As you may have heard, an exhibition about J.R.R. Tolkien has just opened in Italy at Rome's National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art.
"Tolkien: Man, Professor, Author" (until 11th February 2024; then it will tour other Italian cities) features over 150 items, among them manuscripts, photographs, letters, memorabilia and works of art inspired by Tolkien's literary creations. A multimedia section also explores Tolkien's fantasy world.
The focus of the exhibition is exploring Tolkien as a father, storyteller, academic, and author of influential studies and publications in Old and Middle English literature, emphasizing his significant contributions to literature.
Funded by Italy's Ministry of Culture, the event received financial backing totaling €250,000. The exhibition was opened this week by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of the far-right wing party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) together with the Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.
The occasion was so relevant that there is even a gallery of images chronicling the visit on the official site of the Italian government: here you can see Meloni staring intently at the blown up artwork for the cover of the Italian edition of "The Lord of the Rings" as if it were The Mona Lisa; there you can see her standing solemnly in front of the genealogy of the characters as if she were at a state funeral. In another image she is portrayed in front of a cabinet proudly and lazily displaying all the editions of "The Hobbit" in different languages (did they buy them on Amazon to save money?) and finally a photograph of Meloni standing at a "Lord of the Rings" pinball machine (undoubtedly a valuable work of art) with Sangiuliano encouragingly smiling like you do when you tell a 3-year-old child to blow the candle on the birthday cake. The whole photoshoot feels a bit like those Istituto Luce images with Mussolini visiting assorted locations or exhibitions to assert his power.
The exhibition was initially announced to rapturous applause in July, with Sangiuliano describing it as a "gift" during a meeting of the youth wing of Meloni's Brothers of Italy party. Speaking to the press about the event Sangiuliano recently highlighted that the showcase was not incidental, but "deliberate and intentional".
The Italian government's keen interest in J.R.R. Tolkien and his works actually carries a more profound significance. Over the years, the Italian right has indeed appropriated Tolkien's narratives, transforming his books into a nationalist allegory.
Meloni, a fervent fascist enthusiast who markets herself as a moderate, joined the youth front of Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement, MSI) at the age of 15. The MSI, a neofascist political party, merged into the "post-fascist" Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance, AN) in the mid-'90s, eventually evolving into Meloni's present party, Fratelli d'Italia (FdI, Brothers of Italy). During her teenage years with the MSI, Meloni participated in the party's Campo Hobbit (Hobbit Camp), a political event with cultural ties that also featured music provided by the far-right folk band Compagnia dell'Anello (Fellowship of the Ring). Among their songs addressing European identity there is also the anthem of the party's Youth Front, "Il domani appartiene a noi" ("Tomorrow Belongs to Us"), updated rendition of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", as sung by a member of the Hitler Youth in the movie "Cabaret".
In her earlier days as a youth activist within the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, Meloni donned a hobbit costume when visiting schools. At the age of 21, she dubbed herself the "little dragon of the Italian undernet" in online chatrooms, expressing her fervor for Tolkien and his saga while exhibiting a particular fixation on dragons. In 2008, following her election as a Member of Parliament, she featured in a magazine profile alongside a statue of the wizard Gandalf. During her tenure as the youth minister under Silvio Berlusconi's government, a figurine of Gandalf adorned her office.
But Meloni fascination never stopped: in 2022, during a speech by Meloni at a final campaign rally in Rome for Italy's premiership, a voice-over proclaimed, "The day of defeat will come, but it will not be this day," a quote from a pre-battle discourse from Aragorn, a key character in "The Lord of the Rings".
Fascinated by Samvise Gamgee, who aids Frodo in fulfilling their mission, Meloni-hobbit retraced his career in politics: Sam plays second fiddle and Meloni stood behind the scenes while Berlusconi was in power. Yet eventually Sam rises to mayor, like Meloni became Prime Minister.
Tolkien mania runs deep in Meloni's family: in September 2022 her sister posted on Facebook a letter stating, "I will accompany you to Mount Doom to cast that ring into the fire, like Sam did with Frodo, knowing that it won't be my story that will be told, but yours, as it is right. It will be enough for me to know that I have been useful in some way in this great adventure you are building because when you needed to rest, to cry, to relax, or advice, I was there." Everything for a hobbit sister.
While these instances might be perceived as mere expressions of Meloni's fandom, the far-right in Italy has actually frequently co-opted Tolkien and his works for its own purposes.
This perilous fascination of the Italian right with Tolkien's fantasy books, probably stemmed from the preface to "The Lord of the Rings" written by philosopher Elémire Zolla, a prominent figure on the hard right, who asserted that Tolkien's novel was an allegory for a battle between "pure" ethnic groups defending themselves against foreign contamination. Soon the right started seeing themselves as the inhabitants of the mythical Middle-earth, fighting against orcs. In essence, Tolkien provided fascists a means to discuss fascism and their obsession with preserving traditions and national identity without explicitly referencing Mussolini, presenting ideology with a fantastical veneer.
Meloni & Co. frame Tolkien's novels as a complex conservative metaphor, often referred to their own struggles: dwarves, elves, and hobbits protecting their identities, safeguarding Middle-earth from ethnic replacement and fighting against the threat of dark invading powers (in the mind of the right-wing symbolized by migrants…). That's why Meloni often references "The Lord of the Rings" in her speeches, emphasizing it as her favorite, considering it a "sacred" text (you'd think that the only sacred text for people who profess themselves "Christians" like her would be the Bible, but there seems to be an opening for "sacred" texts of another nature here…).
Meloni's fascination actually extends beyond Tolkien, but remains in the fantasy genre: she named indeed her political conference "Atreju," an Italian rendition of the hero from Michael Ende's "The Neverending story". According to Meloni, the name symbolizes the struggles of a boy battling nihilism and the "Nothing" advancing.
At the 2018 Atreju convention, where Nazi-affiliated Italian philosopher Julius Evola T-shirts and books were on sale, Meloni invited Stephen K. Bannon as a guest of honor (well, that actually sounded very apt if we consider him as a physical manifestation of the "nothing" advancing...). Ende's heirs expressed their reluctance to associate the name with political events after Italian writer Roberto Saviano pointed out in 2021 that the character's name had been appropriated.
Now, despite some readers may find the entire story about fascists playing at being hobbits rather hilarious and preposterous, there are serious implications behind all this story. One's fervor or fixation on a subject doesn't warrant the expenditure of thousands of euros of public money for an exhibition essentially organized to cater to the obsessions of an extremist group.
Exhibitions should be a gift to the general public and not a favour to a selected few. Organizing exhibitions as "gifts" to someone or to a specific group of people and using public money to do it is not morally correct. In this case it is comparable to events organized during Italy's fascist regime, including fashion shows and textile fairs, considered as conduits for the fascist propaganda.
But there are more serious implications here as this event is part of a cultural takeover by the right: controlling culture has indeed turned into an obsession for Meloni's government (a practice that aligns with what has been happening in other countries such as Hungary, where the right-wing government influences cultural institutions).
The current Italian government has strategically placed its supporters in key positions, exemplified by appointments at Rome's Experimental Cinematography Centre, Rai (the public service broadcaster), and the Maxxi Foundation. The government also appointed Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a former member of the post-fascist youth organization Fronte della Gioventù, as the president of the next Venice Biennale, a figure that will definitely clash with the theme for next year's Biennale - "Stranieri Ovunque" ("Foreigners Everywhere"). That said, there may be some surprises as Buttafuoco, who claimed in 2015 of having converted to Islam, is also considered an eccentric conservative (doubts remain about his limited managerial experience). It is worth noting that none of these positions were assigned to a woman, remarkable for a government led by a woman.
This strategy may pay with time. Think about this: Italy is reaping the seeds sown during Silvio Berlusconi's reign of power. The fact that in Italy violence against women and femicides are not decreasing doesn't directly depend from Berlusconi's attitude towards women, but it is a consequence of that attitude that men have learnt to appreciate and admire throughout the decades of his political tenure.
If the right-wing starts redesigning cultural institutions to make space for their own friends and organising events tailored to their own passions, in a few years' time we will have a nation believing that hobbits represent the love for one's nation and other assorted distorted ideas.
Finding the funds for cultural projects is already incredibly challenging in Italy as you always seem to need friends in the right places and political connections, and too often you end up meeting individuals in powerful positions lacking the necessary qualifications, skills, and passion. Who knows how many other cultural events were denied funds because of this exhibition, and who knows how many schools will be invited to visit this event with discounted or free tickets so that kids may end up reading between the lines in Tolkien a message that isn't there.
Food for thought, but, boycotting the exhibition is not enough: the J.R.R. Tolkien estate should start looking into the matter and publish an official letter to state that Tolkien's books and characters can't be appropriated by political forces for their own benefit and purposes. Ende's heirs stated in interviews that they were never asked permission to use the name "Atreju" in an event linked with politics, and they also added they do not agree with this use. It is about time Tolkien's estate did the same if they don't want to see a fantasy saga turned into an official fascist allegory.
So, if you're a Tolkien fan and are visiting Italy and happen to be wearing a T-shirt with Tolkien connections and someone compliments you, well, you may have just encountered a fascist; if you come across a Tolkien exhibition, instead, well, feel free to boycott it.
In the meantime, after the Tolkien exhibition (that even in its trite title "Man, Professor, Author" seems to mirror fascist banalities like the slogan "Dio, patria, famiglia" - "God, country, family"), Sangiuliano is working on his next opus: he recently stated he intends to organize an exhibition on the Italian Communist Party and Antonio Gramsci, a figure also co-opted by the radical right in Europe to arm itself with cultural arguments for ideological warfare. Looks like he is settled to use exhibitions as fascist propaganda, the ultimate approach to attract / repel visitors (depending on who you support politically...).
Now let's just hope that after appropriating Tolkien's fantasy creatures to express their views, fascists will not misinterpret Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and think it is a political manual.
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