Why Tolkien Fans are Like Furries

[aerin]

I may have covered this before. I don't know if I've ever drawn this parallel before, though. I think I just thought of it, in my insomniac state.

Have you ever noticed that the very (beg pardon) rabid proponents of furrydom tend not to accept that someone doesn't like furries? If you say it's not your thing, you get asked "Well... did you try it

Comments

Oh, I get you on this one...

[zsander]

The films weren't too bad, and yet every time I mention that, at least one person I know wants to point out how inaccurate some parts were and how the book had fucking Tom Bombadil (Honestly, that one Deus Ex Machina drives me batshit to hear about how it wasn't in the film). Granted, they turned poor Gimli into comic relief, but aside from that...

On the other hand, after Fellowship was released I purchased and read the trilogy compiled into a single book, and while a great fan of Fantasy fiction in general, I found the Lord of the Rings trilogy to be ... well, a bit of a slog. Perhaps it can be attributed to the dry writing style of the age, or perhaps the fact that Tolkien wrote the books mostly to showcase his languages, but still... eh.

I'm sure I'll draw some flack from some parties by stating this, but this is one of those occasions where in a book-to-film adaptation, I actually prefer the film. :P

Re: Oh, I get you on this one...

[aerin]

I generally get jumped on because (as I describe it) I like the fantasy genre and I like Tolkien in the abstract. I have had parts of his stories told to me, and find even the Similarion (I think that's how it's spelled) to be good stories. But the concrete part, the books and writing itself, is dull, dull, dull. And the movie was beautiful, lovely, and also dull. The way I put it during the discussion that spurred this entry last night was:

I found it difficult to follow who was going where and why and what this and that talking was about and whoa suddenly there's a chick going all freaky on one of the characters and then more mountains and a REALLY GREAT pincushion impersonation and then ENDU.

So there you have it.