That's Ent-ertainment

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I'll just give you a moment to let that brilliant thread title sink in.

Ok?

Apologies for the delay (see post #10 in Boromir88's 'Meat driven' thread for details — sorry I can't link); but I completely forgot about the idea until that thread was brought back.

This thread is for my favourite character and for all of that glorious race: Treebeard and the Ents. Their portrayal in the films didn't satisfy me, and I'm not at all sure that there were good reasons for choosing this portrayal.

In my opinion, the Ents did not come across as likeable. The best example of this is when Treebeard says his highly amusing line "It takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish; and we never say anything unless it's worth taking a long time to say." Merry and Pippin just roll their eyes and look stroppy as if encouraging the audience to think that Ents are frustrating and annoying.

Then they decide not to go to war. What on Middle-earth? Why would they do the total opposite of what they did in the book? As it happened, it appears that this decision was made so that Pippin could trick the Ents into going to war. Now, this makes Pippin look clever. Pippin needed being made to look clever because he was shown to be a bit of an idiot in The Fellowship of the Ring. However, this doesn't so much elevate Pippin as diminish Treebeard. Pippin demonstrates to Treebeard that Treebeard's own forest is being destroyed by Saruman. We must presume that Treebeard did not know this. What an awful guardian he is. Add to this that every other Ent just storms out of the Forest after one call by Treebeard, despite the fact that their long debate just hours beforehand suggested that they, as a group, had reasoned and accepted that they were not going to war. Oh dear.

I don't really want to talk about the CGI or whatnot. I really liked the look of the Ents, and I could never really get a clear picture of them when reading the book. But this thread is really about how they came across to the audience. In conversation with other people, I find that nobody loves the Ents (a bit like Faramir actually; only with Faramir, even though I really didn't like the character in the films, I can understand why he was portrayed that way).

Treebeard and the Ents I don't understand.

[mormegil]

I tend to agree that the Ents aren't as enjoyable as characters in the movie as they are in the books. I have wondered why PJ made them so myself and cannot come up with any great idea. Perhaps being that time was at a premium, he figured that properly developing Treebeards character would be too time consuming. I really wish they had made them a bit more clever though and kept Pippin as a bumbling stooge, because he still "screws up" doesn't he, by looking in the Palantir, but he is redeemed somewhat by lighting the beacons. They could also have accomplished some redemption by having him actually slay the troll at the end.

[Bêthberry]

Perhaps we have a suggestion here of why Jackson omitted the Old Forest and Fog on the Barrow Downs episodes. It might have had little to do with the appropriateness of old Tom to the main story. Jackson just does not appreciate trees. So, he eliminates the Old Forest and does a miserable job of the ents. Eomer, you are on to something here.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Bb, I wouldn't rule out that idea entirely.

Morm, the time constraint argument is indeed something I didn't mention in the initial post. I don't think it applies here, though. Treebeard wasn't actually in the book too much. He had more than enough time given to him in the movies. Treebeard's not a deep character; he's someone who audiences should just like, simply because of his nature. Like a grandfather figure, almost. There's no real explanation needed for him; indeed that is shown in the book when Merry and Pippin immediately feel a liking for the Ent.

It actually took time – they went out of their way – to show Treebeard in a negative way.


*Note* – I don't think the Ents were terrible or anything, just not that great. If you want to argue that the book-Ents are 'not that great' then go for it. I know some of you wouldn't mind...

[Kath]

I didn't like the decision to make the Ents choose not to go to war just so that they could have Pippin do his little clever bit. Surely they could have thought up another way to show he does actually have a brain. It just made the Ents seem cruel, uncaring and dimwitted rather than simply slow and thoughtful, but ultimately good. While I can understand a lot of the changes that PJ and co. made, this one doesn't seem to have a great deal of point to it.

I would have preferred an interpretation closer to the books because I always liked the Ents, and the idea that the arrival of something new into their environment could cause such a change, or at least a trip down memory lane so they remember how to be powerful. The hidden power in the forest was a big thing to me when I read the books, as I found it incredible that you could hide such a force.

[Elladan and Elrohir]

I think the reason they changed this was partly to show the growth in Pippin's character, as has already been said, but also to make the point that there are times to make peace, and there are times to go to war. They really point this out in the Directors and Writers commentary. You have Treebeard going, "Well, it's not a big deal to me; plus, how are we supposed to do anything against a force like that?" But the Ents HAVE to go to war, both for the sake of the story and because it's the only moral choice to be made.

I'm not sure that I like this change. I understand pretty well why they did it, but it makes the Ents (especially Treebeard) look stupid and unlikeable. If they kept it the way it was in the books, I think it would have worked just as well -- and they still could have found a way to work in their point about the moral duty to fight Saruman.

It's interesting that this movie was released in December 2002, and the U.S. went to war in Iraq in March 2003. Not to suggest that PJ and Co. are making political statements, but the timing is nonetheless intriguing.