March 13, 2004

Books First Or After?
Ashleigh

Eiuol (I hope I spelled it right), I do agree with you on reading the books first. However, I sort of cheated. I read Fellowship right before the movie came out and the other two (plus the hobbit afterwards) after FotR was out. I do think my reading was affected a little in the last books, because I had a notion of how the characters ought to have looked. But since I read FotR before the movie, I was able to keep the essence of the books that was ultimately Tolkien. It seemed like a good mix to me- the characters were all there and the way Tolkien wanted them to act, but I had a clear image of how the action played out in addition to what was already described in detail before my face. I do think that if I was to read the books right now, I would see it a little differently, having that image of the movie scenes in my mind. I believe it would be hard to actually grasp the text the way I did before all three movies. When you read a book on your own, it is the way you see it, which makes that reading so special. But when you have seen the movie, you are already told which way to see what the author wanted YOU to imagine. Oops. I don't believe I have made a point yet. Anyhow, Tolkien's books though, take a different meaning each time. It doesn't matter how many times you have seen the movie, it doesn't matter if you can recite the entire script by memory and dream scenes from Jackson's movies. What does matter is the message you get from the books. As you experience more in life, they change to what you believe and how you view the world- which is probably why the books are loved so much! Alright, I think I have written enough to thoroughly bore everyone. Thank you for being patient and hearing me out!

Ashleigh