XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   Paul S. Person  spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:13:20 +0200, Troels Forchhammer   
   >  wrote:   
   >>   
      
      
      
   >> The adapting artist must be free to do as they like with the   
   >> material they have, regardless of what we might think of the   
   >> result.   
   >   
   > I agree -- to restrict the artist to a literal transcription   
   > of the work he is "adapting" is to deprive those who respect   
   > the original work from the joy of savaging the artist and his   
   > "adaptation".   
   >   
   > I mean, what would we do for fun (on the newsgroup) if PJ did   
   > something as boring as actually filming JRRT's stories?   
      
   :-D   
      
   I suspect that we, in that case, wouldn't be talking about the films   
   at all because they would be horribly bad films. That is, of course,   
   assuming that Christopher Tolkien is not correct in believing (as I   
   think he does) that JRRT's stories are ultimately impossible to film.   
      
   And at this point a passage from 'On Fairy-Stories' comes to mind:   
         In human art Fantasy is a thing best left to words, to   
       true literature. In painting, for instance, the visible   
       presentation of the fantastic image is technically too   
       easy; the hand tends to outrun the mind, even to overthrow   
       it.  Silliness or morbidity are frequent results. It is a   
       misfortune that Drama, an art fundamentally distinct from   
       Literature, should so commonly be considered together with   
       it, or as a branch of it.   
      
   I am inclined to agree with Tolkien here, though I am not sure   
   whether it is possible, for instance in film, to overcome these   
   obstacles -- but I have still to see any film (or painting or drama)   
   that has the power of enchantment that I find in the written word --   
   the runes, indeed!   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer   
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       Then suddenly the foresight of his kindred came to him, and   
       he said: "But lo! Master Elrond, the years of your abiding   
       run short at last, and the choice must soon be laid on your   
       children, to part either with you or with Middle-earth.   
    - Aragorn, /The Lord of the Rings/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)