February 13, 2003

The Defense of Faramir
Chambers

This is in response to the many complaints about Faramir I have heard. I think PJ changed Faramir's character for good reasons. First of all I don't think it would have been very exciting to have Frodo meet up with Faramir only to have some good wholesome talks, and get some food and staves(which I didn't notice), especially since the Shelob scene is being postponed. (The reasons for that we shall see in the Return of the King). But if there wasn't this conflict between Faramir and the hobbits, nothing would have happened with Sam and Frodo in this movie except for the early Gollum scenes. They would have been boring. The second reason is more important. I think PJ's number one priority with men is to show that Aragorn is the best one, and you just can't say the things Tolkien said about him on screen. Remember the scene where Aragorn closes Frodo's hand at the end of FOTR? To have Faramir do the same thing in TTT would take away from Aragorn's character. Unfortunately to make Aragorn look like the King, Faramir has to become a little less 'Gandalfy'. Finally, I think/hope we will see the better side of Faramir in the Return of the King when he is compared to Denethor, and the other men of Gondor rather than our beloved heroes: Frodo, Sam, and Aragorn.
Well there you have it. I guess most disagree. But while your angry at the changes PJ made, and signing your silly petitions, diminishing your enjoyment of a beautiful thing, I'm sitting in the theatre having 'the time of my life'. Your only going to ruin your own experience by clinging to the books so much.