Tolkien and Jackson; The distinction

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2013)

Having seen and read The Lord Of The Rings series, I was excited to hear that Peter Jackson would continue his saga with The Hobbit. Now I understand the main purpose for investing in The Hobbit and making it a three part series was to suck all the money they can out of this franchise, however that doesn't make me less excited for it. When I learned that Jackson was dividing it into three parts, I was annoyed and disappointed. How could he make one book into three movies. Hearing this news as a Tolkien fan, I knew it was going to be a flop, but I went to the movies anyways. I thought the first one was excellently made. I knew a lot was changed about the story but not too much. It had enough light humor and amazing acting, that one could enjoy the movie anyways. After seeing the second film, (TDOS) I was extremely frustrated. I loved the film and the acting and everything about Peter Jackson's style as a director, but I was so annoyed with how much the plot differed from the book. After seeing it again and revising the novel, I did come to understand the importance of the distinction of Tolkien's story, and Jackson's story. Having come to that conclusion, I now appreciate and love TDOS so much more.
I understand Jackson included many parts to the story that were not in the original one. He needed to make the film longer. Also, it is pretty evident that he aimed to show how the story of Bilbo with the dwarfs leads right into Frodo's with the ring. In Tolkien's book, we never learn of Tauriel, Legolas, or Gandalf's separate adventures. The new introduction of characters was a bit annoying, but the acting was done so well it was hard to not love them. Legolas is everyone's favorite in LOTR its easy to see why Jackson brought him back. Another thing that was very different from the novel, was the action that was played up. I usually get annoyed when there is too much action in a film. Its always obvious that the director is just trying to pump as much testosterone as he can into this film. However instead of dismissing it, I looked more into Jackson's job and what his conflict was with this film and the original story. When first written, The Hobbit was a children's story and Tolkien had no idea the three part series that would come after. Having seen the resulting picture, Jackson simply darkened the story and thickened the plot. When looking at his audience, Jackson couldn't create a kids story because after the epic adventure of Frodo, his audience is not children, but adults or teenagers expecting battle scenes and viscous monsters. One scene in particular sticks out in my mind. In the Mirkwood Forest, The dwarfs and Bilbo are attacked by giant spiders. There is this epic battle scene with the dwarfs and even Bilbo partakes as he fights a spider to the death repeatedly stabbing him until he knows he's dead. He becomes frantic at almost losing the ring and when he finally finds it, he looks at the creature he just kills and referring to this ring he says, "Mine." This scene although short is so powerful because it turns into this dark scene that foreshadows the power of this ring. I loved this scene a lot because although it is completely opposite to what plays out in the book, it provides as one of many examples of why Jackson is telling a different story. In the novel, when they encounter the giant spiders, Bilbo simply insults them and taunts them until they run away. Not exactly an epic battle nor does it foreshadow any future events simply because Tolkien didn't know of them yet.
The only legitimate complaint I have, is the love story between Tauriel and Kili. Throughout the LOTR trilogy, the love story between Aragorn and Arwen was played up drastically and captured the attention of many girls who would normally not have interest in a film. So naturally Jackson had to introduce some love interest and not only is it politically wrong for a dwarf and an elf to be together, but he also included a love triangle with Legolas involved. To me, its tasteless and doesn't add anything to the film. Tauriel would be just as fierce and beautiful without a strange flirtatious relationship with a dwarf.
All in all, I really had to revisit the original story and view TDOS several times before I came to the conclusion that both are amazing stories and when looking at them as separate entities, one can truly appreciate the greatness of Jackson's work.