IMPACT+ON+THE+POPULAR+CULTURE

Impact on popular culture
//The Lord of the Rings// has had a profound and wide-ranging impact on [|popular culture], from its publication in the 1950s, but especially throughout the 1960s and 1970s, where young people embraced it as a [|countercultural] saga[|[][|58][|]] - "[|Frodo Lives!]" and "Gandalf for President" were two phrases popular among American [|Tolkien fans] during this time.[|[][|59][|]] Parodies like the [|Harvard Lampoon]'s //[|Bored of the Rings]//, the //[|VeggieTales]// episode //[|Lord of the Beans]//, the //[|South Park]// episode //[|The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers]//, and the [|Internet meme] //[|The Very Secret Diaries]//[|[][|60][|]][|[][|61][|]] are testimony to the work's continual presence in popular culture. In 1969 Tolkien sold the merchandising rights to //The Lord of The Rings// (and //The Hobbit//) to [|United Artists] under an agreement stipulating a lump sum payment of £10,000[|[][|62][|]] plus a 7.5% royalty after costs, payable to Allen & Unwin and the author.[|[][|63][|]] In 1976 (three years after the author's death) United Artists sold the rights to [|Saul Zaentz] Company, who trade as [|Tolkien Enterprises]. Since then all "authorised" merchandise has been signed-off by Tolkien Enterprises, although the [|intellectual property rights] of the specific likenesses of characters and other imagery from various adaptations is generally held by the adaptors.[|[][|64][|]] Outside any commercial exploitation from adaptations, from the late 1960s onwards there has been an increasing variety of original licensed merchandise, from posters and calendars created by illustrators such as [|Pauline Baynes] and the [|Brothers Hildebrandt], to figurines and miniatures to [|computer, video], [|tabletop] and [|role-playing] games. Recent examples include the [|Spiel des Jahres award winning] (for //best use of literature in a game//) board game //[|The Lord of the Rings]// by [|Reiner Knizia] and the [|Golden Joystick award winning] [|massively multiplayer online role-playing game], //[|The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar]// by [|Turbine, Inc.].