½ goat I think) from classical/pagan antiquity. Cf the god Pan.
The standard plurals are: elf, elves; dwarf, dwarfs. It was a peculiarity of Tolkien’s that he invented the usage dwarves for his particular inhabitants of Middle Earth.
I appreciate your stepping in to defend Tolkien’s use of “dwarves.” If your comment hadn’t been here, I’d have left one of my own, as I was taken aback by the surprisingly backhanded tone of “as he insists on pluralizing the word” in the article. I mean, if you’re going to be sneer at someone’s usage, it seems to me that you should do a deep dive on the etymology of the word to make sure you’re not embarrassing yourself publicly before you do. It’s not exactly as if the answers aren’t at your fingertips these days.
You make it sound like gay is bad.
Absolutely not. And especially not today. Disney is worse than it’s ever been. They’d cram some modern politics in there that are antithetical to Tolkien
No, rings of power, aside from some writing errors, philosophically clashes with Tolkien which is the number one reason for why I can’t stand it
No. There is a big difference between “pandering” and writing what about what you love and are passionate about which is what Tolkien did. Disney is just doing the former today.
They could if Tolkien’s works enter the public domain, where they arguably belong.
No.Just no. Times have not changed. Keep LOTR away from Disney.
It can be.
No, Disney did not electrocute babies or any of that other nonsense. You need to go get a room with Candace Owens and STFU nutjob.