Why Can't Movies Be Like Books?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Forget Shippey. I will read Tolkien.

Then you're being wilfully closed-minded, unprepared to consider that anyone besides yourself might garner a valid interpretation of Tolkien; one from which you might actually deepen your own understanding. Isn't that what we're doing here?

Does not Gandalf himself reject having the ring for fear of how he would eventually use it?
The Shadow of the Past
Frodo: You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the ring?
Gandalf: No! cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a powerstill greater and more deadly.
Does not Galadriel also reject the ring for fear of how she would eventually use it?
The Mirror of Galadriel
Frodo: I will give you the one ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.
Galadriel then gives the whole "set up a Queen .... love me and despair .... I pass the test... " speech.

What you posted was "it can control everyone who comes in contact with it." Not merely its potential effects on two of the Wise (and powerful), but everyone. It does *not* control everyone- certainly not Faramir, and it was PJ's misunderstanding of the Ring's nature which led to the creation of Filmamir. The Ring seduces those who are prone to temptation. Shippey draws an analogy to heroin; one could also use lust. Different married men will respond differently to a full-on seduction attempt by some luscious babe, depending on the strength of their commitment to fidelity. Faramir is one of those who would say, "I appreciate the compliment, but please put your clothes back on."