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Old 09-05-2022, 10:45 PM   #2
Galadriel55
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Good to hear from you, Bb! It's been a while.

I am very much in agreement with the general idea of both points. We very much do bring along baggage of expectations to any adaptation, and it can't not colour our opinion of it to some extent. And the idea of treating the show like a fanfic has been circulated around for quite some time. For myself, this has been my philosophy to which I turn for consolation and to preserve my sanity whenever some hair-pulling article would pop up. Bit there are two buts which still won't let me rest in peace even with this more forgiving outlook.

Firstly, fanfic and even altfic is fine... but there is such a thing as bad fanfic. Perhaps I am spoiled, in the last few years I have encountered some remarkably good fan/altfic including some from the Tolkien universe, and perhaps I have high expectations even for such productions as a result. But while the degree of canonical faithfulness can be somewhat flexible, good storytelling is still good storytelling, and there has been enough to make the storytelling of ROP very questionable.

The other aspect of it that really gets my goat is the pretense of being the real thing. "The book Tolkien never wrote", true to the letter of the lore, etc. No. If you are an adaptation, especially one that so clearly exists around the published texts rather than depicting the text itself, and one which simultaneously presents itself as a new and improved and modernized version - don't pretend to be the real thing. Just admit that you're an adaptation loosely based on an existing fantasy world, and acknowledge that world respectfully. You don't see other fanfics or altfics parading as true depictions. And on some level I think I would feel a lot more kindly towards the show if it presented itself with more humility and with more respect towards the source material - not even in the on-screen choices, but at least in their PR campaign. But you can't simultaneously claim to be connected and faithful to source material and be so alt; you can't tap into a fanbase by deliberately advertising on the franchise name, and not expect to be criticized by said fans when you fail to deliver the standards set by the franchise. At the very least, much can be forgjven when an adaptation is clearly made with love, even of it differs drastically from the origonal; but they have implicitely maligned the source material and the author numerous times, because the originals were not done in the same style as the alt fic. It is not made with love, it is made with money-making schemes in mind. And yet ROP demands universal respect - if you do not like it, you must be one of those horrible narrow minded people [of which enough is said elsewhere that I won't reiterate here]! It just can't have it both ways - be forgiven for the liberties and storytelling imperfections of a humble fanfic, but also present itself as the greatest thing since sliced bread. That stuff gets under my skin.


I think I'll wait for the thirs episode to air before I start watching, based on the reviews posted on this forum, and then perhaps I can give a better response to the first and main point of your thread - what baggage seems to weigh most heavily in this endeavour.
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