Bulletin

Issue: April 2004

Research in Action

Lord of the Rings proves we are one

Yes Virginia. There is an upside to globalisation! People all over the world, says Dr Sue Turnbull, may recognise and share the same social values, especially when it comes to film fantasy.

This proposition emerges from early findings of a world-wide research project of which La Trobe University is the Australian arm.

According to Dr Turnbull, a La Trobe University Media Studies lecturer, the research conducted in 20 countries was to gauge aspects of the phenomenon of the success of the third Lord of the Rings film.

Dr Turnbull said that because the film was set in a fantasy world - and not in a culture that filmgoers in any country could claim as entirely their own - it revealed that people of different cultures may share the same value system. They recognise and appreciate heroism, altruism, love - and the corrupting effects of power.

'Had the film been set in a cultural environment that people could recognise, it is likely that its global appeal would not have been as great,' Dr Turnbull said.

She said that Tolkien, who initially began his tale about Hobbits for his own children, wanted to provide England with a new national mythology. However, because the story is not set in contemporary England but in a mythical world, it has been appreciated by many different cultures.

Initiated by Professor Martin Barker of Aberystwyth University, Wales, the project used the launch of the final film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, in December 2003, to contribute to three specific areas of knowledge.

These were the extent of cross-national reception of international communications, the functions and role of fantasy within contemporary culture, and the role of marketing and publicity regimes in prefiguring the reception of a film.

Dr Turnbull was asked to carry out the Australian segment of the research. Armed with a long questionnaire, Dr Turnbull and two research assistants, Ms Sam Carroll and Mr Jonathon Oake, spent hours handing out questionnaires outside Melbourne cinemas where the film was playing.

From the Australian premier on Boxing Day until the end of January, they handed out hundreds of questionnaires, receiving back more than 500, which was more than some of the other countries participating in the survey - even New Zealand where much of the epic was filmed.

The La Trobe team is now in the process of conducting a number of follow-up interviews. The final results will be presented at a meeting of researchers from the 20 countries in Wales in December.

'Although there is still much analysis of the data to be done, some of our initial findings are quite surprising,' Dr Turnbull said. 'Between 70 and 80 per cent of all people who saw the film had read all three books in the trilogy and many had seen the films a number of times.

'Also, people were critical of the ending of the film because it left out a considerable proportion of material in the final book of the trilogy. But nevertheless they still loved the film.'

A La Trobe University School of Communications and Critical Enquiry Research Enhancement Grant funded the research.

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