Comments on: Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Andersen.

By: carl

carl — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Something about the scenery in LOTR: yes, it’s incredibly beautiful and all on film.
But it doesn’t really do justice to the real thing. New Zealand is actually more beautiful than that. Kiwis call it Godzone, as in “god’s own country”, and visitors typically go home thinking “I wouldn’t mind living there someday”.
So, yes. If you love breathtaking scenery, you must go to New Zealand. Someday.

By: Sam Kabo Ashwell

Sam Kabo Ashwell — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Re the Middle Eastern costumes: that’s Tolkein’s error rather than the filmmakers’. A great deal has been written on the racism implicit in Tolkein, mostly spuriously, but the Southron stuff is pretty explicit.

By: Amare

Amare — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hm, I was going to comment that the middle eastern costumes on the opposing army was strictly from the book but someone already beat me to it.

twenty million endings? That troubles me, but I haven’t seen the movie yet and since I liked the first two more than you seem to I won’t ask for details.

I really don’t understand the attraction to Orlando Bloom, particularly not in this movie, but then I’ve never really been into blonds. Nor am I particularly wowed by Aragorn but I will say he looks better as he was in the movie than he did in the post production interviews on the extended DVDs, ai!

By: Quinn

Quinn — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was going to mention Tolkein’s racism, too, but I’ll expand on it a little. All of the “human ” enemies were described as having either asian or african features, although it’s never stated outright, the implication is pretty clear. The books were, in many ways, a reflection of the Great War, which Tolkein had lived through, and a meditation on the world leading up to WWII. (With all his talk of “alliances” and keeping to age old treaties, for example.) They are a treatise against industrialization (forest=good, cutting them down=evil) and globalization (although the latter was only a twinkle in the eye of some merchants when he was writing). The movies were not nearly as offensive as the books in this regard, I don’t think.

There’s no escaping the racism, and I would go further and say that his “ideal race,” the Elves, do not accidentally have blonde hair and blue eyes. But that, of course, is just my opinion. Other people look more favorably on him, and have to, in order to maintain respect for his ability to make fiction. Personally, I can disagree with his politics and think he makes a very well crafted world at the same time.

By: vika

vika — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Re: racism: I am aware that, as y’all pointed out, the Middle Eastern influence comes from Tolkien and not from Peter Jackson. However, in the current political climate, to add to the stupid enemy-of-the-people-du-jour propaganda is artistically irresponsible, and for that I blame Peter Jackson squarely.