Good beginning! However you need to expand a lot of your points and to concentrate on “Return of the King.” Read the general comments on the rough drafts that I posted on the “(Almost) Daily Bulletin” page this morning. Lydia Fish September 22, 2008, at 09:46 AM
You bring up good points about the absence of the scouring of the Shire and the importance of having the Shire remain intact in the movie, however it probably wouldn’t hurt your essay to touch upon other aspects that Jackson had to change such as the development of the characters and the physical cinematography problems, most of which he brings up in the commentary. Brian Nacov September 18, 2008, at 04:09 PM
I like it how your paper has a few specific examples that you can really focus on and that yo ualready have a start on developing (I’m having trouble with that). I also like it how you keep referring to the Shippey article in your essay. Sarah Chudyk?
You make a strong case with focusing on the emotional elements of Jackson’s direction. That direction takes a good look at how Jackson as a director wants to appeal to an audience. Perhaps along with the emotional ties, you could incorporate how Jackson needed to cut scenes or change the presentation of characters in order to propel the story of Frodo needing to destroy the ring. With Gollum murdering his brother, we are reminded of how the ring is evil, which again declares how the ring needs to be brought to Mount Doom. Eligh Hanning?
I like the points you wish to discuss. Gollum’s history was definitely important to the ROTK, it was to make the viewer sympathize with him, however it def didn’t work on me. It just made me think of him as being greedy. Overall it seems like your paper is going to be great,but I agree with Elizabeth, make sure you still tie all your details back to the topic. Jenelle Jones
I believe you are on to something when you discuss Jackson’s flash backs as a ways to communicate with the viewer. But I am not sure the movie supports your idea that Jackson plays up the fact that Sam and Frodo always feel a connection to the shire and that that they have the belief that they are going back there. I agree that its preservation is a strong motivation for destroying the ring. But in the third movie there is an end to that belief that they can go back. Here they are discussing the last of the water. “FRODO There’ll be none left for the return journey. SAM(softly)I don’t think there will be a return journey, Mr Frodo.” You can still discuss the shire and how Jackson uses it to play on the audiences emotions, but I’m not sure they always think they have it as a safety blanket. Sarah McNutt? September 16, 2008, at 10:38 PM
Your ideas on Gollum are interesting. I felt that the showing the audience the murder Gollum committed was effective in showing the power of the ring. I believe this part not only develops the character of Gollum but also the character of the ring. Your ideas on the shire are very strong. Annika Laughlin? September 16, 2008, at 08:38 PM
Make sure you remember the topic of the essay is supposed to be about the difficulties that Jackson had in bringing the book to life on the big screen. Your points are great, but make sure you connect them with the topic of the essay. I am a little confused with your paragraph that starts “Jackson also begins the movie with…” I guess I am not sure what event is being over shadowed. Elizabeth Delano? September 16, 2008, at 05:51 PM
Your paper is indeed off to a great start. Even for a rough draft, it is pretty thorough. I like how you went into detail about the Shire being intact in the movie. Do you think that maybe if the Shire had been destroyed in the movie, it would have felt too much like an ending that should have gone on even longer to play everything out? The second half of your page is good. Good job! Keilah Bradley September 16, 2008, at 04:44 PM]]
I think you are off to a good start with your paper. I was intrigued by your views of the Shire and Jackson’s reasons for the omitting the scouring of the Shire. Do you think it is possible the scene was omitted because it would have taken away from the destruction of the ring? I also agree with the previous statements that the bottom paragraphs were good. If you strengthen your introduction paragraphs you will be in great shape. Carly Lopez?
I don’t think I would call the Shire heaven, maybe a haven or really just their homeland. You also seem to be talking about a lot just the differences between the movie in the book instead of staying true to the question and talking about the difficulties in making the film as compared to the novel. Maybe you should just read over the question again and then just reorganize your work to answer it. The bottom paragraphs were excellent.
Donald Turner September 15, 2008, at 11:53 PM
Wouldn’t you say the beginning of the Return of the King displays the evil the ring possesses; best friends are willing to kill each other for the ring without even knowing the power it possesses. Maybe you should discuss the difficulties Jackson had trying to incorporate the various endings. Steven Wilser? September 15, 2008, at 08:38 PM
I think it’s great that you devoted one idea to Shippey’s thoughts on the multiple endings of the film. Maybe you could evolve that idea more, explaining what Jackson specifically did with each ending scene in comparison to Tolkien’s work. Your second paragraph about the shire could use some specific examples from the book/film to show how Jackson really portrays that feeling of hope, that dream that keeps the hobbits going. Maybe talk about how Jackson filmed the end scene on Mount Doom, where Sam and Frodo can finally remember the shire. (Along with these characters slowly losing their memories of the shire up until that point) Lauren Brych? September 15, 2008, at 11:16 AM
“Jackson plays on the human desire to always have an assured sense of security they can always fall back on.” I wasn’t really sure what you were referring to in that paragraph. Was it Jackson’s desire to manipulate the audience’s emotions? I really, really like that statement, but it needs to be tied in with everything else, I think.
It’s interesting how you said that the history of Gollum wasn’t effective as an introduction, as we can probably guess just what happened to him. While I believe it was an interesting story to put in, your opinion is intriguing. Devon Cozad? September 15, 2008, at 09:42 AM
I like your thoughts on the Scouring of the Shire. I don’t believe I’ve read anybody else take your approach…other have mostly called its exclusion a mistake on the part of Jackson. Good for you. Joseph Bella? September 14, 2008, at 11:44 PM
I like how you are approaching the challenges from more of an emotional view, I didn’t even think of that problem! I think some more technical challenges would be great to include also! Brittany Thrun ? September 14, 2008, at 07:04 PM
I think you need to include more examples of challenges Jackson would have faced. Developing Arwen, Sauron, and keeping important descriptions of nature are just a few that were talked about in the “Script to Film” extras we watched last class. Maybe you could turn the things you already talked about into why they would be a challenge, as opposed to something Jackson just did. For example, you could explain why Jackson was forced to leave the Shire untouched (it would make the destroying of the ring anticlimactic and there wasn’t enough time). I somewhat disagree that Jackson is purposefully trying to give them a place they can return to, because he spends the last 20 mintutes showing how Frodo and Sam are still affected to the point where Frodo has to go to the Undying Lands.Emily Marvin? September 13, 2008, at 09:33 PM
I really liked how some of your ideas were what we talked about in class, and how you expanded on those ideas- for example, the Scouring of the Shire. I do think that you need to organize your essay a little better, maybe moving the last paragraph more towards the beginning of the essay and presenting your ideas more chronologically. The last paragraph should be more of a conclusion, although I’m not sure if you were just writing down your ideas, or if this was a rough draft, so if they were just ideas, it was great! Kelsey Till September 12, 2008, at 09:03 PM
One must always realize that not everything presented in a novel can be reproduced on screen. With this in mind, great exceptions must be given to the novel of the Lord of the Rings. It is not enough that some of the scene and events in the novel cannot be reproduced on screen but the author goes to great lengths to make screen presentation difficult. The style and approach taken by Tolkien leaves the reader in utter dismay and sometimes in confusion. Hence, Jackson did a great job in presenting this novel on screen. Though Peter Jackson had to change certain aspects of certain characters, scenes, and themes to smoothly create films from Tolkien’s novels, no change he made to a character affects the general spirit of Tolkien’s work. However, there are certain changes that counter some themes in the novel.
One of such alterations is the presentation of the shire in the third movie. Jackson created the Shire to represent a heaven to which the hobbits can return, and escape the potent evil they have encountered. Jackson tries to feed into the emotions of his audience in order to draw his audience into the hearts of the hobbits. He gives the reason for which Frodo and Sam are motivated to succeed in their mission to destroy the ring. The ring is the epitome of the destruction occurring in Rohan and the other places as witnessed by the hobbits that can affect the shire. Jackson plays on the human desire to always have an assured sense of security they can always fall back on. This becomes the driving force that propels Sam and Frodo to put up with their journey even at the point of despair. Frodo and Sam do so knowing that they will return to the Shire when the ring is destroyed and can once again be removed from all the evil and destruction that they have beheld.
This image contrasts what is in the novel; evil does spread to the shire through Saruman. Also, the vision from Galadriel’s mirror presented to Frodo comes true at the shire even after the ring is destroyed. The shire is not invincible to evil as Jackson presents it. In Jackson’s illustrations, Tolkien’s ideology of the inevitable ability for evil to spread to even the most humble of creatures and into the most serene places is distorted. Jackson does a great job in this distortion because he creates a different storyline for the shire and keeps it. He also later develops this story line to include a different ending for the hobbits excluding Frodo as compared to that of the novel.
Jackson also begins the movie with the history of Gollum in trying to win the sympathy of viewers as experienced by Frodo for the creature. This is not only omitted from the novel but the placement of the scene is not effective. By now an audience following the first and second movie would have been able to guess from the clues given that Gollum used to be a hobbit. To over shadow this event, Jackson once again depicts his genius with the celebration scene. He offers the celebration of the victory at Hell’s Deep and not from Isengard to help the viewer to comprehend and follow the storyline from the second movie. He also gives a graphic presentation of the journey undertaken by Pippin and Gandalf in order to be able to overcome the challenges of flashbacks that story in the book poses.
In the filming of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Shippey raises some valuable points about how Jackson may end the film. There are many alternative endings presented in the book and one can use any of these endings without losing the climax of the story as presented by Tolkien. Acknowledging that the narrative structure in the book is irreproducible on screen, Jackson takes many approaches in counteracting the many endings offered in the books. Jackson incorporates all the ending offered by Shippey but presents them in a chronological narrative means for screen adaptations. This is effectively to enable the viewer to be able to follow the storyline of the narrative presented on the screen without any element of surprise or lose as is often the case in the book.
Apart from challenges foreseen by Shippey in bringing the book to life on screen, the very beginning of the third movie must have posed a very big challenge to Jackson. The book begins with the depart of Pippin and Gandalf from Isengard to Minas Tirith with Pippin sleeping through most of the journey and waking up from time to time to have flash back of the journey. Most of the journey to Minas Tirith is presented to the reader as the flashbacks of Pippin’s memory in the moments when he wakes up.
Trudy Antwi September 10, 2008, at 10:45 PM.
