January 24, 2004

Come to the Light, Brett. Come to the Light.
Everett

Can it be, Brett? Are you really on the verge of having the movies spoiled for you because Peter Jackson screwed up one part of the movie that will only be included in the extended edition of RotK, if it is included at all? A little ironic to be sure, given the amount of time you've put into defending all of the other errors in the movie vis-a-vis the books, but not indefensible. I guess enough is enough. Everyone has their breaking point, and you seem to be about to reach it. I reached mine fairly early on, when Arwen made her first appearance in FotR. However, I was able to build up my expectations for TTT, which were mercilessly dashed by the completely unexpected trip to Osgiliath.*

Why are people so eager to defend Peter Jackson from any sort of criticism that they will go to great lengths to justify any changes or shortcomings in the movie (or just say that no one elese has any right to criticize because they can't make movies as well as Peter Jackson)? I think there are two reasons. One is that it's better than Bakshi's version by far (to those of you who haven't seen Bakshi's version, I recommend you read the hilarious review of it over at www.flyingmoose.org on the Tolkien Sarcasm page), so the bar is fairly low. Second, people who had read LotR and wanted to see it made into movies wanted them to be done well, and, at least for now, Peter Jackson's efforts are the best we're going to do. This is compounded by the fact that Peter Jackson evidently loves the books as well, and there is the desire to cut him a great deal of slack because of this.

This is all well and good, but there comes a point when it only makes sense to say "It was a valiant effort, but it fell short. Well short in some areas." My dad has actually gone so far as to compare it to the Jesus of Nazareth miniseries that first aired in the early 80's. I think he goes too far, but the comparison holds on several points. The first is in the magnitude and complexity of the stories. Both LotR and the Gospels are very complex stories and very difficult to tell as a whole on film (or on TV, as the case may be).** Both had excellent directors who loved and revered the stories they were adapting (Franco Zefferelli and Peter Jackson, respectively). Both had very strong casts (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Sir Ian McKellan, Sir Ian Holm, Agent Smith, Viggo Mortensen, etc. vs. Michael York, Christopher Plummer, Sir Laurence Olivier, James Earl Jones, Anthony Quinn, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Olivia Hussy, Ernest Borgnine, Donalad Pleasance, etc.). Both fall short as adaptations of their literary counterparts. Where the comparison falls short is that the LotR movies are actually good movies, whereas Jesus of Nazareth is a little on the boring side, especially at 8 hours (never mind the fact that Jesus never blinks in the entire miniseries).

So, if the movies fall short of an acceptable adaptation, what is an appropriate way to look at the LotR movies? There are two approaches which I think allow the movies to be enjoyed without having to go through intellectual contortions to defend what would otherwise be indefensible. One is to simply view the movies as movies and ignore any similarity or difference with the books. The other, and this is the approach I've taken, is to have fun with the fact that the movie doesn't measure up to the book. I have taken shots at each of the movies where they didn't measure up to the book or provided some source of unintentional comedy, Mr. Anderson.***

Overall, I applaud Peter Jackson and his crew for trying. It was a valiant effort, but making a decent film adaptation is like riding from Minas Tirith to Rivendell in five days: It can't be done. So to Brett and anyone else on the verge of despair, don't get upset. Just sit back and laugh at it. Make snide comments. And remember, it's still better than Bakshi's version.


Anyway, it's time for me to duck. I think I can see the rotten tomatoes coming straight for my head.

Oh, one more thing. Unless your pieces are as long as my average piece or longer, there is really no need to apologize for the length. I understand you're being courteous, so I'm not upset by it, but it strikes me as being a bit too nice.

*The single funniest line in the whole trilogy was Sam saying "By all rights we shouldn't even be here," during the Osgiliath sequence in TTT.

**You can argue about which is more difficult. I think each present unique difficulties which must be overcome for an acceptable adaptation.

***Apparently, my laughter was so loud when the arnmy of the dead took down the oliphaunt that it could be heard thoughout the theater, even though I was sitting in the front row.