Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's the Lord of the Rings. a Look at Hollywood's Take on Tolkien's Epic Tale. - Softcover

Wright, Greg

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0975957708 ISBN 13: 9780975957707

Publisher: Hollywood Jesus Books, 2004

Synopsis

Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings brings under one cover the dozens of essays and lectures that first began appearing on the website Hollywood Jesus in December of 2001. Since then, author Greg Wright (Tolkien in Perspective: Sifting the Gold from the Glitter, VMI 2003) has analyzed and anticipated the cinematic choices of director Peter Jackson with almost prophetic critical insight. He rightly attributes the success of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King to the power of film itself, the power of Jackson's artistry and the original power of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary masterwork-and in so doing provides an educational, entertaining and respectful look at the process of bringing a much-loved novel to the screen. Like a sculptor of words and ideas, Jackson has pared away pieces of Tolkien's fanstastic epic to reveal both the essence of Tolkien and something entirely new, something uniquely his own. The essays in this volume are an invaluable guide to understanding both Jackson and Tolkien.

About this title

About the Author

Greg is Senior Editor at HollywoodJesus.com and the author of Tolkien in Perspective: Sifting the Gold from the Glitter. Since January, 2000, Greg has written dozens of reviews and features related to The Lord of the Rings books and movies. His work on Tolkien has been translated into Spanish, German and Swedish. Greg is an ordained pastor and Instructor of English Literature at Puget Sound Christian College in Everett, Washington. He holds degrees in English Literature, Computer Science and Theology, and his study of Tolkien now stretches back over 25 years.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

More than once, Peter Jackson has rather famously remarked, "We made a real decision at the beginning that we weren t going to introduce any new themes of our own into The Lord of the Rings. We wanted to make a film that was based on what Tolkien was passionate about."

Talking directly with Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh yields tremendous insight into what they feel Tolkien was passionate about. If Jackson, Boyens and Walsh are the cinematic guardians of the "Spirit of Tolkien," as expressed in The Lord of the Rings, what is their take on that spirit?

During the Academy Awards telecast in February 2004, and the Golden Globe awards, Fran Walsh made rather cryptic references to Cameron Duncan. In interviews conducted in tandem with Philippa Boyens in December 2003, she said:

"It s a curious thing we ve been going through this year. We lost a young and dear friend, a young boy, to cancer, and watching him face his mortality, at seventeen, and watching him come to terms with the knowledge of his impending death, and how he and his family dealt with that. We were part of that as we finished this film, and I felt very strongly that, in the film, death -- when Frodo crosses over -- that it s not a negative thing. And I felt that for Cameron, too. Because he was so ravaged and ill, that it, you know, it freed him. And it released him. And I feel that in the film, too. I feel that something lifts from Frodo, when he turns and looks back at the Hobbits... And I really liked that the film shows it in that way. Because often it s such a thing of fear, and dread, you know -- that in films it s portrayed in that way, and yet there is another way to view it. And we saw it play out, you know, in our own lives with Cameron. And to see it in the film, too, I really liked that about the movie."

Boyens added, "It s definitely deliberately done. But what I loved is that Ian McKellen made you feel good about it."

So obviously, death is one of the central issues in The Lord of the Rings. And Boyens and Walsh are certainly right that death is one of the things that Tolkien is writing about. It is part of that "spirit of Tolkien." But it s perhaps troublesome to consider Jackson s assertion that they didn t want to bring their own baggage to The Lord of the Rings, because even in connection to the subject of death Jackson doesn t agree with Boyens or Fran Walsh, the mother of his children. If they can t agree among themselves about such key issues, how can they agree about how to interpret and present Tolkien s ideas?

Boyens and Walsh, though, tend to play off each other like peas in a pod in interviews. They will complete each other s ideas and thoughts, and appear completely in sync with the other s ideas and attitudes. Yet while the two of them can be very encouraged by the depiction of death in The Return of the King, Peter Jackson has very different things to say:

"We looked upon the ending, really, as being a metaphor for Frodo passing the shore, that he -- that you were fare-welling somebody who was, who seemed to be dying. I mean, he was going to this blessed land, and he -- we do certainly feel that Tolkien regarded that as being a visualization of somebody s death. He said, well, you get on a ship and you sail out into the harbor, and farewell them into this light -- but it s fairly obvious what Tolkien was really referring to. And we tried to honor that -- we tried to give it that sense of sadness. I feel it s extremely poignant that Frodo is ultimately effectively killed at the end of the story; I mean, he does ultimately die in the film; he can t live. And, yeah -- it just makes it very sad."

That s a very surprising comment from Peter Jackson. I doubt most audience members come away from The Return of the King thinking that Frodo is dead, and that his is some incredibly sad fate! . So where does this come from? How does Peter Jackson, as the maker of the film, view such a central element so differently from Boyens and Walsh? Let s turn to Tolkien for some insight...

From Section 7, "The Spirit of Tolkien"

Edition details

• Publisher: Hollywood Jesus Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0975957708
• ISBN 13: 9780975957707
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212