[Child of the 7th Age]

Maybe we should see the movies as the latest in a long line of attempts at visual recreations of the printed page.

Bethberry -

Yes, and no. If I could experience the films purely as a visual event, there are very few thing with which I would feel uncomfortable. Peter Jackson did an amazing job recreating the visual fabric of Middle-earth. Yes, there were things here and there that I thought could be improved on: a too young Frodo, a Lorien that needed more light and faerie (Oops! There's that word again!), the need for a Grey Havens which reflected what was happening to the Elves. But overall, I was impressed with how PJ handled this part of the retelling.

My problem with the movie did not lie in its visual depiction of Middle-earth, but in its treatment of character and plot. And again I would say that, for the most part, I could enjoy the movie while I was seeing it. The comparisons and wishing for more came after I walked out of the theater.

Tolkien: However good in themselves, illustrations do little good to fairy-stories.

Methink the author doth protest too much! And also SPM!

SPM: So the visualisation of the books can never hold the same enchantment for us as the books themselves.

Are you sure about that SPM? I am not. This may be a classic example of Tolkien saying one thing and, shortly thereafter, saying or doing another. Take a close look at Hammond's book on Tolkien as artist and illustrator. The author spent endless hours immersing himself in the chore of visualization, not merely in terms of LotR but the Legendarium as a whole. Tolkien wasn't much on drawing the human body, but he was quite good at landscapes. I don't think he would have made such a effort unless the task held more than casual interest for him, and this would have included the desire to convey some sense of the meaning in the books, the enchantment which draws us in. (That word seems to be popping up everywhere!)

And JRRT obviously gave serious thought to his ilustrators. Witness his intense dislike for Remington and his open admiration for Pauline Baynes. You get the feeling he thought Baynes "saw" Middle-earth in a very special way and was able to convey that to us. This sounds like more than merely a commercial interest.

Incidentally, I agree with the author on how special Baynes was. The slim little editions she illustrated -- Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles, Smith, Bilbo's Song -- are among my favorites in my bookshelves. Bilbo's Song with its double pages -- one showing the old journey of The Hobbit and the facing one the new journey to the West -- let's us visualize the whole concept of life as a journey and the idea of the open road.

So I think you can have a successful visual expression of Middle-earth. And I would say that visually PJ himself came very close to that ideal. I did, for example, find his depiction of the Shire quite enchanting. I only wish the Grey Havens would have lived up to that. (Sometimes I wonder if PJ actually understood the ending of the book....)