Whatever happened to The Hobbit? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lalwendë · 02-09-2007, 06:13 AM

I don't have this problem with The Hobbit. To me it's just part of Tolkien's work and as it's on Middle-earth I don't get hung up on the style. What's the point of over-intellectualising it? But I think that it only really became a sticking point in the wake of Jackson's films anyway; these are dark, epic films and really do ramp up that element of LotR, when in fact the books are often whimsical and that's something Jackson glosses over a lot with his films. So we've got to a point where almost by osmosis readers just accept The Hobbit as "A Kids' Book". Funny thing is, there are plenty of people out there who also think of Lord of the Rings as "A Kids' Book".

And like LotR has whimsical elements, The Hobbit is also quite dark.

As long as Smaug gets all due respect as one of the Best Dragons Ever and is done well, and any new director does not portray the Hobbits as slightly deformed, big-headed creatures (like the Hildebrant brothers' nasty portrayals) then it should be OK whether it's light, dark or preferably somewhere in-between.

02-09-2007, 06:13 AM	#1
Lalwendë A Mere Boggart Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: under the bed Posts: 4,737	I don't have this problem with The Hobbit. To me it's just part of Tolkien's work and as it's on Middle-earth I don't get hung up on the style. What's the point of over-intellectualising it? But I think that it only really became a sticking point in the wake of Jackson's films anyway; these are dark, epic films and really do ramp up that element of LotR, when in fact the books are often whimsical and that's something Jackson glosses over a lot with his films. So we've got to a point where almost by osmosis readers just accept The Hobbit as "A Kids' Book". Funny thing is, there are plenty of people out there who also think of Lord of the Rings as "A Kids' Book". And like LotR has whimsical elements, The Hobbit is also quite dark. As long as Smaug gets all due respect as one of the Best Dragons Ever and is done well, and any new director does not portray the Hobbits as slightly deformed, big-headed creatures (like the Hildebrant brothers' nasty portrayals) then it should be OK whether it's light, dark or preferably somewhere in-between. __________________ Gordon's alive!