Does anyone else hate the Rohanites? Or am I just a horrible person?

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by Lush

So TTT is playing on the Saudi-owned channel tonight, MBC (they cut out all of the kissing - how pathetic. Not very tolerant of me, I know, but KISSING? MBC is a horrible channel, and the minute I'm able to get Showtime Arabia at my new place, I will shout up at the heavens in rejoicing)... And I am reflecting on the fact that I hate the way that most Rohanites are portrayed. Always have.

Ouch. I have Arabic blood, even if I'm a Catholic Filipina who grew up without any trace of Arabic-Muslim culture, not blatantly anyway. Muslim tradition in its most conservative is even worse than ten Saint Augustine's or any other patriarch or what in its Christian counterparts. That's the country where women are veiled, for God's sake, and one must understand that ergo, kissing scenes are as taboo as porn in such a society. I'm not justifying their act of censoring, I'm simply saying that it's their prerogative, in much the same way PJ got away with his many blunders.

I'm so sorry for this rant.

[Bêthberry]

So is the problem the conception or the application?

With the Rohan scenes PJ is doing something Tolkien never, ever gives us: a view of how war affects civilians, decimates populations, destroys social organisation, is no respector of age or gender. Of course, this modern perspective on the terrible consequences of war was not a main aspect (if it featured at all) in the traditional epics so beloved of Tolkien. Is this part of PJ's efforts to "modernise" Middle-earth for a new age, much as he attempted to give us warrior Arwen and funny sidekick Gimli?

Or is the problem simply bad staging, bad acting, bad hair day, a miserable attempt at a sociological depiction of a culture different from the Shire's culture?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Or is the problem simply bad staging, bad acting, bad hair day, a miserable attempt at a sociological depiction of a culture different from the Shire's culture?

...the lack of green grass.

[Beregond]

The green grass was another of my pet peeves, before I realized it was still late winter, and the grass can perhaps be excused for it's dry browness.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Beregond

The green grass was another of my pet peeves, before I realized it was still late winter, and the grass can perhaps be excused for it's dry browness.

Sure it can. It's just that when I see Rohan, I think it two sips away from becoming a dustbowl.

And note that the grass around Helm's Deep will be even greener the next season...all of those dead elves fertilizing it.

Originally Posted by BGreg

I would have to agree with you on that one. PJ uses some features here that are usual in many modern movies, like showing how real people suffer. But it just doesn't feel right when done in an epic story like this. Tolkien's intention was to show brave and strong people, not pathetic people like those portrayed by PJ.

Welcome to the Downs, BGreg.

More pathetic than the civvies run outa town with little more than their skivvies, is the sight of the proud Gondorian army getting crushed by a few trolls and some orcs.

"Stand your ground!"

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Beregond

The green grass was another of my pet peeves, before I realized it was still late winter, and the grass can perhaps be excused for it's dry browness.

Or its greenness

'So ended the Emyn Muil, and the green plains of the Rohirrim stretched away before them up to the edge of sight.' The Riders of Rohan.

Legolas also describes a green hill and a green terrace in connection with Edoras, in The King of the Golden Hall.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Galin

Or its greenness

'So ended the Emyn Muil, and the green plains of the Rohirrim stretched away before them up to the edge of sight.' The Riders of Rohan.

Legolas also describes a green hill and a green terrace in connection with Edoras, in The King of the Golden Hall.

Actually, Rohan of the movies was far too lumpy for the proper establishment of a horse culture. Rolling plains and meadows (think the Mongols or the Cheyenne and Sioux) are needed for such a society to thrive, not humps and ruts and craggy tors.

[Kitanna]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Actually, Rohan of the movies was far too lumpy for the proper establishment of a horse culture. Rolling plains and meadows (think the Mongols or the Cheyenne and Sioux) are needed for such a society to thrive, not humps and ruts and craggy tors.

Does this mean South Dakota or Wyoming could be Rohan? Or are they simply not exotic enough to be considered for Middle-Earth?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

...the lack of green grass.

I hear a voice, faintly at first, but then it's getting stronger. Yes, yes, it is. It's Tom Jones crooning "The green, green grass of home."

How that went over in Vegas I'll never understand.

And welcome to the Downs, BGreg.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I hear a voice, faintly at first, but then it's getting stronger. Yes, yes, it is. It's Tom Jones crooning "The green, green grass of home."
.

At least you can't hear Tom Bombadil bellowing What's New Pussycat? at Goldberry

[Lush]

Lindale - But Muslim culture is not a monolith. As I mentioned in my first post - Showtime Arabia is not the same as MBC. The problem has to do with Saudi clerics who, because of a few generous sponsors, get to decide what I can or cannot watch on an entertainment channel. I live in Jordan - veeery different place from Saudi. The only reason why the Saudi censorship boards has any say about what I watch has to do with money.

Beth - I think that the filmmakers' designs vaulted over realism and went straight into caricature. Stern, proud, whatever - I really don't care either way, I like my characters to be human thankyouvermuch. But this - aside from a few actors pulling their weight - was bordering on the grotesque.

[BGreg]

With the Rohan scenes PJ is doing something Tolkien never, ever gives us: a view of how war affects civilians, decimates populations, destroys social organisation, is no respector of age or gender. Of course, this modern perspective on the terrible consequences of war was not a main aspect (if it featured at all) in the traditional epics so beloved of Tolkien. Is this part of PJ's efforts to "modernise" Middle-earth for a new age, much as he attempted to give us warrior Arwen and funny sidekick Gimli?

I would have to agree with you on that one. PJ uses some features here that are usual in many modern movies, like showing how real people suffer. But it just doesn't feel right when done in an epic story like this. Tolkien's intention was to show brave and strong people, not pathetic people like those portrayed by PJ.