Great Film, Big Inspiration

After watching the film Tolkien, I have never so badly wanted to be a writer and get my graphic novel to publish. The film was an inspiration, and I did have a few things in common with Tolkien. Just like Tolkien, I am an outcast, I have a creative imagination, my writing also has to do fantasy (but I too do comedy and a little horror), and finally, we both went to a university.

The only things I don’t have in common with him are: I am not in a country where there is war, I am not an orphan, and I have a learning disability so I can’t read books, I have to use audiobooks. Tolkien also went to Oxford University; I went to the Art Institute of California—Orange County.

I always wanted to know, where did Tolkien get the ideas for his stories? Where did he get his spark from who inspired him to create the worlds he talks about in his novels? And the film showed everything about the world he grew up in and he molded it to his desire. Yes, just like everyone else, he had to go through hardship, depression, and suffering.

Tolkien went through hardship with the loss of his home he grew up in, losing his mother, having to surrender his childhood because he needed to grow up and go to a boarding school.

He faced depression when he wanted to impress the love of his life, but there were significant restrictions that he was forced to obey. He went through financial struggle while in high school and at Oxford, and let’s not forget when World War I came; not only did he have to go to war, but so did his friends that he met and bonded with at the boarding school. No doubt there was significant depression and suffering all in that time, but thanks to his determination and fever, he manages to get out alive.

I use writing to help me escape from this world; I have also gone through hardship, depression, and suffering. My difficulty is nothing compared to what Tolkien went through. To be honest, I think Tolkien would have handled my hardship, sorrow, and suffering way better than I did when I was young. Growing up as a kid wasn’t the best of times for me. I didn’t have many friends; in fact, most of my best friends were family pets and toys. I would use my imagination to create stories, and make up worlds where my toys came from—it was like my little world. As I got older, I started to write down my short stories. I still have them, and I wish I can get them published; it’s a good thing I live in a time where you can self-publish your work.

I wish I were a person who loved to read books, but thanks to my learning disability, I can’t sit still and read a book. Thank goodness for the audiobooks and films they have to help me and others to see and hear what was going through his creative imagination. I wish I had the opportunity to tell him how his work and his life made me want to be a writer and show everyone my stories and graphic novel.

If Tolkien had had this amazing privilege, no doubt in my mind, he would have had so many books out in the world, and we would have loved to read them, or better yet, make films out of his books. I am sure Tolkien would have been honored to hear about his stories getting turned into movies.