The Lord of the Rings - Essay Example

The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings is considered to be one of the most important works in the English literature. It is the book that gavebirth to the whole new genre in literature, fantasy. For many readers all over the world this epic story is of near to religious value. "In the pantheon of fantasy writers, no deity is treated with greater reverence than J.R.R. Tolkien, who is regarded by most readers as the Father of Modern Fantasy." - says James Berardinelli, the author of the comprehensive review of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). That is why the concerns about adapting the Lord of the Rings into film were so numerous. The books were written in the first half of the 20th century, but until recently nobody had the courage to screen this saga. Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's most popular work became a phenomenon in the world cinema. Of course different opinions exist about the successfulness of this adaptation, but, nevertheless, it's obvious that it is worthy of watching and referring to. Tolkien's fans from all over the world still argue whether the filmmakers remained faithful to the spirit of the book, but nobody calls the professionalism of this adaptation in question. The Lord of the Rings screening is considered to be one of the most magnificent and nailing shows in the history of filmmaking. Experience proves that adaptation of the famous works of literature is a difficult task for the filmmakers, and it is often that the resulting product is not very popular. The reason is that most of the viewers have already read the original book, and they have their own specific understanding of this book, as well as the images of the protagonists. When the filmmakers' and the viewers' views of the book are different, the result is usually that the screening is not popular. A substantial circumstance to remember is also that it is sometimes that the creators of the movie don't have technical instruments to depict the scenes described in the book. This, in fact, was one of the reasons for which Tokien's books were screened only at the beginning of the 21st century. Rapid development of computer graphics and special effects allowed reconstructing the magical effects depicted in the book, while the increased financial capabilities of the filmmaking companies gave them the opportunity to produce magnificent decorations. "This big budget movie only recounts the events of the first novel in the trilogy" - proclaims the author of the review, published on the Sci Fi Movie Page website (2001). He also adds that: "While it still beats slogging through Tolkien's doorstop of a novel and fans might delight in such a slavish devotion to the source material, the rest of us will no doubt still suffer movie suffers from the same faults, namely an overlong running time and a fear of offending fans by excising superfluous material"(2001). Fortunately, the creators of the film had opinion different from the Hollywood blockbusters fan's, who wrote the review. They understood that producing the film that keeps to the spirit of the book is not just foretelling the plot in few scenes between fights and lovemaking. It's a proven fact that it is almost impossible to produce a film that will be the exact replica of the books text. Moreover, the text actually needs adapting, as in other case the there would be no script writers. Filmmaking is much different from book writing. Some scenes are still impossible to reproduce, some look good in written text, but filmmakers find out their live reproduction is awful. To shoot a successful picture the text of the book should be adapted to match the filmmaking standards. The vital point in this process is to keep the spirit of the book, the one that made the producers and directors want to screen it, and that made the readers buy this book. Fortunately the creators of the first part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy were successful in adapting Tolkien's epic saga to the screen. As Tolkien's work is quite a big one they had to remove some episodes, to change their sequence, or add some new ones, but, as a result they succeeded both in transferring most of the information important for the plot line from the book, and remaining faithful to the spirit of the book. The Lord of the Rings is an epic saga about the fight of good and evil, about love, friendship, betrayal and devotion, and, of course, about the importance of opinions and deeds even of the smallest creatures. A tale of fate and courage it made the generations of people all over the world love the world Tolkien created, and it even gave birth to the whole new recreational phenomenon, which is role-playing games. Darren Andrews, the author of the article about symbolism in the Lord of the Rings said that: "this is a book that uplifts and promotes triumph over evil and not a surrender to it or its devices."(2002) He adds that "If we look into the actual story, or plot, of The Lord of the Rings itself we can see allegories of greater relevance to us as individuals going through life's journey"(Darren, 2002). Maybe this is what explains popularity of this book. Most of those, who have watched the film being already acquainted with the book, agreed that the filmmakers succeeded. One of the reviewers of the movie notes that: " "The Fellowship of the Ring" is indeed the true embodiment of what a "Hollywood" movie is set out to be. It takes you to another time and place, with state of the art visuals and effects, an engrossing story, awe inspiring adventure and a genuine sense of gravity."(2001). In the same time, the movie does not lose the spirit of Tolkien's saga in special effects. "A lot of times movies will have this "end of the world" theme to it, but it doesn't quite capture the essence of the situation's severity."(2001) - the reviewer continues. He also adds that The Fellowship of the Ring is indeed able to restore this atmosphere. "This astounding movie accomplishes what no other fantasy film has been able to do: transport viewers to an entirely different reality, immerse them in it, and maroon them there for nearly three hours."(2001) - says James Berardinelli, the author of another review of the movie. Thus it is obvious that adapting this book to the screen was a very serious task. People, who created this film made everything to reconstruct the events depicted in the book with the help of novel technologies, and the spirit of the book by inviting the actors that made Tolkien's protagonists alive on the screen. Of course the filmmakers had to change some scenes that are present in the book, like departure of hobbits from Shire, their way to Bree, the episode near the Ford of Rivendell, the episode in the Prancing Pony, along with some other episodes. All of these episodes differ somehow in the book and film versions, some of them are in different sequence, and have different characters acting in them. But, still, regardless of their place and other peculiarities those episodes still transfer the information and atmosphere intended by the author of the book. The creators of the film version had to change the plot in some moments to transfer the atmosphere of the book, and to put an emphasis on some plot lines present in the book. Let's, for example, take the scene of the departure of hobbits from Shire. After comparing this part of the Fellowship of the Ring, and of its screening, it becomes obvious that the filmmakers anticipated the development of the plot line there. While in the print version of the novel about seventeen or eighteen years pass between Bilbo's farewell party, and the beginning of Frodo's journey, in the film version this period of time is much shorter. In addition, in the film Frodo and Sam have almost no time to prepare to the departure, as after the conversation about the history of the ring Gandalf the next dialog occurs between Gandalf and Frodo: Gandalf: You must leave and leave quickly. Frodo: Where Where do I go Gandalf: Get out of the Shire. Make for the village Bree. As we can see, Frodo's departure depicted in the film was an unprepared one; he hardly had time to put the necessities in his backpack. In the same time, in the original, book version of the novel, several months passed between this conversation and Frodo's departure with Sam and Pippin. In the book version Frodo sells his Hole and announces he is going to move, for not to arouse suspicion among the Shire dwellers. There is no doubt that Tolkien's book is a very interesting and informative one, but he has several pages of writing the filmmakers have to put in several minutes of film time. Thus it is obvious that the creators of the film had to cut the scenes sometimes. Their main purpose was to tell the plot of the book, and to keep the atmosphere, and the extended periods of time that passed between the events in the book didn't have any informational charge, or practical use. Thus the filmmakers decided it was possible to arrange the episode in such a way that allowed avoiding depicting them. As it was already mentioned, books and movies are different things. Book writers have much more time and space to create the atmosphere, and to develop a plot, while the filmmakers are circumscribe with time. One of the main laws of filmmaking is that the viewer should be kept under tension all the time. In the screen version of The Fellowship of the Ring the level of tension begins to rise from the moment Gandalf talks to Bilbo before the older hobbit's departure, and the strain is kept throughout the other scenes in the movie. Depicting the peaceful and unstrained periods of time that pass between the tensed moments would have ruined the atmosphere the filmmakers were trying to create, thus they chose to exclude them from the screen version. The fact that Frodo in the movie has to depart hastily, leaving his home, and most of his possessions behind, hints the reader that the situation, depicted in the story, is a serious one. Tolkien, who had almost two and a half hundred of pages to raise the level of tension gradually depicts Frodo's departure as the beginning of the joyful and safe journey, while the creators of the film let the viewers know the situation is serious from the very beginning of the story. The next episode that is worthy of analysis is the hobbits' travel to Bree. The book and film versions have a lot of differences in this episode. The first, and one of the most important one is that while in the print version the hobbits encountered Tom Bombadil on their way to Bree, in the film version this part of the story is absent. Therefore, the episode which is depicted in the book as an encounter with the spirits of the ancient burial-mounds, from which Bomadil rescues the hobbits transforms to the one where the hobbits run away from the Black Riders. It is also, of course, that in the screen version the Hobbits don't stop at a house bought by Frodo outside of Shire. As it was already mentioned, the volume of the book is too great to fit into the movie in full. Therefore the filmmakers decided that the episode with Tom Bombadil could be excluded, as it didn't bring important plot information in it. Unfortunately they haven't analyzed Tolkien's creativity thoroughly, thus they didn't see the importance of this scene. The thing is that the encounter with Tom Bombadil is a part of a plot line that is not revealed fully in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but continued in the other Tolkien's works, like Unfinished Tales etc. Tom Bombadil is in fact a maiar, one of the few superior creatures left in the Middle Earth. His presence in the book is a part of the plotline that describes the interference of gods into the situation that occurred around the ring. Unfortunately, the absence of this scene in the episode of hobbits travel to Bree deprives the story of some part of its atmosphere. The Fellowship of the Ring is known as a book that looks like a fairy tale until the defined episode, which in Elrond's Council, takes place. The scene with Tom Bombadil is the part of this fairy tale. In addition, as Jane Chance notes in her article Is there a text in this hobbit Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring, "Although these episodes may not sound so crucial to the narrative, they (and others that precede them) constitute about seven of the twelve chapters in the first book alone"(Chance, 2002) The next episode that has to be mentioned that was adapted from the original text to fit the movie format is the situation in the Prancing Pony, when hobbits met the Strider. In the original text variant Gandalf leaves the letter to the owner of the tavern, which says that Aragorn is a person to be trusted, but in the movie variant the hobbits don't get any reassurances, but still trust the Strider after he saves them from the Black Riders, by forestalling them against sleeping in their room. After the night spent in Prancing Pony the hobbits and the Strider move in the direction were Rivendell, the Elven city stands, planning to meet Gandalf on their way there. The opinion exists that the books are closer to the reality than the movies are. The reason for that is that there is more volume in the book to explain all of the motivations of the protagonists, and depict every situation in detail. In the same time most of the movies are just the sketches that transfer the plot in main details, thus the filmmakers often prefer to exclude some details from the screen version, which they consider to be of no great importance to the plot. Nevertheless, the decision to exclude such an important detail from the episode of the acquaintance of hobbits and the Strider wasn't the best one, as thanks to it the plot becomes much less realistic and trustable than it was in the text. In the situation when Frodo and his friends had to escape from Shire down on the nail, being chased by the Black Riders, their decision to trust the person they see for the first time in their lives, without any acknowledgements, looks unwise, and unrealistic. In the text it is clearly shown, that the hobbits began to trust Aragorn no sooner than Mr. Butterbur, the owner of the tavern, passed them the letter from Gandalf, which mentioned Aragorn: "You may meet a friend of mine on the Road: a Man, lean, dark, tall, by some called Strider. He knows our business and will help you. "- Gandalf wrote (109). This letter explains why the hobbits decided to go to Rivendell with Aragorn, while the in the film their motivations are unclear and vague. In the same time, after reading the scene with a letter, it becomes clear that to include this feature, the filmmakers would have to add the whole episode with Mr. Butterbur, described in the book. The details that are come out during this episode are not very important for the development of the plot line, while the episode is quite a long one. Thus it's possible that the filmmakers excluded it just to make the plot of The Fellowship of the Ring fit in the first part of the movie. One more episode, the analysis of which is crucial for understanding the conception the filmmakers tried to realize is the episode near the Ford of Rivendell, when Frodo is almost dying, stabbed by the Black Rider's blade. In the original version it is Glorfindel, an elf from the house of Elrond. The filmmakers decided it would be better if Arwen came to the Strider and his fellow travelers to save Frodo from the Black Striders. Nevertheless, the very moment when the Elven ally appears in the story looks the same in both the book and the movie, like Tolkien described it: "Suddenly into view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed. To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil" (133). And this was, actually, one of the moments that allowed the filmmakers to remain faithful to the spirit of the book despite of changing the sequence of events, and even the elements of the plotline. It's obvious that the episode with Arwen's emergence is introduced to emphasize the romantic line between Arwen and Aragorn, which is, to be honest, is not given much emphasize in the book itself, as Tolkien described it separately, in his Unfinished tales, along with the two other love stories between people and Elves that happened in the history of the Middle Earth. The introduction of this element was of crucial importance for keeping the atmosphere of the book, as in the Lord of the Rings itself the love story of the Strider, and the daughter of the Elven king is an important element, as it is, in some way, the reflection of the best known love story that happened in Middle Earth that of Beren and Luthien, which is called the Lay of Leithian, which means "the saga of the enlargement from slavery", described in the Silmarillion, and in the Unfinished tales. As The Fellowship of the Ring is a Hollywood movie, it's obvious that there had to be a love story for the viewers to be fascinated by. The fact that the filmmakers emphasized on it does not spoil the spirit of the book, and does not transform the film to the cheap novel, as some of the Tolkien fans say. Despite of the time dedicated to Arwen and Aragorn in the movie, Frodo's plotline, the one which is about the ability of one little creature's actions to change the world, is still the central one. This claim is supported by the excerpt of one of Tolkien's letters to his friends, cited by Jane Chance in her article published in Literature Film Quarterly. Tolkien says that: " the role of Arwen and Aragorn is part of the essential story, and is only placed so (in the Appendices), because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure: which is planned to be 'hobbito-centric', that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble" (2002) As it was already mentioned, it's obvious it is impossible to transfer the book in all of its details in the movie. In the Tolkien's world love occupies quite an important position, and it is shown throughout all of the Fellowship in numerous episodes, phrases and scenes. Unfortunately the filmmakers had to use other methods of transferring this message to the viewers, as it is impossible to restore the feeling of love, present in Tolkien's book, using his hint's, sketches, and accidental phrases. The movie is a sketch, and to make it understandable for the viewer the colors and lines have to be brighter in it, than in the real life, or in the book. The change in personages from Glorfindel to Arwen still allowed the filmmakers to transfer the message intended by the author, along with putting an emphasize on the love story. Tolkien introduced Glorfindel to show the beauty and might of the Elven race, and Arwen in the movie copes with this task. Also, as it was already mentioned, the plot of the movie is more strained than that of the book. While in the text variant Frodo's condition is not very bad at the moment Glorfindel arrives, as he is still able to lead the next dialog: "'Hail, and well met at last!' said the Elf-lord to Frodo.' I was sent from Rivendell to look for you. We feared that you were in danger upon the road.' 'Then Gandalf has reached Rivendell' cried Frodo joyfully." (134). In the same time, the first things Arwen says to Frodo are: "I'm Arwen, I have come to help you. Hear my voice. Come back to the light". After analyzing several episodes that held some differences in the book and movie variants of the saga the conclusion can be drawn that despite of some drawbacks, like exclusion of the scenes with Tom Bombadil from the plot, the filmmakers still managed to keep faithful to the spirit of the book they screened. In the same time, Peter Jackson and his team succeeded in creating one of the most magnificent and beautiful movies that are able to transfer the viewer into the Middle Earth world for the three hours it lasts. Works Cited 1. Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings, Part 1. Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 2. Chance, J. Is there a text in this hobbit Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring. Literature Film Quarterly, 2002 3. Andrews, D. The Power of Symbolism in The Lord of the Rings: Understanding the Meaning Behind the Words. 2002. Retrieved May, 14, 2006 from: 4. Berardinelli, J. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Review, 2001. Retrieved May, 13, 2006 from: http://moviereviews.colossus.net/movies/l/lotr1.html 5. Angelo. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Review. 2001. Retrieved May, 13, 2006 from http://www.moviefreak.com/reviews/l/lotr_fellowship_2.htm 6. n.d. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Review. 2001. . Retrieved May, 13, 2006 from 7. The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition) (2004). The Fellowship of the Ring. Read More