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Podcast: Science Fiction
Episode: Lord of the Rings and the fascist fantasy
Description: Fascism lures people in with a fantasy of return to older, better times. A golden age before the modern world. Nazi Germany had the fantasy of the Third Reich and the Ubermensch. Today the Russia of Vladimir Putin has a fantasy of a Eurasian Empire and the Return of the Tsar.
Critics of Lord of the Rings sometimes compare JRR Tolkien's fantasy to the fantasies of fascism. Is Lord of the Rings a fascist fantasy? Or did Tolkien create a mythos beyond the understanding of his critics?
00:00 An alternate history of England
03:59 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast
07:17 The rise...