Jump to content

The Hobbit: Narrative Validation or Vandalism?


Valin

Recommended Posts

Zenpundit

12/30/12

 

hobbit-unexpected-journey-gollum-cave-movie-poster-TRrp5321.jpg

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a film by Peter Jackson

 

hobbit.jpg?

The Hobbit:Or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

Last night, I took the kids and my nephew to see The Hobbit. In essence, it was less the classic tale woven by J.R.R. Tolkien than a sequel to The Avengers with a cast of Dwarves.

 

Peter Jackson has made, as he did with The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, a visually stunning film with The Hobbit. Jackson once again excelled at translating many physical settings of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth into screen reality. Erebor looks the way you would expect an age-old Dwarven kingdom should. Dol Guldor (alluded to ever so briefly in the book) appears to be the place of dread that would attract a great malevolent spirit like Sauron, This extends to some of the characters; the Great Goblin’s semi-comic personage manages to capture some of the original charm of The Hobbit as a children’s story before it later became part of the narrative for Tolkien’s larger and darker romantic epic, The Lord of the Rings.

 

(Snip)

 

What began as a necessary fleshing out of narrative allusions and foreshadowing to effectively translate literature into a movie ended up as Jackson’s sheer invention and gratuitous abuse of the characters, all of whom sword fight more often than Conan the Barbarian and more bloodily than Leonidas. If Thorin had shouted in the midst of battle with the Goblins, “Dwarves! Tonight we dine in Mordor!” no one in the audience would have been the least bit surprised. Zorro and the Three Musketeers had less skill with a blade in hand-to-hand combat than do these Dwarves, Gandalf or at times, Bilbo Baggins.

 

(Snip)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

righteousmomma

Cannot disagree. Loved it but too felt like the " message" was replaced by the typical modern liberalism of non stop action and shallow thinking. Regardless we all enjoyed it immensely.

Sad though that few people these days actually read the story - whether Les Mis or Tolkien.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cannot disagree. Loved it but too felt like the " message" was replaced by the typical modern liberalism of non stop action and shallow thinking. Regardless we all enjoyed it immensely.

Sad though that few people these days actually read the story - whether Les Mis or Tolkien.

 

Peter Jackson forgot, it's a children,s story, not an adults story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • 1711623786
×
×
  • Create New...