for movie-firsters who read the book: a book-firster wants to know...

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dijomaja

Lorien
The people I've spoken to about LOTR are either book-firsters (who all seemed to enjoy the movies) or movie-only (to date, anyway). I'd be interested in some observations by people who saw the films and were inspired to go on to the book. Obviously, there were a number of big changes in story line and characters but I'm more interested in an overall sense of how Tolkien's world came to life (or didn't) for you on the page.
 
"Hobbitboy" posted here briefly, before he got consumed by junior high!

He read both The Hobbit and LOTR this year, and has seen the films a lot with me, of course.

He absolutely loved The Hobbit -- that kind of direct storytelling style, with the narrator speaking to the audience, really engages him, and he was thoroughly enraptured.

LOTR was more difficult for him -- he talked a lot about the changes from the films. Was surprised that so much happened before they got to Rivendell, and after they got back to the Shire. Thought Tom Bombadil was a hoot, though and the hobbit-eating tree sure got his attention!

I think it really helped him to have the film images in his mind to keep him interested in the book, since he's not a reader. The films gave him bread crumbs to follow, if I can put it that way.
 
I saw the movies first and read the book later and do you know what? I was NOT dissappointed. I found sooo much more detail and extra depth that I found it far more rewarding than the movies which I absolutly love too. Afew observations that I recall was Old Tom, the huge chunk spent at Rivendell, Galadriel and Lothlorien being more amazing and less scary, and the Ents deciding to go to war without seeing the state of Isengard first. And ofcourse the return to the Shire and Saruman being there! A great experience. I have to say though, for what it's worth, I had the image of PJs cast in my mind as I read, but as the casting was done so well I don't think that was a bad thing!
 
...some observations by people who saw the films and were inspired to go on to the book.
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I didn't see all three films before I read the book.
I was *blown away* by FotR then did an embarrassingly un-thorough reading before TTT was released. (Un-thorough as in--oh, Eomer was there for the whole Helm's Deep battle --amongst other *details* [blush]). However, by the time RotK was released I had a done a (bit) better reading of the book--enough to notice the absence of a few things and think "huh?" about a few others.
Luckily--any *changes* have never had that fingernails across a chalkboard impact on me.
I count myself as fortunate --being able to first catch the film adaption of LotR, then going on to find that there is so much more! More of those lovely Tolkien phrases and passages, more history, and maps and family trees and appendices!


 
I tried reading the books when I was young-ish, and although I thought them rather cool, I never really got into them, and gave up half way. The main reason was that I was just too confused! The books are not all that fast-paced, and there was SO much going on, and really SO many different characters and species, that I couldn't really keep track of anything, and hence didn't really appreciate it.
So I consider myself to have really seen the films first. And it totally changed my view of the books! I didn't see the films until quite a few years after they all came out, hence I saw them all in quick succession. I was so enthralled by the world that was portrayed, that I wanted to 1) see exactly how the author actually portrayed the events/characters/world of M.E. and 2) just find out more about M.E., and see if the book held any more details than the films. Both of these I found completely in the books, and I consequently swallowed up the Trilogy, then hunted down the Silmarillion, Children of Hurin, several thousand 'guides to middle earth', atlases and what have you, and am now starting the entire History of M.E.! All of this as a result of the films. [:)] Seeing places and people on screen, really made it easier to appreciate what was going on in the books. As I said earlier, when I first tried reading them, there were just too many characters, and I couldn't remember who all of them were, because I didn't really 'know' them well enough. From seeing the films, characters have a much more distinct identity, so I found that all a lot more easy to digest afterwards. It was also hard beforehand to appreciate what elves, dwarves, hobbits and orcs really looked like, and acted like. It was all so new to me, basically! Now I have a better idea of all this, and in addition, it helps to visualise in my head the places and people that aren't even in the films
What I am particularly pleased about, is that the film hasn't totally 'taken over' middle earth in my imagination. By that I mean that although the film has shown many of the places and people in LOTR, I can still make up how things look myself.
 
I must admit that when I first saw FotR I was underwhelmed. I was a 13 year old kid who thought it all very confusing! My mum loved it so we got it on video, I watched it at home and I was pretty blown away! I *read* the entire trilogy although it took me a few years and being so young still it almost felt like a chore not a pleasure.
But I've started to re-read now (after reading numerous other Tolkien works) and I'm loving it! Although... I can't help but see the movie characters when I'm reading, which is the only downfall of being a movie firster. I've got the Alan Lee illustrated versions so his drawings help me see another side to things, and his Galadriel is closer to my mental image I think. But Tolkien's world totally comes to life for me on the page, and I find myself smiling when reading and experiencing things that I never would have if I'd just seen the movies and nothing else. It's hard to put into words, but I find myself wanting to go and read (I'm just coming to the end of FotR so I'm on a mission to finish it!) and to soak up as much as I can. I think seeing the films first though probably was an advantage for me because ME was already set up, I just have to build upon the existing foundations, similar I think to Eryn. The fact that I can expand (and have done) upon characters, myths & languages etc by reading UT, HoME etc just makes it all the more fabulous [laugh]
Hope I haven't bored you too much dijomaja [;)]
 
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Great answers, all. Interesting to see how many ways there are to approach this story. As for imagining the characters and scenes from the movies while reading, with thirty years of reading under my belt I still do that. I have a half-baked theory that, since reading is an activity processed largely on the left side of the brain and movie viewing is more "right-brain", we can shift between the two more easily than we might imagine.
 
I think seeing the films first though probably was an advantage for me because ME
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Although I had read the books before seeing the movie, it had been so long ago that my memory was faded. More faded than I realized going into the movies.

I saw FOTR and then decided I had to reread the books. (as dijomaja knows... since I've stated it many times on another forum... I believed I needed to read The Hobbit before going to FOTR and I could not make myself read The Hobbit. So FOTR was sitting there waiting for me to get The Hobbit down. Finally, I threw the Hobbit aside and went to FOTR. I never regretted it.)

I loved the movies and had many of those images in my head as I read. The images did not hinder me in any way and when the book was different, I just accepted the differences between the two as the result of using two forms of media. The book was better and so I just felt like I was getting even more good stuff beyond all the good stuff from the movie.

But I read TTT & ROTK before those movies came out and I was not as happy with the movies. I still had great affection for them. But some of the changes really rankled me (I was quite hot about Faramir for a long time and had to have a good scolding with myself to get over it). I think if the exposure had been reversed... all three movies before rereading all three books, I would have perhaps have enjoyed the movies more (without comparing them to the books to the movies' detriment) and then I would have read the books and like them even more than the movies (because, to my mind, how could you not like the books more. There's just more opportunity for depth).

It actually was my intention to see each movie before rereading that book. But I found myself in some swirly LOTR obsession after finishing FOTR and there was no going back. As I wrote in my journal, this wasn't about the movies anymore. :-)

I liked reading about your reactions to the books. You said, "I find myself smiling". Well, so do I when I read your post. It makes me happy because I feel like it's finding a Tolkien kindred spirit.




 
It actually was my intention to see each movie before rereading that book.
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You would have got to the last quarter of The Two Towers and found a whole lot of new material that wasn't in the movie! "Large spider? What large spider?"

[;)]
 
Well, fandom all started with a LOTR action figure, so I guess that's what got me. But yes, I saw the movies first, and upon discovering that they were based on books, definitely went out to get them. And seeing that it had a prequel and a prequel to the prequel (The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, if it seems confusing.[;)]) I read em all. Was definitely hooked in this magnificent fantasy world. I'm a guy who loves made up worlds and love to escape to em in any way. Now, when I read the books, some lines from the movies are placed early on or said by a different character, which is kind of weird. Like in FOTR, Gandalf says "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." In the novel, he says that to Frodo before he sets out from the Shire, while in the film he says it in the Mines of Moria. But nonetheless. I thank Peter Jackson for creating the films and getting me into Middle-earth and Tolkien.
 
Well, I'm a semi-movie-firster, if that counts for anything. I read The Hobbit when I was 7 and loved it, so I went on to the Lord of the Rings when I was 8. I devoured FOTR but got bogged down somewhere in the middle of the Two Towers where it starts to get slower. I re-read FOTR several times over the years, since I loved that one, and read the chapter on Shelob later since my parents wouldn't let me see it in the movie, as well as a noble attempt at starting ROTK about a year later. That one also failed, because I was nine and did not have the patience to read about "a bunch of people riding on horses." I saw the movies at my best friend's house when I was 8 and fell in love with them. So technically, I might be a book-firster, but I consider myself a movie-firster, especially as I read through the trilogy now and find so many things that I had forgotten. As others have said, I definitely have the mental images of the characters and places from the movie when I read, but that's totally fine with me. It does take me quite a bit longer to read, though, because I hear each character saying the lines instead of the speed-reading I usually do.

My favorite things about the books vs. the movies, besides the general ability to go into more detail, would have to be the poems. I LOVE Tolkien's poetry. I savor each and every one of them. I also loved the chapters on Lothlorien and Treebeard, as well as the ending chapters of ROTK.

However, (please don't kill me for this) I actually like the movies better. I think the books are brilliant and I love them, but my heart will always lie with the movies, the grand, sweeping shots of Pelenor Fields, the terrifying Nazgul in the distance, the serenity of the Shire, and the depth of each and every character. I think that the great peril comes through much more clearly in the movies. I'm just not getting the same amount of suspense from the books, and I think they'd be harder for me to get through if I hadn't seen the movies already. That said....I still love the books.
 
First of all, don't worry about liking the films more. Unlike movie-Aragorn I wouldn't call someone out to parley only to lop off a head.

Actually, even with years of reading preceding the films I find myself preferring some of the changes the filmmakers made. Plus, as you say, there are shots in the film that go beyond words.

As Magpie and I have observed a number of times, the musical score stands on its own even when (sometimes particularly when) it's not the music I imagined while reading the book.

The beauty of the whole thing is that all the aspects - words, pictures, acting and music work so well on their respective levels.
 
You will not be "killed". While I disagree with you we are from different generations and experienced the story in different ways. While I'm not QUITE old enough to have read it by CANDLELIGHT, nonetheless media was less important and available in my day. What the movies had done for you with the sweeping vistas and terror of the Nazgul... When I first read The Fellowship of the Ring, (it should here be noted for those that do not read profiles that I am an ABYSMALLY SLOW reader!) I simply could NOT keep my eyes open at the Fords of Bruinen but I was also unwilling to turn out the lights. My poor younger brother had to sleep (as we shared a room) with the lights on for TWO WEEKS because of what my imagination created for that scene. The only time that ever happened when I was young or since. I would put you as a "movie-firster" because while the books fascinated you intellectually and story-wise, the movies captured your imagination and that, as you aptly point out, is where the heart is.
 
I said I read the novels in the late 60's. I don't really remember a lot about that time but here's what I do remember.

I was in high school and had math right after lunch. So if I finished lunch early, I'd just wander into math class to hang out. While reading the novels, I used to draw mountains across the span of the blackboard and write the words, "ONE RING RULES THEM ALL" across the top. My math teacher got it.

I found a copy of Donald Swann's sheet music of Tolkien songs even though I couldn't read sheet music (at least not piano sheet music)

I can remember being really, really scared of some scene with the Ringwraiths (on steeds) chasing the Fellowship.

In the middle of the day.

I have gone back to all the Ringwraith scenes in FOTR but I can't find the exact one that scared me so much. But it must have been in the chapter, Flight to the Ford.

It was interesting to read that you had a similar reaction to the Ringwraiths.
 
When Frodo tried to defy Angmar and the Witch-king simply raised his and and Frodo's tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. I probably slipped into semi-dream the same as Frodo when Glorfindel came shining to the opposite shore and drove the Nazgul into the raging waters that Elrond had called.
 
for the first time two 1/2 years ago and was utterly blown away visually and by the story. I then went on to read the book and fell in love with it even more. I then wished I'd read the book years ago and been able to share in the excitement of having one of the best books come to life on the screen. My dad has always for as long as I can remember been a Tolkien fan, and at the time the movies were almost out I remember the glint in his eye and how excited he was, and of course I didn't 'get' what all the fuss was about. Now I know!
 
is the Ringwraiths were riding... that's it. So my scare scene had to do with chasing.

As a kid, I had serious issues with nightmares and even went through periods as an adult where I had paralyzing dreams.. literally. I'd wake up from a nightmare and want to reach out or call out to my husband and not be able to movie.

I'm kind of glad I seem to be over that now. (finds some wood to knock)
 
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