[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> But why does every blockbuster have to fit the mould of others by having a big climax to end the film? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I am not saying that RotK has to "fit the mould" of other Hollywood films, Eomer. But a film (especially one made for mass audience appeal) still has to follow certain conventions. Most importantly, it has to be paced correctly.<P>The audience has just sat through the final climax involving the battle at the Black Gate and the destruction of the Ring, and then has the joyous release of the fellowship being reunited and the marriage of Aragorn and Arwen. They will be shifting in their seats anticipating the end of the film. (By all accounts they will, after all, have been sitting there for well over 3 hours by this stage, a much longer time by some distance than the entire duration of most films.) They will then be treated to the bittersweet ending of the Grey Havens. To my mind, that will work well on screen.<P>But if the Scouring of the Shire, much as I love it in the books, was placed in between these scenes, it would totally destroy the pacing of the film. And the (non-book reading) audience would resent it. They will have been getting ready to leave, only to find that another "story within a story" is unfolding before them.<P>The Scouring works so well in the book because it is marks how much the Hobbits, from whose viewpoint the story is told, have changed, It signifies a resolution of Merry and Pippin's journey and it foreshadows Frodo's eventual departure from Middle-earth, in that he is unable to countenance Saruman's execution. But the film (necessarily) has not been depicted solely from the Hobbit's viewpoint, and so it would seem out of place. Yes, some resolution of Merry and Pippin's development will (I hope) be in order, and there should be some indication of why Frodo can no longer remain in Middle-earth. But this need not (and should not) take up some 30 minutes of film time, as the Scouring would require (at the very least) to do it any justice.<P>I hope that this makes some sense to you, Eomer, becuase it's difficult to explain. I just don't feel that it would work on the screen. A book is still subject to some constraints in terms of pacing. But a book can get away with an episode like this, partly because it does not have the same limitations on timing and partly, I think, because a reader buys in to a book far more emotionally than the average viewer buys into a film.