Frodo Lives!
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"Frodo Lives!" was a popular counterculture slogan in the 1960s and 1970s, referring to the character Frodo Baggins from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The term was used frequently in graffiti, buttons, bumper-stickers, t-shirts, and other materials. It was commonly associated with the hippie movement. Other examples of use include a Frodo Lives album released by Smash Records and merchandising items for the New Line Cinema The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
“ | Hippies who may be pushing thirty wear buttons that read "Frodo Lives" and decorate their pads with maps of Middle Earth... | ” |
The term first became popular because of an increase in the availability and number of readers of the novel following release of the first paperback edition, which, up until that point, had been subject to rather mixed reviews.[2] While no longer as pervasive as it once was, the term continues to appear regularly in newspaper articles and popular culture related to Tolkien's stories.[3][4][5]
The term was often related to a mistaken belief that Frodo's journey into the West at the end of Tolkien's novel meant that he would live forever. In fact, Tolkien maintained that Frodo would still die, and traveled West only for healing.[6] Another meaning ascribed to the term, especially in later usage, is that Tolkien's work remains alive and popular.
Even today[when?], the term "Frodo Lives" is used in various media.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Roszak, Theodore (1995). The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition. University of California Press, 40. ISBN 0520201221.
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey (1977), Tolkien: A Biography, New York: Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-04-928037-6
- ^ Frodo Lives! A Spirited 'Lord of the Rings' (washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Harvard Gazette: ARTS
- ^ The Bastards Have Landed! The Official Peter Jackson Fanclub
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-31555-7