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As everyone knows by now, Peter Jackson released a wonderful movie this
past month. Some people say that he should receive an Oscar for it. If the Oscar
were given for Best Original Screenplay, I would agree. Despite all the reviews
saying how proud Tolkien would have been, once again the movie-makers seem to have
missed the point. One of the most charming things about the books is the nobility
of character that one can aspire to. In the movies, Peter Jackson has attempted to
rob the story of the very thing that made it praise-worthy. In Mr. Jackson's movies,
every character is flawed, leaving one no one to look up to.
This is not an unusual attitude for Hollywood and its imitaters to take. After all,
they want to be admired, yet many of them are flawed. So, if none are truly noble and
all are flawed, then we should be able to admire them -- whether they have actually
accomplished anything or not. This is perhaps epitomized by the scene in the movie
"The Return of the King" where everyone bows to all four hobbits, rather
than bowing to Sam and Frodo. All are acclaimed equally, regardless of each one's
level of achievement. What a cop-out!
Is mine an old-fashioned view? Perhaps, but that old-fashioned view was a huge part
of Tolkien's appeal in The Lord of the Rings (the books). To utterly destroy it
for some dubious appeal to the masses seems ridiculous. The only thing I can say in
Peter's defense is that I doubt that anyone else could have come closer to delivering
Tolkien's story. Better luck next time!
'Til Next Month,
Happy Reading
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