The thing about Lord of the Rings -- or, an unexpectedly hopeful ending note on rant post

[idiosyncreant]

This is a rant that has been coming on for a while, because I've been binging on Lord of the Rings movie stuff after long abstinence, because my brother sent the family the Lego game for Christmas, and you know how it is with that little taste of an old addiction

Comments

[farrandy]

Wow! So many things to comment on here.

While I watch The Hobbit and see all the money it's making a part of me wants to scream, "Don't you people see the difference? Jackson & Co. took Lord of the Rings, caressed it lovingly and made a true work of art. They're just wallowing in The Hobbit.", I also understand the latter's appeal; it's a much simpler story. It's not surprising that it has such mass appeal. It still amazes me that a movie with as dense a story as LotR did as well as it did (I, I think, like most people, consider it one long movie). I forgive Jackson for everything that they left out (farewell, Tom Bombadil*) or changed by thanking them for all the things they got right (Legolas walking on top of the snow; actually showing Gandalf fighting the Balrog: that beautifully sequence of the the watchtowers going off across the mountains as Howard Shore's score soared over the top of it [Ah, that score! How many pieces of art have I done listening to it?]). LotR was clearly a labor of love (thanks for mentioning

[idiosyncreant]

Hah, you are SO right about Bombadil and Beorn. Beorn would have made LotR, he would have fit in the casting... and I forget, consistently, that he's in the Hobbit, though that series of events is wild and weird and wonderful I remember it as a vignette on its own. I'll think "Oh wait, who was that bear changeling with the house in the wilderness and the bees. Did he have talking horses? What? OH THE HOBBIT

[rhinemouse]

Can I just hug this post 1,000 times

[idiosyncreant]

I think with true fans of Lord of the Rings, it is very personal what you didn't like and what you fell in love with in the movie version. And that's totally alright; it's the culture that's grown up of everyone buying into a certain "oh, the Scouring of the Shire was missing, and I can't forgive them that" list of wrongs that I think is ridiculous

[rhinemouse]

Yes yes yes! A couple months ago I was rewatching large portions of the Extended Editions, and I was really, really impressed by how well they conveyed that Aragorn is this utterly unique cultural oddity. Because he totally is! Not only is he a Ranger--which is a small outsider group to begin with--but then he was raised by elves, and he also has the throwback Numenorean lifespan which means he'd probably seen childhood friends grow old and die by the time LotR happens. Like, no wonder he fell in love with a half-elven girl. She was probably one of the few people in Middle-earth who understood him.

(I SEEM TO BE DESCENDING RAPIDLY BACK INTO LOTR OBSESSION. IT DOES NOT TAKE MUCH.)

[idiosyncreant]

No, it really doesn't take much. I finally got around to watching the feature on the Extended DVD sets we got years ago, and while I'd had an idea from interviews and hearsay the kinds of labor that went into it, actually seeing miniatures and trucks of orc limbs and the footage is a whole different ballgame.

I wasn't planning to watch the extended cut of the movie except with the actor commentary, but I am. And may go back a third time for the production or writer tracks, if I'm not careful.
(Our family bandwidth limits are getting to the point I can't just watch dramas, so it's to old-fashioned DVDs for me.)

(also, the Lego game IS SO GOOD
I seriously sit watching the original saying to myself "OMG that was actually in the movie and I never noticed until the Lego animation showed it")