: But will he capture the grandeur of The Lord of the Rings? Will he capture the beauty of the story and the beauty of the language? I'm beginning to be a little skeptical. People scoff at accents, thinking that they're minor and not important. But we have to sit through two hours of listening to characters, and accents play a large role, like it or not.
I'm sure we ALL have your concerns about whether or not Jackson will be able to capture the beauty and majesty of the story and the language. And I certainly do not scoff at your concerns about British and American accents. And as I've said time and time again, I would prefer British accents. But if it isn't to be, then I will accept an American accent so long as it isn't overly distracting. That's why I said in my other post that I didn't think that a Bronx accent would be appropriate. It would be (for me at least) too distracting. But if the entire cast came from the Bronx, it would be a different thing. At least there would be continuity. It is the story that matters. And most of the book is narrative. Unless they incorporate a narrator (I hope not! or do I?), then many of my favorite passages won't be in the film anyway. How, for instance will Jackson show the scene where Frodo (at Mt. Doom) puts on the One Ring and we flash to Sauron: "The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash...."? And it goes on. Just how does one "show" what's on someone's mind? But this scene (all of it, not just the part I quoted) is described so powerfully and is almost poetic (as is much of the book), that I too am skeptical that the film will be able to translate the book. But it has more to do with the writing than with accents per se. So we both have concerns. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm looking foreward to seeing the first trailers for the film. If they have any dialogue we may find out if there's anything to debate or not. As for our ongoing argument here, I suggest that we put it to bed. You have the last say.
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