[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

If you look at this thread, Child, you will quickly see who are the most verbose posters here.

Ouch! In light of that comment, I shall try to keep this brief.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

So, is this Tolkien poking fun at the limitations of elven nature? And, if so, does Jackson ever set the elves up for jokes the way he sets Gimli up for jokes?

Jackson does not really have the luxury that Tolkien had in setting up the intricacies of Elvish nature. Such as we see is represented in primarily Elrond and Galadriel and it would have been inappropriate to poke fun at either of them as they are set up as serious characters. Although I do think that, through the much-maligned (film) Gimli, he pokes fun at Elvish pomposity, in the form of Legolas.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

And I think you are very right that so much of the humour concerning Bilbo and the poking fun at our own foibles has been left out. I wonder if Sauce or someone else can suggest why Jackson took the story more seriously in these points than Tolkien did.

Tolkien uses the Hobbits to poke fun at the petty and isolationist aspects of human nature. I think that it's a shame that Jackson did not pick up on this. But it would have required precious time to do so.

He does poke fun at human nature in other ways, particularly through Gimli (again). For example, in Gimli's proud boasts which he is not always able to live up to (eg his boasts of Dwarvish endurance as he huffs and puffs behind Aragorn and Legolas on the chase through Rohan and his fearlessness put to the test in the Paths of the Dead). Similarly, the antics of Merry and Pippin, although (as I have said) I would have preferred to see them used less obviously for comedic value and for more distinction to be made between their characters.

But isn't much of this kind of comedy rooted in the observation of the (sometimes) ridiculous nature of the human condition? We find many things funny because we recognise something of ourselves or our own experiences of others in it.

And now I shall sign off - before this post becomes too prolix for Bb's (and my own) tastes.