How Jackson sold out... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Tar-Palantir · 01-19-2003, 05:12 PM

Every director is going to have his own interpretation of the movie, whether they crank up the suspense, the action, the romance, the intrigue - Including Ridley Scott, and I would imagine they would all fall short in one capacity or other with this book. How many characters have to be developed? How many subplots need to be explained? There are so many exposition scenes in this series of books it is scary - Do I really want Pippin & Merry explaining to me what happened with Treebeard and the Ents? Not in a movie I don't, show it to me! In my mind this attempt by Peter Jackson is a fine one, to a point. He made some mistakes and poor judgements along the line, but that is inevitable (IMHO) and it can only be learned from. If another team of film makers decided to give it a go, they would have an excellent jumping off point with this series of movies. Sometimes the severity of a problem in any performance based endeavor (film, literature, music, stage, etc...) just can't be known, at least to it's full extent, until the project hits the public and critics. That may be the downside to having filmed all these pictures at once, they got carried away into their own conception of LotR further than they should have been, taking more 'creative license' than they might have intended at the beginning. Quite possibly they got in over their head, and so may have stunted the work from what it could have been, wrapping it up plots prematurely or deciding that they could only focus on those major themes which they had already begun devloping, rather than making certain all angles were covered, that all characters and intrigues were done justice. Those are all human flaws, and just something to consider. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> How many Tolkien fans do you think there were out there before the movies? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Dunno. And neither do you. You also need to consider your definition of "fans". Is a fan someone who read the books as a youngster and who simply has fond memories of Tolkein? Or does a fan need to be someone who can recite the lineage of every character in the books, and has read the books once a year every year, or some such thing? I AM A FAN who devoured the books young (15 -20 years ago), has fond memories, and now has read them again because of the films. So, when I saw Fellowship I forgot that Glorfindel was supposed to be there, I forgot that Strider was supposed to be carrying a broken Narsil, etc..., etc... lots of things I had forgotten. Now I am grateful for the films (hence my defense of them) because they awakened what I had forgotten, my love for Tolkein. I think my case is not uncommon, and honestly it is a boon to Tolkein whether you choose to belive it or not. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> So some yahoo sitting next to me in the theater with his finger up his nose can follow the story a little better? Sorry, but if you don't have the intelligence required to pick up a book until some movie director tells you to, I don't feel like I should have to suffer for it. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>ouch. We all have to be exposed to Tolkein, or anything else, in one way or another. I feel so...so....so deflated Just kidding, actually I'm fine with it, but I do feel bad for you and all the other Tolkein followers that are stuck with a sour taste in your mouth because of the films. I can relate to being in that minority in other arenas, believe me.

01-19-2003, 05:12 PM	#11
Tar-Palantir Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: napa valley, ca Posts: 496	Every director is going to have his own interpretation of the movie, whether they crank up the suspense, the action, the romance, the intrigue - Including Ridley Scott, and I would imagine they would all fall short in one capacity or other with this book. How many characters have to be developed? How many subplots need to be explained? There are so many exposition scenes in this series of books it is scary - Do I really want Pippin & Merry explaining to me what happened with Treebeard and the Ents? Not in a movie I don't, show it to me! <P>In my mind this attempt by Peter Jackson is a fine one, to a point. He made some mistakes and poor judgements along the line, but that is inevitable (IMHO) and it can only be learned from. If another team of film makers decided to give it a go, they would have an excellent jumping off point with this series of movies. Sometimes the severity of a problem in any performance based endeavor (film, literature, music, stage, etc...) just can't be known, at least to it's full extent, until the project hits the public and critics. That may be the downside to having filmed all these pictures at once, they got carried away into their own conception of LotR further than they should have been, taking more 'creative license' than they might have intended at the beginning. Quite possibly they got in over their head, and so may have stunted the work from what it could have been, wrapping it up plots prematurely or deciding that they could only focus on those major themes which they had already begun devloping, rather than making certain all angles were covered, that all characters and intrigues were done justice. Those are all human flaws, and just something to consider.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> How many Tolkien fans do you think there were out there before the movies? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Dunno. And neither do you. You also need to consider your definition of "fans". Is a fan someone who read the books as a youngster and who simply has fond memories of Tolkein? Or does a fan need to be someone who can recite the lineage of every character in the books, and has read the books once a year every year, or some such thing? I AM A FAN who devoured the books young (15 -20 years ago), has fond memories, and now has read them again because of the films. So, when I saw Fellowship I forgot that Glorfindel was supposed to be there, I forgot that Strider was supposed to be carrying a broken Narsil, etc..., etc... lots of things I had forgotten. Now I am grateful for the films (hence my defense of them) because they awakened what I had forgotten, my love for Tolkein. I think my case is not uncommon, and honestly it is a boon to Tolkein whether you choose to belive it or not.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> So some yahoo sitting next to me in the theater with his finger up his nose can follow the story a little better? Sorry, but if you don't have the intelligence required to pick up a book until some movie director tells you to, I don't feel like I should have to suffer for it.<BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>ouch. We all have to be exposed to Tolkein, or anything else, in one way or another. I feel so...so....so deflated <P>Just kidding, actually I'm fine with it, but I do feel bad for you and all the other Tolkein followers that are stuck with a sour taste in your mouth because of the films. I can relate to being in that minority in other arenas, believe me. __________________ History shows again and again How nature points up the folly of men Go, go, Godzilla!