Saul Zaentz dies on Tolkien's birthday

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Straelbora
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Location: Indianapolis, IN USA

Saul Zaentz dies on Tolkien's birthday

Post by Straelbora »

Some of you may have read that Saul Zaentz, the producer of the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" films, passed away on Tolkien's birthday.

Not sure how much I've posted here about Saul Zaentz- I have mixed feelings, frankly, most of them negative.

I thought it was ironic that he passed away on the anniversary of the Professor's birth, like one last way to cash in on someone else's genius.

One the one hand, Zaentz got the "Lord of the Rings" and later "Hobbit" films made. Imperfect as they may be, the broadened the appeal of Tolkien's works to an incredibly larger world, and allowed some phenomenal imaginings of Middle Earth and its various races to take physical form on a scale that wouldn't have happened without the films. This forum might not exist, but for the films.

On the other hand, Zaentz was personally responsible for the 'Disneyfication' of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings." Zaentz had a long history in both the film and music industries as someone who basically screwed creators out of their rights and who ignored creators wishes regarding their works and how they would be used.

As he approached his death, Professor Tolkien feared that his family would be saddled with huge inheritence taxes such as were in place in the early '70s in the UK. So he sold the film rights to United Artists, a film studio for which he had respect. UA later sold the rights to Zaentz. This began the mostly antagonistic relationship between Saul Zaentz d/b/a (doing business as) Tolkien Enterprises and Christopher Tolkien as the executor of the Tolkien Estate.

My biggest complaints about Tolkien Enterprises are, especially since the films came out, the tactics of trade marking everything in the books, licensing every last imaginable knick knack, and the very aggressive crushing of independent artists who wanted to sell their paintings, jewelry, etc. inspired by Professor Tolkien's writings.

For those who may not know, copy right expires, and the idea was that if an author's ideas survived long enough after his or her demise, they have become part of the culture; the author and his or her descendants have had a long enough time to financially benefit from the writings, and now it's society's turn to fully enjoy them. For example, think of all the creative endeavors, from "The Wiz" to "Wicked," which have followed Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz" becoming public domain. This process, unless something fundamental changes, will never happen to Professor Tolkien's writings. Tolkien Enterprises trade marked 'Bilbo,' 'Frodo,' 'hobbit,' and every other proper noun all the way to 'Trollshaws.' Trade mark is forever. There will never be a time when someone can produce written, painted, plastic or other art derived from "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings" without first seeking permission from and second, paying a cut, to the biological and corporate descendents of Saul Zaentz.

Not to speak ill of the dead, but when I see on Facebook all these people talking about Zaentz 'going off to the West,' etc. , I don't think they realize how Tolkien himself would have reacted to Zaentz' actions, and how those actions will take Professor Tolkien's works and 'in the corporate trade mark bind them.'
Vápnum sínum skala maðr velli á
feti ganga framar því at óvist er at vita
nær verðr á vegum úti geirs um þörf guma
Hávamál
Laothain
Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
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Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 2:53 am

Re: Saul Zaentz dies on Tolkien's birthday

Post by Laothain »

I hadn't heared that he had passed. But that does suck that he did that.
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