Dear Fandom!Secrets Jackasses
If I wanted to imply that I was "some kind of precocious child genius", I wouldn't tell you I read LotR at eight.
I'd tell you I was given an adult IQ test at four and scored 120.
I'd tell you I was tested as reading at a college level starting in the second grade.
I'd tell you I was in the 99th percentile of the MEAP test every single time I took it, that I had the highest ACT score my intermediate school district (two counties!) had ever seen, that I had to explain physics to my high school science teacher.
I'd tell you I took the ACT for the first time in the sixth grade and started getting college recruitment letters because there were schools that didn't realize I was twelve.
I'd tell you I skipped eighth grade, did not pass Go, did not collect $200, went directly to the Math/Science/Technology Center.
I'd tell you I learned to read at three and that my intuitive grasp of spelling was so good by the time I was five that some little delinquents in my neighborhood had me spelling "bitch" and "fuck" for them to write in sidewalk chalk.
If my ADHD hadn't gone undiagnosed for so long, I'd have multiple Ph.Ds by now.
In short, Fandom!Secrets jackasses, I know I'm a genius and that I was the smartest kid anyone in my town had ever met. I don't need to make myself "feel" that way on the internet by putting people down. Honestly? I don't have that great a grasp of what is an appropriate reading level for an eight-year-old, having never really read at level myself, so I really did not realize LotR was that far above it that my saying I read it at that age was going to be sooo insulting to people who didn't like it as adults.
The secret was specifically about people who liked the movies, then read the books and didn't like them. So we know they didn't find the story boring. If they think Tolkien's writing style is that inaccessible, seriously, I hope they never try to read Jane Austen. Whom I started reading in the seventh grade.
Anyway, the style is half the point. The narrative voice is part of the world of the books! And the whole thing was a monumental exercise in worldbuilding anyway.
The OP was right to post that secret. I would have been that OP except I have never kept these feelings secret. Hell yes I judge you if you think the movies are better, especially if it's because you just couldn't get through the books. Do you get that the movies are an imperfect adaptation? Do you get that there are beloved characters who were excised entirely in addition to those who were altered in completely unnecessary ways? Fuck you if you think the story is better without Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. Fuck you if you don't know who Glorfindel is. Fuck you if you think Arwen is a warrior, fuck you if you think Haldir dies, fuck you if you think Legolas is blond, and fuck you if you think Gimli is the comic relief.
Fuck you if you think these pieces of celluloid fanfiction are better than the real thing. And fuck you if you think it's arrogant for me to say I appreciated it better when I was eight than you do as adults.
It's arrogant of you to say Tolkien didn't do it the way you wanted.
I'd tell you I was given an adult IQ test at four and scored 120.
I'd tell you I was tested as reading at a college level starting in the second grade.
I'd tell you I was in the 99th percentile of the MEAP test every single time I took it, that I had the highest ACT score my intermediate school district (two counties!) had ever seen, that I had to explain physics to my high school science teacher.
I'd tell you I took the ACT for the first time in the sixth grade and started getting college recruitment letters because there were schools that didn't realize I was twelve.
I'd tell you I skipped eighth grade, did not pass Go, did not collect $200, went directly to the Math/Science/Technology Center.
I'd tell you I learned to read at three and that my intuitive grasp of spelling was so good by the time I was five that some little delinquents in my neighborhood had me spelling "bitch" and "fuck" for them to write in sidewalk chalk.
If my ADHD hadn't gone undiagnosed for so long, I'd have multiple Ph.Ds by now.
In short, Fandom!Secrets jackasses, I know I'm a genius and that I was the smartest kid anyone in my town had ever met. I don't need to make myself "feel" that way on the internet by putting people down. Honestly? I don't have that great a grasp of what is an appropriate reading level for an eight-year-old, having never really read at level myself, so I really did not realize LotR was that far above it that my saying I read it at that age was going to be sooo insulting to people who didn't like it as adults.
The secret was specifically about people who liked the movies, then read the books and didn't like them. So we know they didn't find the story boring. If they think Tolkien's writing style is that inaccessible, seriously, I hope they never try to read Jane Austen. Whom I started reading in the seventh grade.
Anyway, the style is half the point. The narrative voice is part of the world of the books! And the whole thing was a monumental exercise in worldbuilding anyway.
The OP was right to post that secret. I would have been that OP except I have never kept these feelings secret. Hell yes I judge you if you think the movies are better, especially if it's because you just couldn't get through the books. Do you get that the movies are an imperfect adaptation? Do you get that there are beloved characters who were excised entirely in addition to those who were altered in completely unnecessary ways? Fuck you if you think the story is better without Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. Fuck you if you don't know who Glorfindel is. Fuck you if you think Arwen is a warrior, fuck you if you think Haldir dies, fuck you if you think Legolas is blond, and fuck you if you think Gimli is the comic relief.
Fuck you if you think these pieces of celluloid fanfiction are better than the real thing. And fuck you if you think it's arrogant for me to say I appreciated it better when I was eight than you do as adults.
It's arrogant of you to say Tolkien didn't do it the way you wanted.