XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: ronc@europa.com   
      
   My news feed, degenerating slowly like a watermelon going soft, seems   
   finally to have subsided gently into composthood about three weeks   
   ago.  I'm now going through something called Usenet Monster.  This is   
   as much a test of my posting abilities as it is participating in a   
   conversation.   
      
   On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:11:55 +0200, Sandman  wrote:   
      
   >In article ,   
   > Troels Forchhammer  wrote:   
   >   
   >> > I wonder if these aren't merely examples of what happens when you   
   >> > go from print to film.  A reader could maybe hold in his/her mind   
   >> > the idea of bookish warriors who do not love the sword for its   
   >> > sharpness and only go reluctantly into battle, and at the same   
   >> > time have in the back of their mind that a massive army is   
   >> > attacking them in their homes in a last ditch effort to utterly   
   >> > extinguish their race.  And that this kind of dichotomy might be   
   >> > easier to write than to film.   
   >>   
   >> I honestly don't know.  There are, I think, several things that are   
   >> entangled in all this -- some of it also has to do with the changes   
   >> made to the characters of Boromir and Faramir: Boromir's pride is not   
   >> shown in the negative light that it is in the book   
   >   
   >Oh, I think it is.   
      
   ...and I agree.  You aren't beat over the head with Boromir's pride,   
   but it is there and it is eventually his downfall.  I think the   
   portrayal of Boromir was the best piece of acting in the series, in   
   that it showed him as human and just and kind hearted (his line after   
   exiting Moria "give them a moment for pity's sake")  as well as a   
   fierce warrior.  I don't think we needed to see Boromir and Faramir as   
   absolutely black and white, arrogant and kindly, prideful and humble,   
   tan and pale.  I think the balance between the characters really was   
   probably the best thing about the films.  Boromir was an heroic   
   figure, whom you could believe would fight to the death to protect his   
   friends, and yet we saw enough flaws and enough of his motivation that   
   it wasn't a surprise that he tried to take the ring.  Faramir was   
   portrayed as  intelligent and a shrewd enough judge of character that   
   you could imagine him letting Frodo and Sam continue on their way, yet   
   it was not a stretch to see him as a leader of men and lopping off a   
   few goblin heads.  Both men were portrayed as *men*, with all of our   
   complexities, and not as cartoon characters (like some of the other   
   characters were portrayed).   
      
   Incidentally, Sean Bean gets my vote for the finest performance in any   
   of the three movies, and the only reason I'm struggling through Game   
   of Thrones now.  (On the second episode and still not liking it.)   
      
      
   	Ron   
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   2003 FLHTCUI "Noisy Glide"   
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