New trailer for 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

William Cloud Hicklin · 09-21-2012, 11:09 AM

It's not that I or most anyone would object to humor in the movies- adaptations of what is after all a very funny book in places.

The issue is the WRONG KIND of humor- as stated above, "stupid American movie humor." And that's the problem. Tolkien's humor was dry, puckish, donnish, clever- even when aimed at children it's aimed at *bright* children- PJ's humor belongs with the Farrelly Brothers and Adam Sandler.

This is not in the British humor tradition, nowhere on the Anglospectrum from refined to crude, from Austen to Python to Benny Hill.

(Note on the Pythons- the Trolls' Gandalf-aided argument over how to cook 13 dwarves and a Burrahobbit is actually fairly Pythonesque. But then the 5 British Pythons were all Oxbridge products, after all).

09-21-2012, 11:09 AM	#24
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	It's not that I or most anyone would object to humor in the movies- adaptations of what is after all a very funny book in places. The issue is the WRONG KIND of humor- as stated above, "stupid American movie humor." And that's the problem. Tolkien's humor was dry, puckish, donnish, clever- even when aimed at children it's aimed at bright children- PJ's humor belongs with the Farrelly Brothers and Adam Sandler. This is not in the British humor tradition, nowhere on the Anglospectrum from refined to crude, from Austen to Python to Benny Hill. (Note on the Pythons- the Trolls' Gandalf-aided argument over how to cook 13 dwarves and a Burrahobbit is actually fairly Pythonesque. But then the 5 British Pythons were all Oxbridge products, after all). __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.