Elijah Woods as Frodo Baggins and Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee

The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Remove the profit motive and the need for a happy ending. What stories are left?

In this time of epic hardship, is it more important to talk about the world as it is, show it in all its gore and reality in a mirror, or as it should be or at least could be?

Is the human cruelty, selfishness and fatalism of “Game of Thrones” the quintessential narrative for western culture? Or is the kindness, selfless hope through suffering and triumph of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy a better story to tell?

According to scholars who study the role of narrative in human psychology, the redemption story is always there in American optimism, underpinned by hope that “things will get better.”

But it’s also there in the story of American exceptionalism, or the idea that we can make things better. Even one little person can make a difference.

It seems to be in the water in the United States, in the air, and it’s certainly in our heads, because it has been drilled into us our entire lives by parents, schools, government, news articles and movies. Although that hope can be challenged daily during a time of great stress like what the country and its people have faced especially over the past year, as well as the past four years.

Studies have shown that finding a positive meaning in negative events is linked to a more complex sense of self and greater life satisfaction, perhaps making those stories more important to tell. And even controlling for general optimism, Dan McAdams, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University, along with Erika Manczak, in a chapter for the APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, say having more redemption sequences in a life story is associated with higher well-being.

“Life stories do not simply reflect personality. They are personality, or more accurately, they are important parts of personality, along with other parts, like dispositional traits, goals, and values,” McAdams says.

The trouble comes when redemption isn’t possible. The redemptive American tale is one of privilege, and for those who can’t control their circumstances, and have little reason to believe things will get better, it can be an illogical and unattainable choice. There are things that happen to people that cannot be redeemed.

Enter the great conspiracy theories of our time. Some people are out there on the internet searching for alternative narratives that explain their lack of success and disillusionment with the popular narratives.

And there are people out there like Alex Jones, Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump who are more than willing to capitalize on those alternative narratives for their own ends of political power and capitalist wealth.

I don’t practice journalism just because I have to for money. I do it because I know that creating the right sort of narrative might at times bring about a better fate for the people of the world.

So maybe it’s no wonder that I tend to gravitate to stories like the ones told in Tolkien’s work, not that of George R. R. Martin, who wrote another series of fantasy novels called A Song of Ice and Fire, which is what the “Game of Thrones” series was based on.

While there are days when there is scant evidence of hope that people are smart enough to save themselves from the coming disasters that will inevitably be much worse than the coronavirus pandemic, telling a story with no hope would only make matters worse. The only hope for a desirable future from this day forward is to offer stories of hope. If fear and death are all we have to look forward to, why would anyone go on?

We can’t all live our lives based on the biggest conspiracy theory of them all, however, that an invisible savior will protect us from the inevitable horrible end of all life on Earth.

We need some hope that life on Earth can and will go on long after we are gone.

So I encourage people who have not ever taken the time to read Tolkein or to watch the films that bring his work to life by director Peter Jackson to take the time. Don’t just watch them for the entertainment value alone. Try to get the point that life is hard, survival is a struggle, but there is hope of another tomorrow with peace and glee.

It’s true that the films conclude with a happier ending than what Tolkein wrote. The Shire may have looked more like a modern suburban hell in the books than how it comes out in the film version. But in this case, a Hollywood Happy ending seems more in order than a dark, hellish end. It may not be the ultimate truth, but it is the ultimate hope, without which, why would anyone endure the struggle of this life to even try to create a better future?

At one point late in the story of The Return of the King, when hope seemed almost lost, Sam Gamgee kept the ring bearing hero Frodo Baggins going with this speech.

“It’s like in the great stories … The ones that really matter. Full of darkness and danger … Sometimes you didn’t want to know the ending. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened?

“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing. The shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

“But I think … I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.”

“What are we holding on to Sam,” Frodo asks, forlorn, tired and weak.

“There’s some good in this world,” Sam says, “and it’s worth fighting for.”

See the scene in the ending to this video clip, and find hope for yourself and all of us in this story.

The music is sort of inspirational as well.