New movie article - anyone agree?

[davem]

Just thought I'd give a link to this TORN article, as, among other things, Anne C Petty offers some interesting thoughts on the way the movies present Tolkien's characters:
http://greenbooks.theonering.net/tur...es/061304.html

(movie comments are at the end of the article.

[Evisse the Blue]

I couldn't have put it better myself. I agree completely. Observe that she does not deny having enjoyed the movies, but points out their flaws as to how the characters' personalities were warped to better fit the movie universe.

[mark12_30]

I'm a bit stunned that she objected to the thinning/ weakening of Elrond, Aragorn and Faramir-- but didn't mention the scriptwriters' watering down of Frodo's character.

I've read her book Tolkien in the land of Heroes, and it is superb.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for that link, davem! It was interesting to read the interview, and she put the main objections to the movies well. Sounds like her book is worth looking for...

*Esty makes a note for her next trip to a bookshop in an English-speaking country*

Oh, and congrats on the avatar, davem! Looks good!

[Laitoste]

Wow. Well, I now have some more books to add to my reading list (if I ever find any time to read ever again!)!

So, did I enjoy the films at all? Yes, certainly. I just feel they could have been so much better by following Tolkien's very carefully woven plotlines more faithfully, which would have allowed the characters to retain their original attributes rather than devolve into lesser Men and Elves.

My thoughts exactly!

[the phantom]

Saddest to me was the excising of all Aragorn's "magical" attributes that attest to the Elvish side of his ancestry and that make him the TRUE king

Jackson's version of Aragorn has lost his aura of otherworldly power. The scriptwriters give him recurring lines that emphasize the weakness that flows in his veins when in fact his bloodline flows straight from High Elven sources

Jackson's Aragorn is just a brave warrior and a sensitive fellow who can weep on demand, but in the books he is so much more.

She is so right about Aragorn. The movie Aragorn is awesome of course but he certainly is not as "magical" as the book Aragorn. She hit the nail on the head.

Did anyone watching the films who hadn't read the books even realize that Aragorn considered Elrond his foster father, which makes their estrangement all the more poignant? Which brings me to the problem with Elrond. Yes, he is stern and demanding of Aragorn, but he also loves him as a son, which was missing from the film. Film Elrond seems more petulant than commanding, more sour and resentful than heartsick over the potential loss of both his Evenstar and his foster son.

This is one of the things that I HATE about he film. I told my friend the other day that I would like the movies better if they would just take out EVERY SINGLE SCENE that has Elrond or Arwen in it (except the council). Book Elrond is up there just behind Feanor and Turin as one of my favorite characters in all of ME so you can understand why I'm so frustrated by movie Elrond.

Movie Elrond is not as wise, as calm, or as loving as book Elrond. Movie Elrond is...well...human- something book Elrond rarely was. Book Elrond always seemed so enigmatic. That is totally lost in the movie. He lost his "magical" side just like Aragorn did.

That was the problem with Faramir as well. In the book he was so noble and wise. The movie- he was more like a normal human.

That is the problem with all three of these characters. PJ tried to make nearly all of his characters very human, fallible, weak, or something along those lines. It's like they all had to start off with a problem and then overcome it during the course of the movie.

Characters do not have to evolve during a story! Aragorn and Faramir were grown men and had become who they were going to become (which was, of course, magnificent men). Elrond had been grown for centuries. The story takes place over a period of what, less than a year? What are the chances in real life of several mature adults evolving, growing, and having changes of heart in such a short span of time.

And even if it's possible, what's wrong with a character having the correct heart, mind, etc. at the beginning of a story? Not every character needs a bunch of flaws. For the most part LOTR is about overcoming evil, not about overcoming personal problems. All the character flaws among the good guys were totally unecessary and caused many of them to lose their magic.