XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: mr@sandman.net   
      
   In article ,   
    Lewis  wrote:   
      
   > > As I see it, the movies departed very little from the story of the   
   > > books, was extremely faithful to the "world" of the books, but I can   
   > > agree it departed heavily from the "theme" of the books.   
   >   
   > Agreed, that is exactly my feeling.   
   >   
   > > Although, the "theme" of the books always seem to boil down to reading   
   > > about it in non-book material (i.e. Letters), not something that is   
   > > necessarily obvious *in* the books. I'm sure that some people have   
   > > gotten away with the intended "theme" from just reading the books, but   
   > > most "faithful" here seems to reference the letters when talking about   
   > > the theme.   
   >   
   > Well, I would object to the idea that there is *A* theme. There are many   
   > themes, and yes they seem to be all accessible from reading the book.   
      
   Just as an artist intentions is accesible from looking at the painting   
   - after he has told you about it. Before, you may have never gotten   
   that out of the painting at all.   
      
   That's my point. I'm not talking about hidden themes. I'm saying that   
   the "themes" found in the Lord of the Rings books by most of the   
   faithfuls here rely heavily upon they having read about it in Letters.   
   I never got the impression that these people came away with this   
   impression of the books the very first time they read them and when   
   the letters were publicised it only confirmed what they already   
   knew/felt.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
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