Op-Ed from Michael C. Drout: Please Don’t Make a Tolkien Cinematic Universe

[Morthoron]

NY Times Op-Ed from the pen of Michael C. Drout, professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and co-editor of the journal Tolkien Studies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/o...n-tolkien.html

If viewers find themselves disappointed by “The Rings of Power,” it will probably not be because the computer-generated imagery is second-rate or there are not enough fight sequences. It will be because the new adaptation lacks the literary and moral depth that make Middle-earth not just another cinematic universe but a world worth saving.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Way to go Mike!

there’s a huge gulf between Tolkien’s originality, moral sophistication and narrative subtlety and the culture of Hollywood in 2022 — the groupthink produced by the contemporary ecosystem of writers’ rooms, Twitter threads and focus groups. The writing that this dynamic is particularly good at producing — witty banter, arch references to contemporary issues, graphic and often sexualized violence, self-righteousness — is poorly suited to Middle-earth

[Bêthberry]

I would like to point out that Professor Drout's "review" was written BEFORE he saw the first two episodes. And relies more on his dissatisfactions with current Hollywood than with anything actually depicted in the first two episodes.

His thoughts after he watched the episodes, as posted on Facebook:

"Watched the first episode of Rings of Power. Superb visuals, cringe-inducing dialogue, some excellent casting, and a plot--as much as you can tell from an initial episode--unable to escape contemporary cliches. The actress playing Galadriel deserves better dialogue, as she knows how to act with her facial expressions. The elf in love with a human is also a good actor. Neil Patrick Elrond and Gil-galad are pretty awful--they don't seem the slightest bit intelligent. The opening sequence was visually gorgeous, but "the mean boy threw a rock at my boat" followed by "pseudo-profound comforting advice from the doomed brother" is cliched crap (which wasted the awesome elvish origami swan boat).* What I most fear is that this structuring idea is going to be the contemporary cliche of "the men won't listen to the heroine, who is always right," because that gets Galadriel completely wrong.
*I kind of wanted the boat to go down into a storm drain and then, when one of the elf-children looked in, it would be Sauron instead of Pennywise in there.

[Tar Elenion]

She has had one facial expression through the two episodes...

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Tar Elenion

She has had one facial expression through the two episodes...

Actually she has two: "irked" and "annoyed."

[Tar Elenion]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Actually she has two: "irked" and "annoyed."

I'll clean my glasses while I slowly go through it again

Ive seen it all as sucking on a bitter lemon and trying not to show it...