How many changes ? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 01-04-2003, 03:27 AM

I think I was maybe a bit 'forceful' in my original statement - but let me state my main point - The Movies Are Wonderful! I love the movies. Its very rare that I watch a movie more than twice & I must have watched Fellowship a dozen times in each version.<BR>B*U*T They aren't Lord of the Rings. There are too many changes, in mood & atmosphere, characters, motivations, etc, etc. Beyond a certain point, you aren't adapting, you're rewriting, telling a different story.<BR>How many people have said that, for instance Tom Bombadil & the Old Forest wouldn't have worked in the movie? And they're right, because the mood of the film wouldn't have made it possible to include them. But if Bombadil works in the book, & fits perfectly into that world, then if the movie had caught the spirit of the book, Bombadill would have worked. And that's just the most obvious example.<BR>As the series goes on, the movies move further & further from the book - that doesn't make them BAD movies, but it does mean they aren't movies of LotR.<BR>And As for the Frodo = the King who returns, all I can say is that I can't shake the feeling that I'm on to something, & I need to think about it more deeply before I can fully set it out for the sceptics. I might try putting it out as a thread on the books forum.

01-04-2003, 03:27 AM	#11
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	I think I was maybe a bit 'forceful' in my original statement - but let me state my main point - The Movies Are Wonderful! I love the movies. Its very rare that I watch a movie more than twice & I must have watched Fellowship a dozen times in each version.<BR>BUT They aren't Lord of the Rings. There are too many changes, in mood & atmosphere, characters, motivations, etc, etc. Beyond a certain point, you aren't adapting, you're rewriting, telling a different story.<BR>How many people have said that, for instance Tom Bombadil & the Old Forest wouldn't have worked in the movie? And they're right, because the mood of the film wouldn't have made it possible to include them. But if Bombadil works in the book, & fits perfectly into that world, then if the movie had caught the spirit of the book, Bombadill would have worked. And that's just the most obvious example.<BR>As the series goes on, the movies move further & further from the book - that doesn't make them BAD movies, but it does mean they aren't movies of LotR.<BR>And As for the Frodo = the King who returns, all I can say is that I can't shake the feeling that I'm on to something, & I need to think about it more deeply before I can fully set it out for the sceptics. I might try putting it out as a thread on the books forum. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."