School project

[Strange-Looking Lurker]

Note to mods: I realize this really should be in the Hobbit forum, but please don't move it...that forum is pretty much dead and I would like to get some answers to my questions. Thanks.

The question is "What is one piece of work (book, movie, etc.) from the past 100 years that every educated person should (read, watch, etc.)?" I'm doing a 15 minute group presentation on it, and my group has chosen The Hobbit. I would very much like to hear you guys input, and if there's anywhere else y'all could point me that would be very helpful.

Some thoughts I had....

1 The Hobbit contains all the basic elements needed to understand modern fantasy as a genre. The quest. An old wizard. Dragons. Tall mountains, dark forests, those types of things. Any thoughts on this? Anybody know of any quotes or papers by PhD's on this subject?

Any thoughts on how Tolkien changed how elves in particular are shown in books and movies?

2 The Hobbit provides a mythology for English speaking people, which otherwise they would not have. Any thoughts on how most other languages/cultures have a mythology?

Any other thoughts at all? I'm really excited about this project and want to do it justice, so any help from y'all would be great!

PS...yes, I know it would actually make more sense to do this project over LOTR, but the other two guys in my group haven't read it, and we don't really have enough time for them to read it AND get the presentation ready.