Elves: *Cinematic* Soviet Analogy

From: James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_mail.bol.bg>
Date: Sat, 06 May 2000 01:04:04 +0200

Alex Ferguson on Elves:
>Certainly an evil communist empire: but a rather too successful one
>(at least internally) to be a good Soviet Analogue(TM).
No, not the Soviets as they were: the Soviets as they *should* have been, if the American cinema of the 1950s had had its way. "Invasion USA," (the 1950s version), "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers" and sundry other bad movies. (I remember one where not attending PTA meetings was tantamount to letting the Filthy Reds just move in.) 1950s Hollywood, where the Soviets all march in step, look menacing, have diabolical powers of persuasion, etc. etc.

Just imagine, the loathesome tendrils of the forests creeping beneath your stead, infiltrating, worming their way in, for *years* until <WHAM!> You wake up and there's a bunch of elves with bows pointed at your head, herding you off to the camps. Seedling trees rise up out of your field. Your children are to be raised by the New Order, your local rulers are "accidentally lost" in the forest. The horror! The horror!

I still suspect that, among the many subconscious images in Greg's mind,  "communist" elves and "fascist*" dwarves are lurking around in there. (How much this really developed Gloranth's development is another question. But I'll bet if I got him liquored up, he'd say stuff to support my theory. Possibly even coherent stuff.)

Which means that the Uz, of course, are the hard-fightin', hard-livin' defenders of ultra-individualism and capitalism, of course. (The average uzuz Great Mother has the kind of freedom and power a 19th century American Robber Baron could only *dream* of. And what are the odds the enlo are gonna have enough backbone to form unions?)

Now, if I could only get this idea introduced into the Republican Party platform for 2000, I could create tens of millions of potential uz players in the US, skyrocket HW sales and *really* distort the hell out of the Hero Wars player demographics. Hoo-rah!

Jamuz

• *Not* Nazis, I stress, but fascists, in the Payne typology. If anyone really gives a hoot, my breakdown of Dwarf Machism can be found at: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gerakkag/barksism.html

A few stiff drinks may help before reading.

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