What All Was Wrong with PJ's LOTR

[Jon S.]

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

they're supposed to be Tolkien's story.

That is simply not accurate. The movies are, as noted expressly in the credits, "based on" Tolkien. That is quite different from saying they are Tolkien.

I have posted here before how even Tolkien's version of the books is, in the author's words, also "based on" an earlier version - the Red Book of Westmarch - and why that is significant in terms of the idealization, by the Hobbits, of characters such as Aragorn and Faramir.

Re: Faramir: if you haven't already read this excellent analysis, you may find it interesting if for no other reason than as a mind-opener as to how to understand and reconcile artistic differences in character development (though this page is for Faramir, the same basic type of approach is possible when comparing any of characters in the movie versus the book): http://www.istad.org/tolkien/faramir.html

But in the end, we are each as comfortable and flexible with change and interpretation as we choose to be. I long ago gave up judging others on this score. Viva la differance (so to speak).

[minor spelling edits]