- Frodo Lives!
"Frodo Lives!" was a popular
counterculture slogan in the 1960s and 1970s, referring to the characterFrodo Baggins fromJ. R. R. Tolkien 's fantasy novel "The Lord of the Rings ". The term was used frequently in graffiti, buttons, bumper-stickers, t-shirts, and other materials. It was commonly associated with the hippie movement. Other examples of use include a Frodo Lives album released bySmash Records and merchandising items for theNew Line Cinema The Lord of the Rings film trilogy .The term first became popular because of an increase in the availability and number of readers of the novel following release of the first paperback edition, which, up until that point, had been subject to rather mixed reviews. [ME-ref|carpenter] While no longer as pervasive as it once was, the term continues to appear regularly in newspaper articles and popular culture related to Tolkien's stories. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62431-2001Dec18 Frodo Lives! A Spirited 'Lord of the Rings' (washingtonpost.com) ] ] [ [http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/01.17/arts.html Harvard Gazette: ARTS ] ] [ [http://tbhl.theonering.net/tbhlnews/news-archive-9-2005.html The Bastards Have Landed! The Official Peter Jackson Fanclub ] ]
The term was often related to a mistaken belief that Frodo's journey into the West at the end of Tolkien's novel meant that he would live forever. In fact, Tolkien maintained that Frodo would still die, and traveled West only for healing. [ME-ref|letters] Another meaning ascribed to the term, especially in later usage, is that Tolkien's work remains alive and popular.
References
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