I am not a person who has a great deal of patience with elves, dwarfs, dragons, etc. Unlike most of my friends, I have avoided reading Tolkien all my life. I watched the movies with my grandchildren and was surprised how good they were, though I wonder if enough tribute has been offered to Sam, whom I regard as the true hero and model Catholic of the whole shebang. But still, I can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect of yet another sword and sorcery epic.
Then again, what do I know? Anyone who regards "Black Sunday" as one of the great action movies of the twentieth century clearly cannot be trusted as a movie critic.
Ha. Ralph, I hear ya. My retired Hollywood actor friend in NC feels much the same; and so did I until I read the trilogy to little youngsters in our family. There's more than first meets the eye, as it were. But I certainly agree that Sam is the hero of the epic.
What is of value, I think, is what the epic myths created by Tolkien communicate about the battle between good and devil, between nobility and craven cowardice, between self-sacrifice and greed, etc. There is also the sense, though not quite so overtly as in C.S. Lewis, of the supernatural lurking in the background, which is almost universally absent in most other fiction these days.
The LOTR movies were good, though often departed from the books needlessly and, in those instances, never an improvement but quite the opposite. (Substituting Arwen for Glorfindel, putting ungrammatical sentimental greeting card prose in the mouth of King Theoden, replacing Eowyn's words to the Witch King of Angmar, botching the Entmoot . . . .) No doubt Jackson will make a good movie out of The Hobbit, but knowing Jackson, I know to expect that there will be several needless changes that will make the movie inferior to the book in those respects.
I am not a person who has a great deal of patience with elves, dwarfs, dragons, etc. Unlike most of my friends, I have avoided reading Tolkien all my life. I watched the movies with my grandchildren and was surprised how good they were, though I wonder if enough tribute has been offered to Sam, whom I regard as the true hero and model Catholic of the whole shebang. But still, I can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect of yet another sword and sorcery epic.
ReplyDeleteThen again, what do I know? Anyone who regards "Black Sunday" as one of the great action movies of the twentieth century clearly cannot be trusted as a movie critic.
Ha. Ralph, I hear ya. My retired Hollywood actor friend in NC feels much the same; and so did I until I read the trilogy to little youngsters in our family. There's more than first meets the eye, as it were. But I certainly agree that Sam is the hero of the epic.
ReplyDeleteWhat is of value, I think, is what the epic myths created by Tolkien communicate about the battle between good and devil, between nobility and craven cowardice, between self-sacrifice and greed, etc. There is also the sense, though not quite so overtly as in C.S. Lewis, of the supernatural lurking in the background, which is almost universally absent in most other fiction these days.
The LOTR movies were good, though often departed from the books needlessly and, in those instances, never an improvement but quite the opposite. (Substituting Arwen for Glorfindel, putting ungrammatical sentimental greeting card prose in the mouth of King Theoden, replacing Eowyn's words to the Witch King of Angmar, botching the Entmoot . . . .) No doubt Jackson will make a good movie out of The Hobbit, but knowing Jackson, I know to expect that there will be several needless changes that will make the movie inferior to the book in those respects.
ReplyDelete