Peter Jackson doesn't understand Tolkien
I can't help but feel that I'll be obliged to dislike the upcoming film of The Hobbit, if the Lord of the Rings films are any indication of what Peter Jackson's storytelling style and priorities are. While they did get a lot of things right, there are an equal number that are completely and appallingly wrong, straying drastically from the sense of Middle Earth and its characters as Tolkien conceived them.
Everyone goes nuts over how great Gollum was, but I think it was a travesty. That whole "good Smeagol, bad Gollum" split personality thing displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the character. Gollum never had multiple personalities that threatened each other; nor was he schizophrenic and seeing a projection of himself that wasn't there. He simply argued aloud with himself about how best to get back the Ring, and whether Frodo was worth his loyalty or not. True, Sam does see him as having 'good' and 'bad' halves (Slinker and Stinker, as he calls them), but then again Sam never really understood Gollum's motivation, nor believed he had any good left in him. This culminated in a haunting moment just before Shelob's lair where Sam shouts Gollum down when he was actually trying to be nice to Frodo, and this unthinking cruelty causes him to regress into his old wicked ways more deeply than ever. It's a great scene, and one completely missing from the films, all because they had to be "dramatic" and have Frodo tell Sam to go away--something Tolkien's Frodo would have never, ever done.
Insofar as it exists, the split in Gollum's character is between himself and his perception of the Ring. This, after all, is what he means by his use of "we" to refer to himself, and the reason he talks aloud to himself at all. He is talking to the "Precious" Ring all the time, and to some extent in his mind he and the Ring have become one and the same. The movie portrayal is a simplistic, psychologically-castrated rendition of one of the greatest villainous characters ever written; all of the subtlety has been bulldozed over and replaced straight from "Cheap Movie-Making Gags 101". It is completely stupid and inane, and I can't abide watching those scenes.
And speaking of Frodo, the movie version has been robbed of nearly every single moment of greatness shown by his literary counterpart. In the movies he is always screaming ineffectually and someone else has to save him, but Tolkien's Frodo has a quietly powerful presence that commands respect wherever he goes. Gollum, even while liking him for his kindness, is also terrified of him. Three times in the books Frodo commands him to obey, in what is shown as a lordly and terrifying manner (part of it may be because he possesses the Ring, but certainly much of it is his own strength of character), and three times Gollum is cowed and fearful. Frodo also stands up to the Nazgul at the ford, defying them even with his seemingly last breath, before the flood consumes them. Contrast the film where he passes out and someone else does it for him. And the whole reason the Nazgul stabbed him in the shoulder at Weathertop, instead of through the heart, was because he fought back and the strike missed! What the hell, movies?! Complete character castration, again. It's disgusting, it really is.
So it is perhaps understandable that I'm not exactly bursting with anticipation of seeing another film made by the same people responsible for such a misguided mess.
Everyone goes nuts over how great Gollum was, but I think it was a travesty. That whole "good Smeagol, bad Gollum" split personality thing displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the character. Gollum never had multiple personalities that threatened each other; nor was he schizophrenic and seeing a projection of himself that wasn't there. He simply argued aloud with himself about how best to get back the Ring, and whether Frodo was worth his loyalty or not. True, Sam does see him as having 'good' and 'bad' halves (Slinker and Stinker, as he calls them), but then again Sam never really understood Gollum's motivation, nor believed he had any good left in him. This culminated in a haunting moment just before Shelob's lair where Sam shouts Gollum down when he was actually trying to be nice to Frodo, and this unthinking cruelty causes him to regress into his old wicked ways more deeply than ever. It's a great scene, and one completely missing from the films, all because they had to be "dramatic" and have Frodo tell Sam to go away--something Tolkien's Frodo would have never, ever done.
Insofar as it exists, the split in Gollum's character is between himself and his perception of the Ring. This, after all, is what he means by his use of "we" to refer to himself, and the reason he talks aloud to himself at all. He is talking to the "Precious" Ring all the time, and to some extent in his mind he and the Ring have become one and the same. The movie portrayal is a simplistic, psychologically-castrated rendition of one of the greatest villainous characters ever written; all of the subtlety has been bulldozed over and replaced straight from "Cheap Movie-Making Gags 101". It is completely stupid and inane, and I can't abide watching those scenes.
And speaking of Frodo, the movie version has been robbed of nearly every single moment of greatness shown by his literary counterpart. In the movies he is always screaming ineffectually and someone else has to save him, but Tolkien's Frodo has a quietly powerful presence that commands respect wherever he goes. Gollum, even while liking him for his kindness, is also terrified of him. Three times in the books Frodo commands him to obey, in what is shown as a lordly and terrifying manner (part of it may be because he possesses the Ring, but certainly much of it is his own strength of character), and three times Gollum is cowed and fearful. Frodo also stands up to the Nazgul at the ford, defying them even with his seemingly last breath, before the flood consumes them. Contrast the film where he passes out and someone else does it for him. And the whole reason the Nazgul stabbed him in the shoulder at Weathertop, instead of through the heart, was because he fought back and the strike missed! What the hell, movies?! Complete character castration, again. It's disgusting, it really is.
So it is perhaps understandable that I'm not exactly bursting with anticipation of seeing another film made by the same people responsible for such a misguided mess.