Nothing but the same old story

This generation shares its culture using a range of brave new media, but the stories are the same as those told around the fire by our ancestors, writes Louise Holden

Disposable culture, globalisation, instant gratification: this generation is often accused of having weak values and no sense of the past. Nothing is passed down any more: everything is immediate. Nothing is sacred, everything is used up and thrown away.

What we forget is that new media outlets - TV, the Internet, mobile technology - are new ways of telling our stories. They are as valuable to this generation as sean nós and storytelling were to our ancestors. Film is one of the most popular media of this generation and while new technologies have expanded the language of film, the stories we tell are broadly the same.

The film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien comes at a time when people are supposed to be disillusioned with traditional values. Blinded by technology and a sense of our own power, we supposedly rate sophistication over simplicity, selfishness over loyalty and information over wisdom. And yet our love of Tolkien's story and of other moral tales - Star Wars, Harry Potter - suggests that we haven't really changed that much at all.

Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings has only been around for 50 years, but it has the air of a very ancient tale. As it unites mythological themes from cultures dating back over thousands of years and spanning the globe, it appeals to a very wide audience.

The book's ongoing popularity lies in its embrace of a wide range of universal themes: good versus evil, concern for the environment, the corruption of the powerful and the concept of freedom under attack from dark forces.

The book's central quest, or anti-quest, as it has been described, involves the destruction of the Ring, or a move away from power and knowledge. This has particular resonance for today as we debate whether or not it is possible to throw away some of the riskier knowledge we have gained (genetic engineering, nuclear power) and return to innocence for our own good.

Because many Tolkien readers have come to regard The Lord of the Rings as almost sacred, director Peter Jackson faced an enormous challenge bringing the epic to the screen. Imagine the pressure that a director would face if he attempted to make a film version of the Bible - for many Tolkien fans Jackson was taking on a similarly ambitious challenge.

REPRESENTING Tolkien's fabulous characters in a way that could come close the imagination of the average reader demanded marvellous special-effects technology. However, one of The Lord of the Rings' key themes is a distrust of technology and a longing for a return to simplicity and wisdom. Ironically, it is the progress of information and technology which has made a satisfying film version of Tolkien's fantasy possible.

Tolkien was not precious about his work - he believed that his creation, Middle Earth, could be enhanced by other art forms - music, art and drama. This process of taking a story and adding to it over generations is the essence of the ancient story-telling tradition. Author Brian Sibley said of the film: "Jackson has taken the myth of Middle Earth one stage further, which is how myths are born. I see Peter Jackson as part of the mythic process which was begun by Tolkien when he wrote the first line of that book."

When Jackson decided to create a film version of the world's favourite book, he faced into a complicated set of challenges. A work of literature can never be faithfully recreated on screen - film speaks in a different language. The director "authors" his own version of the story using the language of cinema. Using that language, Peter Jackson has told Tolkien's story again, and has brought to it a wealth of new aspects that a book alone could not provide. The dark green glow of the Hobbit nights, the black and flame of Dark Lord's kingdom and the silver sheen of every Elven scene are imprinted in our minds in a new way, thanks to Jackson's vision.

The Internet did not exist when Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, but the book's Seeing Stones may be regarded as a foreshadow of the world wide web. The character Gandalf distrusts the Seeing Stones. Like the Internet, they communicate information to the viewer, but they also reveal information about the viewer to others and so, according to Gandalf, are not safe to use. Nonetheless, the Internet is a perfect medium for Tolkien fans to spread their passion for the book and to keep the story alive.

The Net seems to defy Tolkien's nostalgia for simple times and small communities, yet it has helped modern mythmaking and storytelling to thrive. In the last decade or so, Tolkien fans have taken to the Internet in their millions, establishing countless websites, chat groups, and other on-line communities devoted to Tolkien's writings.

Who knows how we will tell our stories in the future - technology is moving fast. But it is a mistake to equate technological progress with loss of regard for old values. The media have changed, but the stories remain the same.