[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

I perceive angry-sounding saucepans in the distance....

Oh not angry. Merely slightly agitated.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Let us not deny the right of "Others" to voice their dissident opinions even if they might be in the minority.

Quite so. And that is why I voice my (dissident, as far as this forum is concerned) opinions on these kinds if threads.

I don't deny that there are those that find such instances distasteful or out of place. I am merely observing that they generally seem to have achieved what they were intended to achieve.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

So,Saucy, you are of course correct to repeat (ad nauseum ) that the movies were popular. But I would like to point out that such a method was not Tolkien's. He managed to write one of the most popular books of the last century without this kind of pandering to a mass audience.

I agree wholeheartedly. But this is the problem with judging Jackson by Tolkien's standards. Jackson's approach and intentions were different in many significant respects, and understandable (in my view) by reference to today's "mass market" approach to films such as these.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Is this kind of creative purpose possible only in literature and not in the movies?

Not necessarily, but generally so with "blockbuster" type films. As I suggested, that gets us back to the question of whether it was "right" in the first place to adapt Tolkien's work as "blockbuster" films. Should the “masses” (and I include myself in that) be given what they want, or should artists be seeking to “refine” their tastes. The latter may well be a laudable aim, but an unrealistic one, I would say, when we are talking about action films made specifically for the mass market.

Originally Posted by Neithan

As a 19 year old male I am offended by that, and I can't remember when I actually thought that kind of humor was funny.

Well as a 30-something male, I still find it funny. But each to his or her own.