> But I'm sort of fascinated by this effort to read the story, and ferret
out some telltale signs or signifiers for unsavory values.
It does not take much ferreting out. Tolkein is about as subtle as Kipling.
> The Bad Guys are described as "dark?" Hmmmm....
Which happens in so many texts -- the White Hats vs. the Black Hats. In Star Wars evil is described as going over to the dark side. Africa is the heart of darkness.
> Why do people expend so much energy on this task?
Because the harm done by this practice is great. One of the young children I used to mentor in Harlem was fascinated by the phone on my desk. When I asked why he said he liked it. And why did he like it? He said he liked it because it was white.
> Is literature a minefield, where one has to keep an ever-vigilant watch
out for hidden
symbols in order to avoid being turned into a fascist or racist?
Literature is a minefield and always has been. It has helped to create a discourse of contempt, disgust and fear of all that is dark. In turn this discourse is used to help facilitate the explotation of people of color and their lands/resources.
> How is this unlike the careful analyses of the _Malleus Malificarum_, that
charming guidebook to sniffing out heresy and witchcraft in the most mundane
of everyday details?
Analyzing the racial/sexual/class strategies of literary texts is a valid tool against exploitation. Sniffing out heresies and witches was a practice the power elite engages in a) to frighten people; b) to keep them compliant; and c) to direct their attention away from the true monsters who were the elite themselves.
> I mean, what is the point? If you're going to read Tolkien with antennae
raised for doubleplusungood signifiers, then what do you plan to _do_ about
it?
The point is to evaluate texts more completely and accurately. What I do is help young people regard texts more critically and not just accept received wisdom about "classics." Hopefully this can help put a monkey wrench into the well-oiled mechanism of white imperialism/expoloitation.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister