On Fellowship and Two Towers by Renee Perlmutter via Dorothea Salo.
Two interesting points about divergence from the books:
The book is overflowing with honor; the relevant scenes in the movie were exchanged with something else. In the book, Eomer makes his decision despite "the letter of the law", based on his judgement of Aragorn; Faramir does not hesitate for a second, faced with the temptation of the ring; Aragorn stays loyal to Arwen throughout the books - however tempted he is by Eowyn, he does not flirt with her, hug her, or give her false hope. And Merry and Pippin's resistance and courage...Gimli... the Ents.. all gone comic relief. Comic relief, a more comprehensible fare than honor, for how can persons choose the righteous cause unless they are persuaded or threatened or exiled, unless they have no other choice? They cannot, according to TT the movie. But we, who love the Indo-European epic, may know otherwise.
"It has SEXY ELVES. Elves are not supposed to be sexy. Magnificent, blindingly beautiful, frightening maybe; but not sexy."
Not to mention this priceless cartoon.
Posted by alevin at January 4, 2003 08:07 AMSince when are elves not supposed to be sexy? I've re-read LOTR every couple of years since about 1978; I can't remember any passages that deny their sexiness. And that's not even considering that some people (perverts, natch ;-) might find "Magnificent, blindingly beautiful, frightening maybe" to be sexy by definition. (maybe this is where Halley's going with the whole alpha-male thing?)
Posted by: Val Cohen on January 8, 2003 06:17 PMhmm.. what I responded to in Renee Perlmutter's post is something related to but a little different from what she said.
In my mental image of Tolken's world, elves were more distant, less human.
In the movie, the elves are rather ethereal (Arwen) and preternaturally graceful (Legolas). They also appear warmer than in the book, I think.
The film humanizes many of the characters. Frodo comes off less of a suffering Christ-figure; Aragorn in the book becomes increasingly noble and self-righteous, the movie Aragorn seems less arrogant.
The movie captures aspects of elvish culture and character; love of beautiful and functional things; depicting people who look young or middle-aged in human terms but have years of experience; ambivalence dealing with mortal humans.
I think Halley's trying to do something worse -- trying to bring back the pre-feminist days of "men and girls" - when studly alpha males scored with secretaries, and canny women used their feminine charms to sleep their way to the top.
Posted by: Adina Levin on January 8, 2003 08:42 PMI guess you are being too harsh on LOTR. It's a great movie. Peter Jackson did a great job. As for some inconsistences... well how do you expect him to have everything mentioned in the book put on the movie?
LOTR
http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org