Before and after the movie

[Snowdog]

Being that I managed to make Old School by a year, and was one who was in line for the opening of the Walden books the day the Silmarillion was released, I didn't have any knowledge of the cultures before 'my' time which was 1975-76. So I will work all your 60's suggestions into it, and hope to get in touch with this charming old gent who told me he read the triligy in 1956 in the U of Washington library. he was a 'beatnik' and was a precurser to the whole 60's Frodo Lives generation.

As an oldtimer (cough), my view of PJ's endeavour was one of interpretation, which is of course what it was. TTT was where it was very evident to me. My thoughts at the end of that movie was how hard it would be to interpret LOTR to film. ROTK (for me) showed even more evidence of the glaring interpretation decisions made by PJ. And showed me even more insersions of his movie making style which, to me, detracted from the Tolkien experience.

I knew his interpretation would be way off as soon as I saw a blade held by "Arwen" at the throat of Aragorn in the wild . Nuclear Galadriel, Elves in Helms Deep, searchlight eye of sauron... But it was all ok for a movie because I know what its really like, stored in my head.