Middle‐earth Meets New Zealand: Authenticity and Location in the Making of The Lord of the Rings*

Abstract

abstract In focusing on the making of a specific cultural project, The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) film trilogy, this paper draws out the tensions between two sometimes divergent strands of authenticity: creative authenticity and national authenticity. This study is located in New Zealand, a small post‐colonial country which was the location for LOTR and home to its key film‐makers. The case is based on a discourse analysis of published texts on LOTR and New Zealand's film and tourism industries, exploring the paradoxical concept of ‘fabricating authenticity’ (Peterson, 1997) and its importance to cultural industries. In reviewing the media discourse of the LOTR project we ask: how are creative and national authenticity constructed? Creative authenticity refers to the claims of artistic integrity and merit that are made for the film. National authenticity is predicated on the idea of a national identity. In terms of LOTR, national authenticity is based on claiming the trilogy as a local ‘New Zealand’ product. We highlight the theme of ‘location’ by linking LOTR with a national tourism campaign which has been developed side‐by‐side with the film project, forging connections between the Middle‐earth of the LOTR trilogy, and the New Zealand of the present. We argue that LOTR has both shaped, and been shaped by, ideas of national identity, and that the success of LOTR as a flagship of the ‘new’ creative industries is central to emerging visions of nationhood.