Semper Fi
Nargothrond
Aug 31 2013, 10:09pm
Views: 3432
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Bowman of the Caribbean: Bard Look Rant
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I'm so miffed that they made Bard look like Will Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean) replica that I had to start a tread dedicated to this screw up. This is not aimed at the casting choice but at make-up and costume department going with the look that's unmistakably borrowed from another character from another franchise.
Bard in the book is an iconic character described simply as "grim". That should have given them a lot of freedom to play around his look in the movies. Moreover, when Luke Evans was cast, many pointed out his striking physical resemblance to Orlando Bloom, another cast member. However, this seems to be exactly what they wanted - to have Legolas AND Will Turner in one movie. There is absolutely no way that they didn't think Evans in Bard's costume wasn't a dead ringer to Turner. There is also no way that couldn't give Evans a look that makes resemblance less obvious, and still keep him dashing.
My question here is why they didn't give Bard a distinguished look that would make the character easily recognizable, instead of being mistaken for another. He isn't the first character in the movies where blatant borrowing from other sources is obvious (Bombur is Obelix Lite, Tauriel owns a lot to video games where red-haired warrior Elf women are a norm, etc) but is, IMO, most jarring because there was no reason for it. Bard is iconic. He doesn't have to borrow his look. Hobbit doesn't have to think in "grass is greener" terms. Yet they do. Someone thought that it would be more commercially viable to have Legolas and Will in the Hobbit than Legolas and Bard.
Moreover, Will Turner look is in direct contradiction with "grim". I get it that they wanted Thorin to be the grim heartthrob and Bard more to teen girls taste but that doesn't mean you have to create an exact replica of another teen girl favorite, and the one that doesn't even fit the "grim" bill. Seriously, what's next? Silmarillion starring Edward Cullen replica Beren? 
Scenes and characters lifted from other movies take me out of the movie because I keep thinking "this is from...he/she looks like...". Hobbit really shouldn't be doing that. The book was a trailblazer so I understand that it's hard for movies coming decades after that to look fresh and unique when everyone was aping the source in the meantime. But that doesn't mean that they should ape other movies. What happened to creativity? They went into great lengths to give 13 dwarves 13 very different looks. OK, make it 12 because Kili's flowing hair doesn't count as an effort. So why didn't Bard, by far more important player than dwarves who aren't Thorin, get his recognizable Bardness? Such a waste, seriously.
"RadagaStoner deserves no mercy!" Tauriel the Radagast Slayer, the Chief of Inglorious Elfguards
Tauriel saved us from Itaril. Never forget.
(This post was edited by Semper Fi on Aug 31 2013, 10:13pm)
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