Would Tolkien have accepted the films?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

The boundaries are very blurred with Tolkien. He certainly didn't sit down with the intention of writing LotR as a money spinner, it was more the culmination of a lifetime's imaginings. And a little nudge from the publisher who wanted a sequel to The Hobbit. I think there may be a letter referring to how The Hobbit helped pay for medical bills in the days before the NHS. There's certainly something about how selling film rights helped pay for private school fees. And he enjoyed the money brought in from the books in his and Edith's old age. Academics in the UK have never become rich just from lecturing, sidelines are always necessary.

The question would seem to be whether Tolkien envisioned other adaptations in the process of writing, and of that I have my doubts.

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

In any case, I doubt that whether the author enjoyed earning money from his/her work would have any bearing on whether they enjoyed any films. Alan Moore for example must have earnt a packet by now but he never watches the films of his stories.

Again, to me it goes back to how the author views the source work. Was Tolkien writing to live, or living to write?

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

And I don't think the films do miss the mark completely. They capture one person's vision, and it's not possible to capture everyone's.

I think the films do flounder in imparting the meaning of the story, but that's apparently because you and I have differing opinions of just what that meaning is.
Opinions are all we have, though.