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Macalaure · 09-20-2007, 08:42 AM

I would say it was a combination of the two, Jackson's success and his "improvements".

Sure, if the movie trilogy would have been without success, the Purists wouldn't have cared. However, of course you're right, the movie version now has supplanted the book version in the minds of many, and there are even more who have seen the movies but never bothered to pick up the books. But I think all this would be much less of an issue to the Purists if the version people take from Jackson would be closer to the original - especially in spirit, not so much in plot and character details. I doubt they would complain had a sufficiently accurate version replaced the image of people. I mean, why should they? It would only have made their favourite story more popular. That this had been accomplished through a different (and less deep) medium than written word is maybe sad, but one can't blame Jackson for that.

But, since the spirit is quite different in many parts, all those people now live with a more or less wrong impression of the Lord of the Rings. It's not exactly the Purists' favourite story which gained popularity (though it did, too, since there are plenty of people who did pick up the Books after seeing the films). I can easily understand how some Tolkien Purists don't exactly enjoy seeing this new image, not simply because it is popular, but because it is popular and wrong.

09-20-2007, 08:42 AM	#4
Macalaure Fading Fëanorion Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: into the flood again Posts: 2,911	I would say it was a combination of the two, Jackson's success and his "improvements". Sure, if the movie trilogy would have been without success, the Purists wouldn't have cared. However, of course you're right, the movie version now has supplanted the book version in the minds of many, and there are even more who have seen the movies but never bothered to pick up the books. But I think all this would be much less of an issue to the Purists if the version people take from Jackson would be closer to the original - especially in spirit, not so much in plot and character details. I doubt they would complain had a sufficiently accurate version replaced the image of people. I mean, why should they? It would only have made their favourite story more popular. That this had been accomplished through a different (and less deep) medium than written word is maybe sad, but one can't blame Jackson for that. But, since the spirit is quite different in many parts, all those people now live with a more or less wrong impression of the Lord of the Rings. It's not exactly the Purists' favourite story which gained popularity (though it did, too, since there are plenty of people who did pick up the Books after seeing the films). I can easily understand how some Tolkien Purists don't exactly enjoy seeing this new image, not simply because it is popular, but because it is popular and wrong.