XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   Paul S. Person  spoke these staves:   
   >   
      
      
      
   > Regarding /LOTR/ as /not/ being an adaptation opens up an entirely   
   > new way to think about the films -- in some ways, a more sensible   
   > way, suggesting that this is the better path.   
      
   We can call them many things -- "adaptations of," "inspired by,"   
   "based upon," "a retelling of" and many other things, but for me the   
   important thing is not so much the precise word, but rather what   
   precise meaning we attach to the word we choose.   
      
   I do think it is fairly clear that Tolkien's story is the basis for   
   Jackson's -- that the film-makers have taken Tolkien's story and made   
   some modifications to that in order to tell their own story. Most of   
   the modifications -- if not all -- are of the kind that will appear   
   as minor to most people, though my own perspective is, in many cases,   
   different: to me the cutting of Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel are very   
   minor changes, as would have been e.g. the removal of the entire   
   "paths of the dead" storyline (or changing it to get Aragorn to fetch   
   an army of loyal, good Haradrim), while the adjustments of Aragorn's,   
   Gimli's Frodo's, Gollum's, Faramir's and other characters are major   
   -- though these are, in my eyes, still dwarfed by the change in the   
   portrayal of evil (wholly Manichaean in Jackson's world) and other   
   undercurrents.   
      
   My point here, however, is that regardless of what I think about the   
   different changes and the end-point, it is clear that Tolkien's story   
   was the starting point. (Oh, I will also insist both on the film-   
   makers' inalienable /right/ to make whatever modifications they wish   
   to make when telling their own story, and upon my own right to   
   criticize these modification for whatever reason).   
      
   What exactly we call this process is not so important for me.   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer    
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       "It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent   
        whatsoever," he said. "Have you thought of going into   
       teaching?"   
    - /Mort/ (Terry Pratchett)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)