Paper to Film
With the showing of the ROTK, the endless battle once again is started..... that neverending struggle between the forces of good and evil.......
Yes, it is the place for confrontation between fans of the book and fans of the film.
Gimme My Comic!
Usually I do a review for the movies that I watch, but this one is so heavily reviewed and raved..... I think there's no point preaching to the highly converted. Instead, I will offer some comments on an old issue that this has raised again.
In this week's 8 days, [Britney Spears cover] David Fuhrmann-Lim mentioned 2 kinds of LOTR fans. There are the film fans, and the book fans, and the differences are highly marked. As living examples, I will highlight 2 people I know. Let's call them D and C. [if you know who i'm talking about, let's just maintain anonymity here, eh?]
Gimme My Comic!
D is a book fan. He's read all 3 books, The Silmarillon, The Unfinished Tales, possibly all other books by Tolkien, hails Tolkien as the Father of Modern Fantasy, and is able to deliver a treatise on how every other fantasy writer out there has stolen ideas from Tolkien one way or another. [An example: kender in the Dragonlance series highly resemble hobbit in Tolkien] He's seen the films and thinks they're "ok".
Sidenote to Dragonlance fans: Don't you think the undead armies of Lord Soth are highly similar to the Armies of the Dead? Ok, back to the crap.
Gimme My Comic!
C is a film fan. She thinks Legolas is the hottest thing in the film, but Orlando Bloom looks better in that film than any other. She downloads pix of Legolas onto her handphone. She thinks the scenery is stunning, the actors are hot, Sam and Frodo are possibly gay, and who's Tom Bombadil?
The rest of us just watch the films. Haha! But you get the idea.
The 2 extremes in this case are either like Jason/D/Book fans, or Paige/C/Film/Orlando fans. And they have utterly different reasons for catching the film. D would most likely want the films to be as close as possible to Tolkien's original vision. C is just thankful that Peter Jackson cast Legolas as such a hottie. [no offence to C, who may be reading this..... but face it....... haha!] And I sure as heck do not ever want to involve both parties in a LOTR discussion, unless I want to see D strangle C in total exasperation.
[ one of my favourite lines below. "Filler stuff"? ]
Gimme My Comic!
So what is the difference between the 2? Frankly, there's a lot. If you have read the original Tolkien novel, just the first 3 books, you would know that there are tons of history and character Tolkien has that Peter Jackson does not, due to the shortcomings of film. For one, there is the character of Tom Bombadil. Also, Aragorn's history is never really explained clearly, to my satisfaction, and the Aragorn-Arwen romance is played up too strongly. [Arwen's character in the film is kinda extra, in my opinion. There seems to be no satisfiable reason for her to be there, other than because pple like to see romance in the films.]
I happened to watch the movie before I ever read the book, but from personal experience, book-to-film adaptions never really work to satisfaction. My experience during the first Harry Potter movie was such. The first film didn't just lack, but was utterly bereft of the magic of Rowling's writing. Although it was an entertaining movie, I felt that I was watching something without soul, or character. The magic was lost. To explain it in other words, the movie was not entertaining to engage me the way the original book did. To this extent, I can understand the feelings of book fans. I can also understand the feelings of Jason in the comic below....
[ Another good line. "Who's Gollum?" ]
Gimme My Comic!
And it's not like some of these books need the additional publicity from the film anyway. JK Rowling was already an international bestselling author before The Philosopher's Stone was ever made into a film. Tolkien was already well beloved as a master of fantasy literature. In fact, it was their fame in the first place that led to these books being made. These directors, in a way, were betting on a sure winner, books with their loyal following of fans that would earn money and publicity for the film and ensure that it wouldn't be a total bomb altogether.
Also, it's absolutely frustrating talking to a total fan of the film sometimes, when u even a slight knowledge of the books and Tolkien. When C talks about how cute Legolas is, and how gay Sam and Frodo are in the film, it makes me wanna tear my hair out. [thank the gods, i've never done that.] How the heck do you expect me to explain that this is just P.Jackson's vision, Tolkien's experiences in war, and the possible interpretation that Sam and Frodo represent the camaderie between the upper and lower classes that evolved during the binding crucible that is war? All the freak she can talk about is how gay they are!
Gimme My Comic!
*sigh* I know the usual excuse for this is "Each To His Own", and I know that everyone has their own preferences, even if it's freaking-little-white-face-Orlando-Bloom, but Gees! For the umpteenth time, Sam and Frodo are NOT gay, and stop casting this lime-giantic-1000watt-spotlight on Legolas! He's a supporting character for heavens' sake! It's totally alright to be fans of the book, or fans of the film, but at least do not accept either as the gospel truth and elevate Jackson to god-status! Because Jackson, technically, is copying a script from Tolkien and adding his own interpretation of it. When you keep seeing scenes of Legolas jumping over oliphaunts and shooting arrows into its driver's back, that's Jackson's vision. When you insist Sam and Frodo are gay............... er, that's just your own mind working.
Gimme My Comic!
My main stand here, I guess, is that take whatever view of the show you like. Whether it be book or film. But never accept one totally. Read/watch the other medium, expose yourself to other interpretations, or the original version, and at least have an awareness of the other side. If you've read the book, accept that Jackson had to cut certain scenes out or portray them differently, in order to accomodate the shortcomings of film. If you've watched the movie, at least attempt to read the book, to open yourself to Tolkien's original vision and understand where he's coming from.
Unless you're now a firm Orlando Bloom fan. Then please go off on your own tangent and stop muddling the discussion.
For more info on the characters, I found this site:
The Barrow-Downs
And for pure entertainment, this flash was sent to me by C, but I couldn't load it. You guys try.
Gollum Rap
According to a random piece of Javascript, one of my elvish names is Pennberaidiel. Haha!
Try It Out, Guys n Gals
Foxtrot Comics are done by Bill Amend, and these strips were from UComics. If you're from that site, and you see these comics here, please have the courtesy to send me a letter giving me a chance to take down the strips before you start suing me. Thanks.
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