president vs king lord of the rings gollum memes

Strangely influential, perhaps because many poli-sci geeks see the Ring as an allegory for nuclear weapons or the corruption of tyranny.

Political discourse: 'Frodo failed, X has the ring' or 'Y is like the One Ring, everyone wants it'.

'Tolkien is Hobbit-forming.' Also, anything having to do with Hobbits.

'Frodo Lives!' and 'Gandalf for President,' both popular rallying cries from The '60s.Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

Explanation The explanation behind the meme. Please add entries in the following format: The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.One does not simply walk into the meme page. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. SIMON: Or Bilgin Ciftci could just say that he thought Gollum was Leonardo DiCaprio and President Erdogan ought to be flattered.Ĭopyright © 2015 NPR. But in the grand scheme of things, he, in fact, will be the one to save us all from domination of an evil power. The ring with which Gollum is infatuated that gives its bearer the power of world domination, Gollum is the character who destroys it.ĭROUT: You know, I'm trying to put my best lawyer spin on this, right, is that what the comparison to Gollum is really saying is that from the outside, the president looks evil and grasping and just seeking power on his own. SIMON: Professor Drout says he sees one argument that might spare the doctor jail time. MICHAEL DROUT: Gollum is not meant to be a pure evil character ever.

The judge overseeing the case has postponed it until February to give a group of experts time to answer the question, how evil is Gollum? What would you say? Michael Drout is a professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and a widely published Tolkien scholar. Gollum isn't as well-known in Turkey as he is in, say, most American middle schools. SIMON: But the case against Bilgin Ciftci will take time. Why? He posted a meme - side-by-side pictures comparing Turkey's President Erdogan to the character Gollum from 'Lord Of The Rings,' Gollum, that small, slimy creature who lives on raw, blind fish and is obsessed with putting his knobby hands on the one ring to rule them all. Bilgin Ciftci, who is a doctor in Turkey, has been fired from his government job and faces up to two years in jail.

President vs king lord of the rings gollum memes