Not a Tolkien or J. R. Rowling fan really but like Star Trek there is a place for modern morality plays in a population divorced from religious morality. The commentary on the Lord of the rings follows a now common theme among those in the cult of social justice in which morality is replaced with critical theory. Those of us raised in a system that relies on grand narratives may have trouble imagining morality divorced from grand narratives but for the most part modern people had already rejected the traditional grand narratives which left a vacuum that critical theory seems to fill for many people consciously or unconsciously.

The reason critical theory falls flat is it's historical links to humanism and the enlightenment. In essence it is a manifestation of the cultural grand narrative it tries to reject. As science has slowed eaten away at the specialness of humans and reduced them to just another ape the humanists and even scientists have felt compelled to restore the sense of specialness that being human had lost by way of their own work. The cognitive dissonance that was bound to follow is manifested in critical theory. That the author of the critique used the word species demonstrates how deeply conflicted critical theory is over the grand narrative of science which asserts that the only way to true knowledge is by way of assuming reality is objective. There is no way to reconcile critical theory with science so they reject the ground on which they stand. They use the language of science while rejecting it's basis.

The reason that Tolkien and Rowling fall flat as morality plays is that they incorporate the traditional grand narrative in part without realizing that it is an evolved organism and like all organisms is an indivisible complex chaotic system. Nietzsche seems to have come as close as anyone to understanding this. But he also seemed unable to create anything to replace God.

What is really lacking in critical theory are the markers of maturity, gratitude and humility. Not surprising since civilization has accelerated the immaturity that accompanies self domestication.