[Osse]

Having nestled myself in the lush grass in the shade of that great tree of objectivity, I feel it is finally time for me to stop just reading the posts on this thread and actually contribute! I, like many of you, my esteemed colleagues, am not a fan of Mr. Wood. Indeed one might be so bold to say that master Elijah is my least favourite choice for any character in any of the three films. Now before I go on, Saucie, I know that you feel that the age appearance of Elijah’s Frodo is justified, from both the text and Tolkien’s own musings, however, I still find his appearance most un-hobbitish and immature. It is impossible to look at someone of his appearance and still be given those feeling of youthful, yet deep wisdom that we are given when we imagine the book driven Frodo. Frodo always had an air of knowledge and affluence around him, something that (at least for me) did not come across in Mr. Wood’s portrayal of the character at all.

I know you are not saying that he fits the um… (Can’t be shoes…) hat of the book-Frodo, and you were merely saying that he wasn’t all that bad in the last portions of Return… and I see your point, he certainly did show at least some acting prowess, prowess that I had convinced myself he did not possess in the dying scenes. This however, is by no means redeeming, and listening to the little prat in person makes my skin crawl, and certainly makes any less-harsh feelings I felt towards him fade like mist in the sun.

To be completely honest, I have certainly found myself half pondering what Tolkien would be like for me if the films had not emerged as they had of late. Though they certainly haven’t ruined any of my imaginings, they have certainly made them become more obscure and more difficult to find. I really have to probe to get past the visual portrayals, and whereas in the past I was able to imagine them without the text being fresh in my mind, I now need to have recently read or scanned at least portions of the texts. Others have stated that they felt the films just added to their imaginings and if anything made them stronger, I however feel that at least a part of my private enjoyment has been taken – when the films were non existent, my imaginings were mine and mine alone. – No one on earth imagined anything quite the way I did! This to me was like a private affair with the professor and his writings, and added to the pull of appeal that I felt.

However, minor characters that I hadn’t really formed detailed mental images of, I believe, benefited from the films – though the images weren’t mine, at least they were there!

All in all however, I think seeing Middle Earth and its peoples in such visual splendour was fantastic, and though it has perhaps taken somewhat from my literary experience, it has nonetheless added to my enjoyment of Tolkien’s works… sometimes you have to lose some of what you love in order to really appreciate it.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.