April 7, 2003

Film Faithfulness
Tolkienfan

You know, many people on here are upset about the descrepencies from book to film in Two Towers. There were also alot of differences in Fellowship too, but if you think about it, it really isn't all that much.

Take at almost every other adaptation from a book (with the exception of Harry Potter) they are all very, very unfaithful. Things like Jurassic Park, or the original Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi for that matter. Most adaptation only take the main plot from the book, and alter many, many things, even charactors and main events sometimes. But Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens have remain unbelieveably true to the original works of Tolkien. Even the added stuff refers to things from Tolkien's writings. The Warg battle scene, for instance, is a reference to an event that happens in the Fellowship of the Ring book, when they are met by wolves(wargs) before they head for Moria. It also references the part in the Hobbit when they are attacked by wolves.

All the Arwen stuff is taken from the appendices, and is simply putting more layers on the love story between Aragorn and Arwen. And the whole Faramir thing is simply milking the part where Faramir is tempted ever so slightly by the Ring when he finds out from a slip of the tongue by Sam. If you listen to the commentary track on the the Extended Edition of Fellowship, during the Balin's Tomb sequence when Frodo is stabbed by the Cave Troll, Peter Jackson says that what they do alot in these movies is "taking little things from the book, and milking them for all their worth". This is the only thing he does with Faramir (I'll admit it may be a little too much, but it still works just fine).

Try reading about that script that Tolkien looked at in the 50's or 60's in the post "Lord of the Rings script that Tolkien reviewed". Alot of HUGE differences from the book there. So you see, Peter Jackson was actually more faithful that you realize. People who aren't really "hardcore" Tolkien fans look at the movie compared to the book, and say "Wow! These movies are really faithful to the books." Because compared to the adaptations that we're used to, they really are!