New movie article - anyone agree?
 

Just thought I'd give a link to this TORN article, as, among other things, Anne C Petty offers some interesting thoughts on the way the movies present Tolkien's characters:
http://greenbooks.theonering.net/tur...es/061304.html

(movie comments are at the end of the article.

I couldn't have put it better myself. I agree completely. Observe that she does not deny having enjoyed the movies, but points out their flaws as to how the characters' personalities were warped to better fit the movie universe.

I'm a bit stunned that she objected to the thinning/ weakening of Elrond, Aragorn and Faramir-- but didn't mention the scriptwriters' watering down of Frodo's character.

I've read her book Tolkien in the land of Heroes, and it is superb.

Thanks for that link, davem! It was interesting to read the interview, and she put the main objections to the movies well. Sounds like her book is worth looking for...

*Esty makes a note for her next trip to a bookshop in an English-speaking country*

Oh, and congrats on the avatar, davem! Looks good!

Wow. Well, I now have some more books to add to my reading list (if I ever find any time to read ever again!)!

My thoughts exactly!

She is so right about Aragorn. The movie Aragorn is awesome of course but he certainly is not as "magical" as the book Aragorn. She hit the nail on the head.
This is one of the things that I HATE about he film. I told my friend the other day that I would like the movies better if they would just take out EVERY SINGLE SCENE that has Elrond or Arwen in it (except the council). Book Elrond is up there just behind Feanor and Turin as one of my favorite characters in all of ME so you can understand why I'm so frustrated by movie Elrond.

Movie Elrond is not as wise, as calm, or as loving as book Elrond. Movie Elrond is...well...human- something book Elrond rarely was. Book Elrond always seemed so enigmatic. That is totally lost in the movie. He lost his "magical" side just like Aragorn did.

That was the problem with Faramir as well. In the book he was so noble and wise. The movie- he was more like a normal human.

That is the problem with all three of these characters. PJ tried to make nearly all of his characters very human, fallible, weak, or something along those lines. It's like they all had to start off with a problem and then overcome it during the course of the movie.

Characters do not have to evolve during a story! Aragorn and Faramir were grown men and had become who they were going to become (which was, of course, magnificent men). Elrond had been grown for centuries. The story takes place over a period of what, less than a year? What are the chances in real life of several mature adults evolving, growing, and having changes of heart in such a short span of time.

And even if it's possible, what's wrong with a character having the correct heart, mind, etc. at the beginning of a story? Not every character needs a bunch of flaws. For the most part LOTR is about overcoming evil, not about overcoming personal problems. All the character flaws among the good guys were totally unecessary and caused many of them to lose their magic.