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"LOTR - Movie or Book?"

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Sun 28/12/03 at 18:09
Regular
Posts: 13,611
Dunno if this has been asked before but it's an interesting question.

I'm not going to be pretentious about it either - I tried reading the books and they were boring. The movie was much more enjoyable.

How about you?
Sun 28/12/03 at 18:37
Regular
Posts: 13,611
Heh. Perhaps I'll give the books another go then.

I only got halfway through the Fellowship you see.
Sun 28/12/03 at 18:36
Regular
"+34 Intellect"
Posts: 21,334
The book does indeed still own the films.

There is no doubt that Peter Jackson done the best job you could do, but in making a film so many of the parts of the story that make it what it has have to be cut out. In the end the books are a far more emotional experience, but in the end, thats the only way it could ever be.
Sun 28/12/03 at 18:20
Regular
"gsybe you!"
Posts: 18,825
Book > film.

But that is because it's genius and IS the story - if the film was exactly the story, then that'd be the best. I loved the films because they were such good representations of the story in the books. It's like the Silmarillion. A film of that would never ever work because the book is so damn complicated, and as such is a work of genius unsurpassed, at least in terms of a myth rather than a decent narrative.

The books might be very long, wordy and at times slow, but when the real things happen, like Frodo Sam and Gollum seeing Minas Morgul for the first time, or the immortal lines of the horns of Rohan, or for instance the very first sound they hear of a Black Rider, you shiver and your imagination is just taken away by it and you see what you think of it. These moments are just incomparable to any other book I have ever read - while people may find the songs dull, the sheer bredth behind them, the stories of the Silmarillion are incredible. However, the Lord Of The Rings, bookwise, are also special because they mix this ancient story with such homely characters as Hobbits and it isn't ridiculous, unlike certain boy wonders saving the world from such 'evil and terrible' creatures.

The books are just incredible. No other book has made me shiver at the thought of horror and death, or smile at such relief when something good happens. I still read them now, knowing exactly when something is going to happen and why and what the consequences are of it, and I still am compelled. By the time the chapter of Mount Doom or Battle of The Pelennor Fields come around, I still am waiting in almost feverish anticipation.

However, the films are wonderful, wonderful representations. When they saw Minas Morgul, I actually leaned across to a friend and said 'I've been waiting for years for this bit'. When the Riders of Rohan were galloping to the attack, there was actually a lump in my throat, because it was an almost perfect visualisation of what I had imagined it being like. The films are brilliant, from the Shire, Moria, Lorien, Fangorn, Isenguard and Minas Tirith and Mordor and all the places and people in between, but the books pip them (despite such incredible film making) because they ARE the story, and as such they are better, because that is the whole point of the films. But it is the best film trilogy ever, and I think ROTK may well be my new favourite.

Oo, that was longer than anticipated. Well, it deserves it. I could go on forever about the Silmarillion.
Sun 28/12/03 at 18:09
Regular
Posts: 13,611
Dunno if this has been asked before but it's an interesting question.

I'm not going to be pretentious about it either - I tried reading the books and they were boring. The movie was much more enjoyable.

How about you?

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