So I finally finish my J. R. R. Tolkien re read...
I've done it! Read The Hobbit, LOTR and The Silmarillion in a row.
Reviews (ish) under cut link (well these are re-reads):
( The Hobbit )
Reviews (ish) under cut link (well these are re-reads):
( The Hobbit )
But oh! how I hate Arwen's development in the movies. In fact I hate everything that they changed in the movies, but Arwen and Elrond in particular - nothing needed to be changed imo. The ending was too 'American' for me also, I prefer the ending in the books.
I love the Hobbit too, it brings me back to my childhood everytime, but I prefer the writing in LotR. I've never been able to read the Silmarillion. I could never go past the Feanor bits, I don't know why, it's a hard read indeed, probably because Tolkien died before he could finish it himself. I'll give it another try, someday.
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I thought the ending was exactly the same, albeit slightly shorter as they cut out the scouring of the shire for the film :/
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In my mind the tragedy of the elves is more apparent with Galadriel than with Arwen and Elrond, so I really don't see the point of them having so much screen time.
The ending is pretty much the same indeed, but I wish the 'let's hug each other and cry' sequence between the Hobbits was shorter, and it would have been nice to have a bit of the scouring of the Shire, as it's a nice sequence in the books, and it makes more sense than them coming back to an untouched Shire.
But all in all I love the movies, don't get me wrong! :)
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I never had a problem with Liv as Arwen was two sentences in the book and therefore a write off for me.
You can see the scouring of the shire (they did film it but it was cut to shorten the movie)- it is on the extended dvd version.
I don't know. The ending didn't bother me. The book was just as long and never ending.
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I read Aragorn and Arwen's story in the appendices several times and it always leaves me in such a state of sadness... Just the thought of Arwen wandering alone after Aragorn's death makes me want to cry.:(
I remember Elrond's behaviour in the appendices, but it just makes more sense to me there (in terms of how Tolkien describes Elrond's character in the book) than in the movies with the aggressive, bitter portrayal of Elrond by Weaving. It's just anti-Elrond to me.
I know part of the scenes were from the appendices; but I always thought some bits were altered between the appendices and the movies (it's been a while, I need to re-watch and re-read) and anyway it was the way they were directed and acted and written that just felt wrong to me. In the book Arwen never leaves and then comes back in that theatrical manner, right? I don't know, it just buggs me, I tend to skip those scenes when I re-watch.
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I guess the thing is, I am not a LOTR book puritan, and that in the case of Arwen and Aragorn, Jackson actually got to the heart of the despair theme better than Tolkien did imo. Tolkien's language was always so passive and distant, hence, so were his characters sometimes.
The Elrond of the films is more real to me and so is Arwen. I think the film version is far sadder than the appendices version.
I don't know. I just know a friend of mine has the extended version of the return of the king and it is on there. There are multiple versions though and I have no idea which one she has. It could be a special feature? I am sure it is part of the film though and it goes for like four hours XD
ps: off to watch spooks 10.3 now. I am a terrible person. I chose to watch No 1 Ladies Detective Agency over Spooks last night.
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I like Tolkien's language and I relate to the characters more easily in the books so...
So jealous that you got to see the scouring!! *need to find it* =P
Ah, enjoy Spooks then! Or don't. I did, but not all of it so I'll be interested in reading your thoughts. ;)
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lol isn't that the anti fan ficcer's argument? I'm with Pullman, an author cannot pick and choose and force what a reader gets from their text. That is the whole point of "the democracy of reading." If Jackson got Arwen as being something important he has every right to put it in the film as the director, just as if you were the film-maker you would have had every right to choose something else. Tolkien as the author has no control over that. Nor do I believe he/authors should/can.
I disliked Tolkien's deliberate footnoting of women in LOTR. I liked that in this day and age Jackson chose not to go along with that and give women a bigger role in the film.
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No, I don't think it is. I write fanfiction about 'missing scenes' or, in the case of TV, meta fic about the lack of coherence, but I don't like fanfic writers who 'reboot' the canon, like they understood what the writer meant and the writer, stupid as he/she is, didn't. I'm not saying Jackson rebooted the canon here, but he forced his interpretation on the viewer. Which is great if you share his interpretation, but as I don't like the way he did it, it annoys me.
In the case of adaptation, I don't like it when screenwriters/directors specify an interpretation of the original text, because the readers who didn't see the same things are denied their interpretation in the adaptation. That's why I'm for adaptations that stick to canon as much as possible, so that everybody can still interprete the story in their own way.
I disliked Tolkien's deliberate footnoting of women in LOTR.I don't think Eowyn or Galadriel are footnotes... Maybe Arwen is a small character in LotR because that's what ( ... )
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