Dumbing it down

[Beleg Cuthalion]

This is partly inspired by my own thoughts and partly by the avatar of Elrond's Daughter.

I don't really think it's the fault of Orlando Bloom or any of the other cast members that Legolas comes off as some sort of outrageous M-E equivelant of Neo, given to constant overstatement. It was Peter Jackson and his co-writers who introduced the stunts that many Tolkien enthusiasts revile (such as mself), the at times overtly-modern in influence dialogue (Legolas proclaiming "Game Over" as though he's just finished up a brisk session of Pac-Man, or Gandalf's "You'd better hope we don't have one of those on our tail", sounding suspiciously like a seasoned Bomber Command pilot inveighing against the likelyhood of Messerschmits come to mind), and plot points that ought to already be obvious made explicit ("A diversion!").

My point is that I feel that the writers, despite their stellar work on much of the films seem to, in my opinion at least, attempt lower the bar far enough that even the most witless theatre-goer will not fail to have the message pounded into his brain. It just seems as though all subtlety is abandoned in many cases in favour of making a point in as broad a fashion as possible.

To make a comparison with a film I loathe, having Legolas surf down the stairway or the Mumak's trunk is similar to the WWF references found in one scene of Shrek. It's as though if we don't include at least a few references to prosaic modernity that the audience will develop no interest in the film they're watching.

Are we really as dumb as all that?