The Lord of the Rings (Revisited): A MODieval Middle Earth

The Medieval Revival of the 1960s and '70s coincided and communicated closely with the LOTR books' surge in popularity at that time.

Hippies and other sects of 1960s counterculture adopted the Shire and the Hobbits as their own, and produced expressions of art and culture that Tolkien was really kind of a curmudgeon about.

In this episode we explore how medievalism (or MODievalism) permeated 1960s pop culture, in art, literature, media, and fashion.

We also look at how different versions of Middle Earth were envisioned by various artists, from those influenced by the hippies' love for the books, to the artist Alan Lee, whose work reflected a reverence for Tolkien's particular preferences and went on to influence the aesthetics of the Peter Jackson films.

See the images we reference on our Instagram.

Further Reading:

LitHub article on Alan Lee's illustrations

American Cinematographer article on visualization in the Jackson films

Collection of Tolkien's own drawings and paintings

Sampling of LOTR book covers

Hobbits and Hippies article from BBC

Anti-War Adoption of The Lord of the Rings paper

Medieval revival of the 1960s and 1970s blog post