I’m stealing this from Josh, who posted this on his weblog but not here (yet), because I really want to irritate Eric Spratling. It’s an argument from a commentator at the UK Telegraph that Lord of the Rings is one of our greatest works of art ever. Eric isn’t exactly a fan of Peter Jackson’s epic, you see.

I’m not saying I share either of their opinions, by the way, nor do I really agree with this critic’s analysis. For one thing, Sean Astin isn’t even mentioned and he was one of the best actors in the trilogy.

Also, the notion that Americans won’t vote for the film because we’re so pro-American that we couldn’t support an English (or Kiwi, actually) movie is absurd. If anything, the current “war fever” (I’ll not argue the point) has Americans identifying very deeply with the Hobbits and humans who find that open war is upon them whether they like it or not. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone out of 300 million people muttering about what an unamerican film this is because it’s made by a bunch of limeys. I just don’t think the origins of the film will bother anyone when it comes to voting for the Oscars.

Okay, if the film were French, it wouldn’t have a chance in hell. But aside from that…

Eh, who really cares about the Oscars, honestly. I mean, ever since 1982 when best costume went to Gandhi over TRON, I realized that they were biased, unfair and weighted against popular films. I mean, come on. One film is made in India with people dressed the way they dress in India, and the other required the designer to create illuminated plastic clothing! It’s a no-brainer!

Mutter mutter mutter.