In support of The Hobbit ...
First of all, thank you to everyone who pinged me with get well messages. I am starting to feel human again, if still a bit limp and like a wet noodle monster. My breathing apparatus has significantly cleared - although I think I singlehandedly caused the commodities prices in Kleenex tissue products to spike - the stomach is settled, the head no longer throbs, and now it's just a matter of slowly bringing my metabolism back to normal. Whatever it was that hit me seems to have struck a lot of people on the f-list, and it swept through my family and circle of acquaintances and friends pretty hard as well. So, if you suffered, my sympathies; if you're just starting to feel it, may it pass quickly; and if it hasn't gone anywhere near you yet, stay safe and well-rested, wash your hands a lot and use lots of antiseptic wipes on everything you touch.
ETA: Excellent column on influenza shots by Monique Keiran, science writer for the Victoria Times-Colonist.
I will get back to the New Year's prompts soon, but first I wanted to write in support of Peter Jackson's opus, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I've been looking forward to seeing this film for years and followed the director's blog with interest as he explained the different techniques he was going to use. I noted with trepidation the addition of characters which I hadn't seen in the book - an elf-princess-warrior character, for example (and who hasn't surfaced yet), or Radagast in an active and present role - but still loved the story enough to reserves seats for the family just before Christmas.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Hobbit movie, and I think it's getting such a bad shake from movie reviewers. I also find much of the criticism shallow and worth a counterargument, which is provided under the cut for those who don't care.
The hyper-realism and intense colour saturation produced by the green-screen and extra film-speeds bothered some who are more familiar with that level of saturation and clarity in sub-par made-for-television movie specials.
"I don't like it because I'm not used to it" is not really a fair criticism of any new technique.
It's about time a movie that wasn't sub-par made use of technology that intensifies colours, makes unusual movements and camera angles appear natural and segue smoothly, and makes all those luxurious natural settings shine with crystal clarity. There are still places on this planet, even, where the landscape isn't coated with industrial-grade haze and smog, and the light reflects off objects shines clearly and brightly. Nice to see a movie which shows that. There's no reason why movies shouldn't, either, especially in a story which is meant to replicate that inner dream landscape where things do glow in their own light and tend to be crystal clear and very pellucid.
The CGI was too obvious.
Well, Storm Giants, orcs, hobbits, (Tolkein-style) dwarves, elves and Gollums aren't exactly part of our regular viewing channel in the natural world, and Tolkein wrote them with pretty explicit design specifications, so it's hard to imagine how Jackson was supposed to create these characters without the aid of modern technology. I mean, I wasn't too fussed about the template for elves looking like they had pokers rammed up their collective butts, either, and would've gone for a more ethereal balletic movement that involved wires and semi-floating and CGI, but overall I would say that the character design in the movie is excellent. The lack of advanced CGI technology was what defeated the many past filmmakers and animators when they attempted the project. In the future, even better techniques will bring out other filmmakers to tackle these stories again, I'm sure.
The start was too slow.
Thank goodness the whole thing wasn't about being chased by orcs through dark tunnels. Some of us prefer other story elements besides those found in digital games.
Peter Jackson wanted to make another 9-hour trilogy, so he added bits to the story that weren't in the original.
Some critics went so far as to compare Peter Jackson with George Lucas, and The Hobbit with the Star Wars Phantom Menace Prequel series.
The Hobbit story was fleshed out with items that had been written in the appendices to Lord of the Rings, although not The Silmarillion as the Tolkein family refused to release copyright. These items included: Radagast's warning to Gandalf, the Necromancer and the Nazgul in the broken fortress of Dol Goldur; Sauron being incorporeal in his Necromancer form; and the White Council amongst other things.
This criticism should be really taken up with Tolkein, because even if they weren't put in the original story, they are components to the story that he wrote, even down to describing the Necromancer as an evil spirit starting to take shape. Some readers gobbled up the details that the Appendices and The Silmarillion provided after they were finished with the original books. They couldn't get enough back story. Others preferred filling these in from their imagination. One person's feast is another's glut.
Still other 'purist' critics didn't like alterations that Jackson worked for the purposes of drama: introducing Azog the Terrible right from the start to hunt Thorin & Co., for example; turning Radagast into a type of homeless, mushroom-licking, hygiene-challenged mediaeval environmentalist(!) (or maybe they were just mad that he still had enough on the ball to warn Gandalf and set up a diversion for the orcs and wargs to let Thorin & Co. escape, because they don't credit anyone different from having common sense XP) ...
Again, I think these are problems that people have with reconciling their own inner vision of Tolkein's Hobbit - a universe that has existed for so long without being spelled out in cinematic form that people created some very strong ideas of what it looks likes, sounds like, feels like from their own imaginations or from a combination of their imaginations with illustration without interference or obstruction from external sources - with another author's vision: Peter Jackson's. It's fine if they don't like how the two disparate visions fail to reconcile with each other, but it doesn't make Jackson's work lessor. So far, Jackson has been pretty consistent with Tolkein's canon.
In addition, the show has some elements of giggly prepubescent boy humour, and Troll Boogers seem to be a universal problem no matter if one encounters them in the girls' lavatory at Hogwarts, or on the Fells of Anorien.
There were plenty of wonderful moments in the story which were neglected for all the quibbling over its flaws: Thorin's unmistakeable charisma and his prickly manners; Balin's devotion; the terrifying destruction of Dale; Thranduil's sense of resignation and hopelessness as he turns away; the fearsome wreck of the homestead at the edge of the wilderness; the pony rescue during the troll scene (a hundred children in the audience heaved a sigh of relief over that alone); the creepiness of Dol Goldur and the spiders; Radagast's oddball mixture of befuddlement and awareness; the saucy elfin flautist; the overwhelming battle of Storm Giants; the very touching exchange between Bofur and Bilbo in the cave; the strange Goblin stenographer; the entire underground episode between Bilbo and Gollum, including Bilbo's all-important act of mercy afterwards; the eagle rescue scene and the promise of what lies ahead.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey lives up to its name.
Because of Livejournal's data-sharing policy with Facebook and Twitter, comments will not be logged here. If you would like to respond to this post, please click through: http://7veils.dreamwidth.org/315164.html.
ETA: Excellent column on influenza shots by Monique Keiran, science writer for the Victoria Times-Colonist.
I will get back to the New Year's prompts soon, but first I wanted to write in support of Peter Jackson's opus, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I've been looking forward to seeing this film for years and followed the director's blog with interest as he explained the different techniques he was going to use. I noted with trepidation the addition of characters which I hadn't seen in the book - an elf-princess-warrior character, for example (and who hasn't surfaced yet), or Radagast in an active and present role - but still loved the story enough to reserves seats for the family just before Christmas.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Hobbit movie, and I think it's getting such a bad shake from movie reviewers. I also find much of the criticism shallow and worth a counterargument, which is provided under the cut for those who don't care.
The hyper-realism and intense colour saturation produced by the green-screen and extra film-speeds bothered some who are more familiar with that level of saturation and clarity in sub-par made-for-television movie specials.
"I don't like it because I'm not used to it" is not really a fair criticism of any new technique.
It's about time a movie that wasn't sub-par made use of technology that intensifies colours, makes unusual movements and camera angles appear natural and segue smoothly, and makes all those luxurious natural settings shine with crystal clarity. There are still places on this planet, even, where the landscape isn't coated with industrial-grade haze and smog, and the light reflects off objects shines clearly and brightly. Nice to see a movie which shows that. There's no reason why movies shouldn't, either, especially in a story which is meant to replicate that inner dream landscape where things do glow in their own light and tend to be crystal clear and very pellucid.
The CGI was too obvious.
Well, Storm Giants, orcs, hobbits, (Tolkein-style) dwarves, elves and Gollums aren't exactly part of our regular viewing channel in the natural world, and Tolkein wrote them with pretty explicit design specifications, so it's hard to imagine how Jackson was supposed to create these characters without the aid of modern technology. I mean, I wasn't too fussed about the template for elves looking like they had pokers rammed up their collective butts, either, and would've gone for a more ethereal balletic movement that involved wires and semi-floating and CGI, but overall I would say that the character design in the movie is excellent. The lack of advanced CGI technology was what defeated the many past filmmakers and animators when they attempted the project. In the future, even better techniques will bring out other filmmakers to tackle these stories again, I'm sure.
The start was too slow.
Thank goodness the whole thing wasn't about being chased by orcs through dark tunnels. Some of us prefer other story elements besides those found in digital games.
Peter Jackson wanted to make another 9-hour trilogy, so he added bits to the story that weren't in the original.
Some critics went so far as to compare Peter Jackson with George Lucas, and The Hobbit with the Star Wars Phantom Menace Prequel series.
The Hobbit story was fleshed out with items that had been written in the appendices to Lord of the Rings, although not The Silmarillion as the Tolkein family refused to release copyright. These items included: Radagast's warning to Gandalf, the Necromancer and the Nazgul in the broken fortress of Dol Goldur; Sauron being incorporeal in his Necromancer form; and the White Council amongst other things.
This criticism should be really taken up with Tolkein, because even if they weren't put in the original story, they are components to the story that he wrote, even down to describing the Necromancer as an evil spirit starting to take shape. Some readers gobbled up the details that the Appendices and The Silmarillion provided after they were finished with the original books. They couldn't get enough back story. Others preferred filling these in from their imagination. One person's feast is another's glut.
Still other 'purist' critics didn't like alterations that Jackson worked for the purposes of drama: introducing Azog the Terrible right from the start to hunt Thorin & Co., for example; turning Radagast into a type of homeless, mushroom-licking, hygiene-challenged mediaeval environmentalist(!) (or maybe they were just mad that he still had enough on the ball to warn Gandalf and set up a diversion for the orcs and wargs to let Thorin & Co. escape, because they don't credit anyone different from having common sense XP) ...
Again, I think these are problems that people have with reconciling their own inner vision of Tolkein's Hobbit - a universe that has existed for so long without being spelled out in cinematic form that people created some very strong ideas of what it looks likes, sounds like, feels like from their own imaginations or from a combination of their imaginations with illustration without interference or obstruction from external sources - with another author's vision: Peter Jackson's. It's fine if they don't like how the two disparate visions fail to reconcile with each other, but it doesn't make Jackson's work lessor. So far, Jackson has been pretty consistent with Tolkein's canon.
In addition, the show has some elements of giggly prepubescent boy humour, and Troll Boogers seem to be a universal problem no matter if one encounters them in the girls' lavatory at Hogwarts, or on the Fells of Anorien.
There were plenty of wonderful moments in the story which were neglected for all the quibbling over its flaws: Thorin's unmistakeable charisma and his prickly manners; Balin's devotion; the terrifying destruction of Dale; Thranduil's sense of resignation and hopelessness as he turns away; the fearsome wreck of the homestead at the edge of the wilderness; the pony rescue during the troll scene (a hundred children in the audience heaved a sigh of relief over that alone); the creepiness of Dol Goldur and the spiders; Radagast's oddball mixture of befuddlement and awareness; the saucy elfin flautist; the overwhelming battle of Storm Giants; the very touching exchange between Bofur and Bilbo in the cave; the strange Goblin stenographer; the entire underground episode between Bilbo and Gollum, including Bilbo's all-important act of mercy afterwards; the eagle rescue scene and the promise of what lies ahead.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey lives up to its name.
Because of Livejournal's data-sharing policy with Facebook and Twitter, comments will not be logged here. If you would like to respond to this post, please click through: http://7veils.dreamwidth.org/315164.html.