July 25, 2002

Fan Or No Fan?
Faramir the Brave

I decided after reading all this junk about people crying over real Tolkien Fans and Tolkien Fan wannabe's that I might as well throw in my two cents. On one side of the debate are those that say: "Your not a fan unless you read all the books." On the other side are those that say: "Since the movie was greatly portrayed a fan that just saw the movie is a valid fan". It depends what you mean by fan. If you mean fan that just likes something and thinks it's cool. Or do you mean diehard fullout freak Like those that camped out for Episode 2. Or a shade lower are those that are partially obsessed with it but do not go paranoid like the above. Unfortunately I disagree with Lady of Rohan and the others who say a fan who watches the 'greatly portrayed movie' deserves to be respected as a Tolkien fan. I would say NO and I will point out my reasons. A fan like that is just a normal little fan because:
1 The movie portrayed many things in the book differently like how the hobbits are introduced, how Frodo puts the ring on in the Prancing Pony, Aragorn having a bow while in the books he doesn't e.c.t.
2 If you didn't notice They left out Bombadil and the battle with the wolves before Moria.
3 FOTR was only one movie. Tolkien made 5 books.
There are many other reasons I don't have time to mention. The other part of my argument is the definition of "Tolkien Fan". Do you mean fan of LOTR or do you mean fan of J.R.R. Tolkien himself. I am fans of both. A person who just saw the movie doesn't even know a thing about Tolkien.
Joe