Your Essay is probably the mosty developed I’ve seen so far. You just need to organize your specific examples in a way that your work can flow from begining to end in a more coherent way. That won’t be a problem since you have all of the material you need written down. Brian Nacov September 18, 2008, at 04:36 PM
It seems like you have your whole paper written out lol. I like how you talk about what Jackson also kept the same in the book and movie and not just the differences. It seems to be very well thought out. Just watch out for that shippey article. Donald Turner September 18, 2008, at 03:18 PM
Very strong work, I liked the idea of mentioning how Jackson had to really develop the characters in his final film. The background information helps and creates a great introduction. I agree with some of the others that developing your final point on Shippey would help a lot. Eligh Hanning?
Great job! All seems well. Just detail and develop. Jenelle Jones
I am a huge fan of background information to start a paper so I totally agree with Carly. However, try to expand more on Shippey’s ideas and stuff like that of what we watched in class! I love how you talked about the difficulty of having to fulfill all of the main character’s emotional journeys. There were a lot of them! Good job so far! Keilah Bradley September 16, 2008, at 05:14 PM]]
I really liked how you used background information on Jackson and the LOTR to get your paper started. I know this is only a rough but i think it would be a great topic as to how Jackson strengthened the roles of some of the characters for the final movie, especially Arwen which you did not mention. I think it would also be beneficial if you included some of the topics we discussed in class. Carly Lopez?
Emily Marvin
Nice beginning and very well-written. However I think you need to concentrate more on Return of the King and less on the trilogy as a whole. What problems does Shippey foresee that Jackson will encounter in filming Return of the King? How well do you think Jackson solved them? Can you think of any other problems involved in filming this book? Lydia Fish September 10, 2008, at 09:54 AM
I think what you have so far is unique from the other ideas within the class. Mentioning the difficulties of staying true to characters, as well as the difficulties of Jackson finding funding for the third film. However, you should try to stay focused with The Return of the King. And try to add in enough information about particular parts of the storyline that Jackson had problems with bringing from page to screen. I think the ideas you had in your final paragraph could really be expanded on. Lauren Brych? September 15, 2008, at 12:03 PM
You only talk about Shippey and his predictions for the ending of the third movie, only in your last paragraph. That should be the main focus of your paragraph and more elabortion would be needed in your final paper about the points raised by Shippey. Other than that, this is a grea first draft and it well written. You have some minor errors which can be corrected when reading over your essay. Trudy Antwi September 14, 2008, at 11:00 PM
Emily’s revised rough Emily Marvin? September 12, 2008, at 02:52 PM
I watched the extras of the 3rd theatrical version. I used information from those and the Shippey article to start my rough. I am trying to get a hold of the extended version again so I can use material from the commentaries to fill in the gaps of what I suggested in the last sentence of the second paragraph. I also need to include the success Jackson had with the challenge of effectively portraying Tolkien’s humanistic themes. Please tell me if what I have and what I plan on adding is sufficient for this paper. I also need to get the three sources into MLA format for the final.
Peter Jackson, director of all three The Lord of the Rings movies, said that when he was reading the books at age 18, he never imagined he would be the one to eventually bring Tolkien’s world to the screen. In November 1995, Jackson asked his agent about getting rights to film The Lord of the Rings. At first, the Hollywood studio wanted the books condensed into two films, and then suddenly before the start of principle photography, they told Jackson to yet again condense the trilogy into one film or be replaced. Jackson made a deal with the studio that he would find a new company in three weeks to produce the films, or he would leave without compensation or the scripts, which he owned. Almost three weeks had gone by without any success, when Jackson turned to New Line Cinema as a last hope. He showed a short film, and within five minutes, he was making not one or two, but three movies. These obstacles were just the beginning of many to come with filming such a loved story throughout the world. It was imperative that Jackson stay focused when filming all three movies at once and out of sequence. When filming scenes from the third movie, he was confronted with the overall challenge of forming the climax of the trilogy, one that would preserve Tolkien’s narrative and world view, and be worthy of the title, The Return of the King.
When Jackson took on the job of filming these movies, he had 1200 plus pages, along with more than 100 pages of appendices with lineages and unknown languages to put on screen. He knew he would have to answer to the fans of Tolkien’s books if he didn’t satisfy them. He had the task of recreating a complex book that relies a lot on back story, or historical elements that were the key in telling the rest of the story. According to Jackson himself, these were fine in a book, but extremely difficult to display on screen. Already behind the books, Jackson had to keep up the momentum of the first two movies in the final one, which meant more sets, costumes, props, computer-animated creatures, training, casting and of course, larger-scale battles!
Jackson had more than 100 speaking parts to fill. Once again, fans of the books had their own ideas about the looks and mannerisms of their favorite characters. Jackson said, “We were finding actors to represent some of the most beloved characters in history, so we felt that responsibility acutely, and we spent a lot of time trying to find people who just felt right… We literally said that we wanted our actors to feel like they stepped out of the pages of the book.” Jackson was gifted for finding new talent, such as Orlando Bloom who was days away from graduation in London when he was picked for the part of Legolas. Many people who saw the first two movies would agree that they can’t imagine anyone else playing the vital role of Aragorn, than Vigo. The third movie required new characters such as Denethor and the strengthening of existing character roles, such as Aragorn, Sam, Faramir, Pippin, Merry and Eowyn.
Another challenging aspect of the third movie was not only casting the multitude of characters, but the fact that each of them had their varying emotional journeys. Jackson and his crew had to make sure each character’s journey fit together into the puzzle. This challenge continued from when the fellowship split up into three groups in the second movie, to the third, when more character groups disperse, such as Gandalf and Pippin and Merry and Eowyn.
In the books, Tolkien used a “leapfrog” pattern. According to Tolkien’s biographer, Tom Shippey, Tolkien has his characters “with widely separated adventures, and with the groups further rejoining, re-separating, and subdividing in bewildering fashion. Nor does the narration follow them neatly, picking each group up again, where it had left them before… the strands of story overtak[e] one another and then backtrack.” Shippey predicted that this would not be imitated on screen. When anyone is reading the books, they are often times unaware of how the other companies are doing. The story of Frodo and Sam is completely separated into another book; this generally doesn’t work in commercial cinema. Through Jackson changing some of Tolkien’s narrative structure in the films, he loses part of Tolkien’s world view. Movies generally follow the theme of good prevailing against evil; Tolkien’s somewhat jumbled narrative pattern shows that he doesn’t believe that this is always going to happen. Through reading The Return of the King, the reader is forced to doubt if, once and for all, the characters will fulfill their tasks.
The actors in Jackson’s Return of the King undoubtedly portrayed the character’s uncertainty about the outcome of the “Battle for Middle Earth” throughout their journey and near the end; as someone who watched the movies before reading the books, I believe the audience is not forced to share that same awareness of likely defeat. When I watched the movies, though I didn’t know for sure what the outcome was going to be, I expected, like in other movies, that it would end “happily ever after.” In retrospect, when writing the script, Jackson would also face the challenge of choosing how to end the movie’s trilogy.
It should be noted that Jackson kept the ending of The Lord of the Rings the same, so in this sense, although the viewer can easily overlook it, he preserved some of Tolkien’s view of the reality of evil. Jackson would have been tempted to use one of many alternate endings that Tolkien seems to tease the reader with, such as when Aragorn becomes King, or when the Hobbits return to the Shire. Jackson resists ending the movies on a high note. Frodo sails away because the ring still weighs on him in Middle Earth, and it ends with Samwise returning to Rosie with, according to Shippey, the “most noncommittal final words in literature, Well I’m home.” Part of Tolkien’s worldview is “what else is there for a man or hobbit to say?” After this long and dangerous journey, Sam, as well as all the companions, must face going back to what they left behind.
