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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 21 2022, 11:07am
Post #1 of 20
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What do you love about Jackson's Trilogy?
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Hi everyone! I'm currently writing an essay for my Film Studies Masters degree, I am also a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and basically all things Tolkien. I'm writing my essay about the fans of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, of which I know many of you will be!
What I want to know is, quite simply, what is it about Peter Jackson's trilogy that you love so much? Why do you love it? Let me know in as much detail as you like, I can't wait to hear from you all :)
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ElanorTX
Tol Eressea
May 21 2022, 4:42pm
Post #2 of 20
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Ordinarily I don't respond to homework requests, but I have a soft spot because my daughter, a professional film critic, has a BA and MFA in film studies. She gave me a copy of TH which PJ inscribed to me.
BTW, LotR is not a trilogy; it is one story broken into three parts for convenience.
Uncounted discussions, websites, conference presentations, publications, etc., focus on fanship studies. I know a PhD student whose thesis concerns JRRT fanship. If you have time, watch Ringers: Lord of the Fans. You may wish to narrow your essay.
Personally I am a book-firster (AKA canon or purist) since childhood. Regarding PJ's movies as fanfic shapes my perspective. Much about them is marvelous, which makes the lapses all the more jarring.
Please check out Junesong's thread on this board beginning April 19 about the most egregious problems with PJ's adaptation. Look at Reading Room (RR) to be blown away by the level of scholarship.
One last tip: do *not* ask if Balrogs have wings!
"I shall not wholly fail if anything can still grow fair in days to come."
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 21 2022, 5:35pm
Post #3 of 20
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Thank you for your response! I have indeed checked out Ringers, it has been a very helpful source to me. Don't worry, I am aware that the book is not a trilogy, but sadly the film is officially seen as a film trilogy in the film industry (despite the fact it was all filmed in one go and just edited into three), and as for Balrog wings...well, I shan't even entertain it :D
Thank you also for your recommendation about Junesong's thread, I shall check it out! Thanks once again for taking the time to respond.
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uncle Iorlas
Rohan
May 21 2022, 8:35pm
Post #4 of 20
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Costumes look great. New Zealand scenery is capital, sets in general are pretty great stuff. Some.very good casting.
One last tip: do *not* ask if Balrogs have wings! Do female Balrogs have beards?
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Eldy
Tol Eressea
May 22 2022, 9:12pm
Post #5 of 20
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Hi, overthegardenwall! Welcome to TORn. I like your username. 
This is a really broad question, and I'm not sure what kind of answer would be most helpful. I could, in theory, go on at very great length about all the specific things I enjoyed in the films, but unfortunately I'm already at my limit of long posts in a single day after spending most of the afternoon in the Reading Room.  And I'd probably have to rewatch the films to remember everything, since it's been almost six years since I've seen them. But to give a more general answer: I think the trilogy is a fantastic piece of entertainment, a modern classic of the adventure film genre, and the high-water mark for high fantasy on the big screen. There are lots of memorable characters in the movies, but Aragorn in particular is an iconic film hero.
On a technical level, the films are incredibly well-made, but that point has been so widely discussed over the years that I don't really have anything to add to it. As uncle Iorlas says, the scenery is amazing, and so is Howard Shore's music. I have very little I can criticize on the audiovisual front. I think the writing is the biggest weakness in the films, and I don't just say that because I dislike some of the changes, but that seems beside the point for this thread. The films are a different kind of story than LOTR the book, which does not have the pacing of a rollicking adventure story, and puts less emphasis on conventional protagonists like Aragorn, but the films were wildly successful at being the kinds of movies they were made to be. And sometimes, that's enough.
(This post was edited by Eldy on May 22 2022, 9:12pm)
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Chen G.
Gondor
May 24 2022, 6:30am
Post #6 of 20
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I bristle against that term because it acquired a negative connotation of overly-heighted drama: I think its overly-heightened - I think that however emphatic the characters get, its totally understandable within the circumstances.
But I like that they went there. It seems to me that so often in contemporary cinema, showing the characters in really dire straits and in a deeply emotional state - whether very overtly distraught or very overtly sad or very overtly moved - has become taboo, almost as though its not decorous to do so.
The Lord of the Rings - and The Hobbit - went for it, big time. There's no hiding behind a stiff upper-lip or some decorous stoicism: the sentiments run strong and emphatic and the piece is all the more stirring for it.
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Junesong
Rohan
May 24 2022, 2:57pm
Post #7 of 20
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I have been reading LOTR with my daughter for the first time - and as we move through the story we've been watching the movies as well. One thing we've both agreed on is that they absolutely nail the PLACES. The sets and landscapes etc match so well with my imagination. (This is likely because my imagination is so richly informed by Alan Lee and John Howe's art and they also helped design the films)
But yeah - they play fast and lose with the story and the characters but they almost always totally nail the places!
"So which story do you prefer?"
"The one with the tiger. That's the better story."
"Thank you. And so it goes with God."
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 26 2022, 10:36am
Post #8 of 20
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Thank you for responding! Totally agree with you there, New Zealand IS Middle Earth and the sets are unreal.
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 26 2022, 10:38am
Post #9 of 20
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Hi Eldy! Thanks for the warm welcome. I know, it is such a broad question and a difficult one to answer, its just so that people can interpret it in any which way they would like!
I completely agree with you there, it really is a modern classic! The technical level of filmmaking is amazing, to the extent that 20 years on the films really don't feel like they've aged at all.
Thanks for your response!
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 26 2022, 10:40am
Post #10 of 20
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Hi Chen, thank you so much for responding! I completely understand what you mean there by your understanding of melodrama - and I agree! It is those deeply emotional states you speak of that, I believe, make the films so compelling.
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
May 26 2022, 10:42am
Post #11 of 20
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Hi Junesong, thanks so much for getting back to me! I can only imagine how exciting it must be reading the books to your daughter for the first time. I have to agree with you there, the on location filming and the use of analogue techniques to create sets, over CGI, makes it feel like a truly immersive world.
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
Valinor
May 26 2022, 4:29pm
Post #12 of 20
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Sorry, couldn't resist. 
Back in the day when the films were released and there were raging debates between the "revisionists" and the "purists" I came up with a different term (at another messageboard): transcendentalist. By that I meant that the things that the filmmakers got right (including the fantastic use of the New Zealand scenery, the incredible attention to detail, fine casting and acting, and just enough fidelity to Tolkien's story and dialogue transcended the changes that the filmmakers made, many of which I thought were either not necessary or not well executed. In the end, the films captured enough of the spirit and emotion and grandeur and subcreation -- reflecting both the best and the worst of the "real world" -- to be extraordinarily successful adaptations and films, despite their very obvious flaws.
'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'
The Hall of Fire
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AshNazg
Gondor
Jun 5 2022, 12:19am
Post #13 of 20
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Craftsmanship (sets, props, costumes, creature designs)…
[In reply to]
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This is the major attraction to me, the hand-made feel of it, even beyond the props etc. The way the series is lovingly filmed, the way the actors have developed their characters, even the digital elements have that well-crafted, tactile feel where you can see the hands of excellent artists. It’s like looking at a moving sculpture, where any imperfections just help you to appreciate the skill of those involved.
A lot of films are almost too clean and polished, and very few have had as much work or commitment put into them as The Lord of the Rings. It’s what makes the behind the scenes stuff just as good as the movies themselves.
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Rostron2
Gondor
Sep 25 2022, 12:55am
Post #15 of 20
(4608 views)
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They never fail to entertain me even on the [whatever number you're on] viewing.
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overthegardenwall
Registered User
Oct 5 2022, 11:37am
Post #16 of 20
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Completely in agreement with you there!
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Rostron2
Gondor
Oct 15 2022, 9:20pm
Post #17 of 20
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The prologue to Fellowship was a brilliant piece of writing and presentation. Set the stage, brings people up to speed, gives us glimpses of the cultures, etc. Probably one of the contributing factors to the films early successes.
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DGHCaretaker
Rohan
Oct 15 2022, 10:05pm
Post #18 of 20
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The prologue to Fellowship was a brilliant piece of writing and presentation. Set the stage, brings people up to speed, gives us glimpses of the cultures, etc. Probably one of the contributing factors to the films early successes.
Cate Blanchett's voiceover was superb in her speech and tonal quality. Nothing else compares.
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OldestDaughter
Rohan
Oct 19 2022, 8:54pm
Post #19 of 20
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The music, the acting, the sequences. Honestly, the love for the little details, like the scratch on Arwen's face from brushing past the branches, the sound of how the Ring hits the floor when Bilbo drops it in Bag End and how much weight it had on him. The Bridge of Khazad-Dum, with the drums, the sounds of the Ents during the Entmoot. They payed so much attention to the little things in these films and honestly, it gives me chills because they are unlike any fantasy movie I have seen since.
"Keen, heart-piercing was her song as the song of the lark that rises from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of the world; and the song of Lúthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where her feet had passed."
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Timbo_mbadil
Rivendell
Oct 22 2022, 8:18pm
Post #20 of 20
(3333 views)
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so I might be late.
Might I stil be of help? Not as a wizard, but as a post doc?
Otherness represents that which bourgeois ideology cannot recognize or accept but must deal with (…)
Robin Wood 2003, p. 49. "Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan – and beyond". Columbia University Press, New York, Chichester, West Sussex.
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