How Jackson sold out... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

**The Saucepan Man** · 01-18-2003, 11:04 PM

Thank you littlemanpoet for posting your brother's thought provoking comments. As a long-standing Tolkien fan, I agree with a lot of what he says.But, unfortunately, we all have to face the commercial realities. Making a film for the mass movie going public is a commercial endeavour and will inevitably involve a degree of "selling out". And the mass movie going public (myself included) want their fantasy/sci-fi films to fast-paced and full of action. I dislike "dumbing down", but a certain amount of this is required when making a film like this. It is still an infinately more intelligent "action" film than many that I could mention.To get the kind of big budget treatment that I think the images conveyed by JRRT's words deserved, the films has to be blockbuster successes. As Tar-Palantir points out, the films are visually stunning - the locations, the costumes, the "creatures" (except, of course, the Wargs ), the SFX and the battle scenes. We just wouldn't have had these without the big budget.I was irritated by some of the gratuitous scenes, particularly where they did not make sense (Wormtongue being rendered obsolescent by Saruman's possession of Saruman, for example). But I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed both films and I am extremely grateful for the visual presentation of a world that looks so much like the one that I had imagined.I don't think that I can really put it better than Bill F: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Mr. Jackson may get a C in regards to a comparison to the books, but he gets an A for effort, and an A for making the best action/adventure movie of all time. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>These are film adaptations of the books. They are not the books themselves. They do not take the books away from us - we still have them and can still enjoy them for what they truly are - literary masterpieces.And finally, I would certainly not underestimate the value of both films in bringing JRRT's works to those who had not the fortune of knowing them before - my wife included.

01-18-2003, 11:04 PM	#6
The Saucepan Man Corpus Cacophonous Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: A green and pleasant land Posts: 8,390	Thank you littlemanpoet for posting your brother's thought provoking comments. As a long-standing Tolkien fan, I agree with a lot of what he says.<P>But, unfortunately, we all have to face the commercial realities. Making a film for the mass movie going public is a commercial endeavour and will inevitably involve a degree of "selling out". <P>And the mass movie going public (myself included) want their fantasy/sci-fi films to fast-paced and full of action. I dislike "dumbing down", but a certain amount of this is required when making a film like this. It is still an infinately more intelligent "action" film than many that I could mention.<P>To get the kind of big budget treatment that I think the images conveyed by JRRT's words deserved, the films has to be blockbuster successes. As Tar-Palantir points out, the films are visually stunning - the locations, the costumes, the "creatures" (except, of course, the Wargs ), the SFX and the battle scenes. We just wouldn't have had these without the big budget.<P>I was irritated by some of the gratuitous scenes, particularly where they did not make sense (Wormtongue being rendered obsolescent by Saruman's possession of Saruman, for example). But I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed both films and I am extremely grateful for the visual presentation of a world that looks so much like the one that I had imagined.<P>I don't think that I can really put it better than Bill F:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Mr. Jackson may get a C in regards to a comparison to the books, but he gets an A for effort, and an A for making the best action/adventure movie of all time. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>These are film <B>adaptations</B> of the books. They are not the books themselves. They do not take the books away from us - we still have them and can still enjoy them for what they truly are - literary masterpieces.<P>And finally, I would certainly not underestimate the value of both films in bringing JRRT's works to those who had not the fortune of knowing them before - my wife included. __________________ Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!