I like your layout, Don. Lots of content, and really good ideas. I’m looking forward to the final version! Joseph Bella? September 14, 2008, at 10:20 PM
I like the fact that you are bringing up the length of the book as being a difficulty. Also, I like the fact that you made the point that it is important for Jackson to change some things in the story line to make the movie understandable. However, I am not sure the essay question is asking about things like CGI and showing the huge armies. I think on some of your points, you need to get more The Return of the King specific. Elizabeth Delano? September 13, 2008, at 11:49 PM
I will answer to Kelsey’s comment about “keeping the author bewildered” because I also wrote this in my paper. Tolkien does do this. Maybe to make his reason why more clear to others reading your paper, you could say that this shows his belief that good prevailing over evil is not inevitable. Maybe you don’t have to talk about how the main plot doesn’t start until half way through the first book, unless you tie it to the third book/movie. You have a lot to talk about, so good luck!Emily Marvin? September 13, 2008, at 10:36 PM
I feel like you are going to cover a significant amount of information. I like how you mention the challenge of showing some aspects of Tolkien’s world when they are not given much description. I was a little confused with your statement that “Tolkien wants to keep the reader bewildered” as I do not believe that this was his goal- maybe you should word that differently. Good job! Kelsey Till September 13, 2008, at 04:29 PM
INTRO:
“Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” is one of the greatest and most success films in the history of cinema. Based of the novel written by the genius author, J.R.R. Tolkien, “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” won all 11 Academy Awards it was nominated for that year. This is a just reward for director Peter Jackson as creating this movie proved to be extremely challenging for him. Jackson would find it would very difficult for him to transfer Tolkien’s epic, long, loved, and semi-complicated novel to film. Jackson would find the solutions to many problems in bringing the story to the big screen and have great success in preserving the essentials of the story while keeping Tolkien’s views in the film
QUESTIONS IN ESSAY:
1. What problems did Shippey foresee for the Return of the King?
* How the movie will end
- How did Jackson meet these challenges?
* Jackson actually followed the real ending of the book, while showing the other two endings that Shippey thought would be the end of the movie. Jackson just caught out the Scorning of the Shire and the rebuilding part of it.
2. What problems did Jackson have in presenting Tolkiens world in film?
a. Showing huge armies
b. Designing things that are barely talked about in the novel
c. Making it look realistic, such as Ents, Orcs, and the Undead Army
- How did Jackson meet these challenges?
a. CGI
b. His designing team was given some liberty to create these things, such as Groug aks the thing that breaks down the gate of Minus Tirth
c. CGI, make-up artists
3. Did Jackson succeed in preserving the essentials of Tolkien’s narrative and incorporating his world view in the film?
a. Jackson does keep the story plot very similiar
b. The movie’s dialogue most of the time, comes directly from the novel
c. Like Tolkien, Jackson tricks the viewer a few times on what is happening, for example you don’t always feel that Good is destined to win
d. Tolkien wanted to keep the reader bewildered, while Jackson does not
4. Challenges involved in transferring the book to film?
a. The length of the book
b. The end of the novel is boring, according to film standards
c. Some parts of the novel are confusing and not described well, such as when Aragorn arrives on boat at Minis Tirth.
d. The plot of the book is not revealed until almost half way through the first book
e. Tolkien did not show the Ents attack Isengard.
- Jackson’s success with this?
a. Jackson was forced to cut some plot points and characters, especially since things that were in the Two Towers were not shown yet. Sometimes, Jackson would just move some plots in the book around.
b. Jackson kept the true ending it worked for him as it worked for Tolkien.
c. Jackson’s movie is easy to follow and Jackson added some scenes to the movie to make it more understandable.
d. Jackson created an introduction to the movie that explains the history of the movie.
e. Jackson did show it so it would not upset the movie viewers
- Each of these points will result in a detailed paragraph or may be combined with one another. I plan to watch Return of the King again with the director and writers input. This will probably result in me adding more points to these categories. My sources will be wikipedia, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the bonus features for the movie, and the Shippey article
Donald Turner September 10, 2008, at 11:57 PM
