February 19, 2003

Re: The Question of Faramir
Jocelyn

I've pondered Faramir and the reasons his character seemed so...words fail me...maligned by the movie. At last I came to the conclusion that, as much as I have generally enjoyed the movies, it was very poor judgment on the screenplay-adapters and directors' part. I also don't think it had anything to do with the actor (whose name I can't remember.) I think for what it was, he played the roll very well, the only problem being...that wasn't Faramir!

Why did they do this, we wonder? Quite simply (and sadly) I think it was the Hollywood obsession with suspense and white-knuckled drama eclipsing everything else. The level-headed, rise-above-the-rest-of-Gondor Faramir who treated Frodo and Sam as guests rather than prisoners and had the good sense not to want to see the Ring is not nearly so exciting to Joe-six-pack as Faramir-the-evil-potential-Ring-snatcher. So rather than going for subtlety and originality and keeping with the brilliant characterizations created by Tolkien, PJ opted to please the Great Unwashed, and for that, I am disappointed in him. Considering the thrall in which Tolkien's work has held the world for decades, you'd think PJ would have had the good sense to leave the stories be. It's a sad, sad thing.

There's a fanfiction board currently posting a challenge to write stories that bring the movies closer in line with the books, and one of these, obviously, is to explain what the heck was going on in Faramir's head that would make him act that way. I've tried to come up with something, with no results.

So, in the end, I've debated this astonishing change in one of our heroes' thought and behavior, and reached this conclusion...

IT WAS FARAMIR'S EVIL TWIN!

(And according to my little sister, his name is Skippy.)