The Unexpected Journey

I have become a person who cares deeply about The Lord of the Rings. I didn't mean to. It was accidental. It may or may not be permanent.

I read TLOR and The Hobbit as a young teen or adolescent (don't remember). I'm pretty sure The Hobbit was read to me too. But what I remember about TLOR was that I liked the story and skipped pages, a lot. I like Tolkien, and he's important to my research and teaching, but I've never been passionate about his work in the way that others are. I've just enjoyed it.

We saw The Hobbit and I enjoyed it. I also thought the pacing was really, really weird--totally wrong; it gave the film a strange movement. Anyway, costumes, characters, scenery, all wonderful. The story is great, but the plotting of the film was way off. In part because of all of the "look at the beauty. LOOK AT IT" scenes and in part because of pulling in material from non-Hobbit works. I understand Peter Jackson wanting to make this a true sequel to TLOR, but he could have made three separate prequels: The Hobbit, The Necromancer (or The White Council, either title would work for that story), and then a third film about whatever else he's adding in (I'm not sure what else he's pulling from for the other films as I haven't done the rumor searching to find out).

But the point of all of this is, watching the film and being confused by the weird pacing but still enjoying the world made we want to reread The Hobbit. So I did. And then I reread The Lord of the Rings. And now I'm making my way through all of the other stuff. And rereading TLOR made me want to rewatch TLOR. So we are. We own the director's cut box set, so there are extra "look at the beauty. LOOK AT IT" scenes. And here is what is bothering me and making me interrupt the films and making impassioned statements about the book-to-film differences.

So many of the changes that Jackson made are about making Frodo and Aragorn more heroic by giving them actions and speeches made by others, and by diminishing the heroism of others by taking away their heroic acts and by making them more foolish so that Frodo and Aragon look better by comparison. This pisses me the hell off. Aragorn is already perfect. I mean, he has no flaws whatsoever and is the last of the perfect chosen kings who is going to save the world for humanity. His position as the hero will not be hurt by Legolas getting them out of a tough situation or Gimli being serious and thoughtful. Frodo is also a supreme being (he's the noble pacifist hero who is better than everyone else) and his character can handle Sam being noble and brave and intelligent too. Poor Boromir; he's a much better person in the book. No one tells Frodo he's after the ring in the book. No one. Everyone warns Frodo against Boromir in the movie. Everyone. And Faramir is another one of those perfect men-king who is made weaker in the film. I have a whole list of these types of changes for all of the major characters.

And these changes aren't about making characters conflicted and round. They are all about removing the fellowship and ensemble heroism and placing it solely in the hands of Frodo and Aragorn. So much of the books are about the loyalty and bonds between those who fight together in war, and how even the chosen ones cannot be successful without the support and risks of those who do not have the guarantees of success and survival that the chosen do. And while the film doesn't erase that entirely, the depth of the novels is diminished by these character changes that are not necessary for the plot and only serve to make the films fit American action film patterns.

I didn't feel this way when the films originally came out because I did not reread the books precisely because I didn't want to make comparisons. I guess it was inevitable. But I have very much enjoyed rereading the books. I still skipped occasionally, and they have their own issues, but I'm glad I reread.

But! Jackson is doing some of the same types of character changes in The Hobbit and setting up Bilbo and Thorin as dual pacifist and action heroes. I will reserve judgement until the series is finished though.