The White Council

Re: My great fear... The LOTR-movie

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : I am really scared about one thing with the upcoming Lord of : : the Rings movies; will there be COMIC RELIEF? I have noticed : : that Hollywood seems to think that there needs to be a : : character or certain events in the middle of a picture that are : : "funny", but have no relations to the storyline or plot : : whatsoever. I can mention the latest "Star Wars"; that one guy : : ( I don't remember his name) totally ruined the whole movie! : : For one thing, he wasn't at all funny, merely extremely : : annoying; and he completely ruined the "mood" of the film. I : : assume everyone who has seen the film know which character I am : : talking about.

: Hm. Well, I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed Jar Jar Binks. However, if there is NO comic relief, the movie would not seem very much like the book (which has plenty). Tolkien's comic relief is somewhat underscored, however. I wouldn't call it subtle, and he often uses it to lead into more serious stuff.

: But then, people are already alarmed about the fact that the movies are NOT going to be faithful to the book. I don't think it should matter one way or the other, as long as the audience enjoys whatever it sees. For me, the biggest shame is the heavy emphasis on medievality in architecture and (apparently) horse saddles. I fear the weapons and armor will also be too medieval in look and feel, and the clothing as well. I did have some input on swords, but we only discussed Anduril and Elvish weapons.

: [snip]

: : Such things are what I am scared of might happen in the : : LOTR-movie too; that they feel they need to make Gollum very : : "funny", or put in silly scenes to give the audience cheap : : laughs. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against using : : humour in films; but it needs to come naturally, not be forced : : in merely for its own sake.

: I doubt there will be much humor associated with Gollum. Based on all I've read and heard, Peter Jackson considers Gollum to be a very painful, tragic figure, and I believe he will try to portray Gollum that way.

:::This might seem like a silly question, but exactly how big will this be? Will it be in theaters across the country, or only selected, or will it just be like a home video series? (I don't know much about this, and I thank anyone willing to take the time to answer this) I am asking because I am sincerely worried about this. Mainly, I am afraid that a "Tolkien Bandwagon" will appear, and that frightens me. That happened with Star Wars; everyone just turns into a bunch of bandwagon jumpers, and it really annoyed my small group of true Star Wars fans; and to tell you the truth, I don't like Star Wars hardly at all anymore, because it was so commercialized. My greatest fear is that Tolkien will become the latest 'cool' thing with all manner of bandwagon-jumpers and teeny-boppers, and then after a few months people start saying "you still like that?" and I REALLY hope that does not happen. I am glad for the movies and all, I just don't want the whole thing to explode in popularity and then go down in flames. Maybe someone can help to dispell my fears.