Some books should stay books, and some writers should stay writers...
Thursday, August 15th, 2019 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serai.
So I watched the movie "Tolkien" last night, and it brought out in full relief what I find so frustrating about most biopics, and that's how unnecessary so many of them are. Take this one, for example. There really isn't anything extraordinary or unusual about his life. He was an orphan, he fell in love, his guardian said "you must wait til you're an adult". Then he went to war and survived (his friends did not). Then he came home and became a professor, got married, had some kids. Nothing about any of that deserves a whole movie. The only thing that makes it interesting is the fact that decades later Tolkien published some amazing stories that appear to have been influenced by his personal history. But other than a couple of anecdotes he related, there's no way to know exactly what influenced him in what way, or whether its influence was direct, or anything else. Tolkien himself said he detested allegory and tried to avoid it whenever he caught a whiff of it, so claiming that the flamethrowers became dragons, or that his personal batman was the reason he wrote Sam Gamgee, is spurious.
And what's really maddening on that score is the things we DO know were direct influences - like his future wife dancing for him on a picnic, which gave birth to an enormous part of his legendarium in that instant - are treated like little throwaway moments, while the film is busy extrapolating HUGE MEANING out of stuff that's iffy at best and a flat out fabrication at worst. AND the film is shy about naming names or doing any direct attribution, so unless you already know his story, you're left wondering what's so important about, say, the steams and smokes rising above the battlefield that the director feels he has to keep hammering home how ugly it all is. It's just so fucking hamhanded and clueless and CLUMSY, I couldn't figure out why anyone would have thought this film was a good idea.
ARGH
And how are all of you?
.
So I watched the movie "Tolkien" last night, and it brought out in full relief what I find so frustrating about most biopics, and that's how unnecessary so many of them are. Take this one, for example. There really isn't anything extraordinary or unusual about his life. He was an orphan, he fell in love, his guardian said "you must wait til you're an adult". Then he went to war and survived (his friends did not). Then he came home and became a professor, got married, had some kids. Nothing about any of that deserves a whole movie. The only thing that makes it interesting is the fact that decades later Tolkien published some amazing stories that appear to have been influenced by his personal history. But other than a couple of anecdotes he related, there's no way to know exactly what influenced him in what way, or whether its influence was direct, or anything else. Tolkien himself said he detested allegory and tried to avoid it whenever he caught a whiff of it, so claiming that the flamethrowers became dragons, or that his personal batman was the reason he wrote Sam Gamgee, is spurious.
And what's really maddening on that score is the things we DO know were direct influences - like his future wife dancing for him on a picnic, which gave birth to an enormous part of his legendarium in that instant - are treated like little throwaway moments, while the film is busy extrapolating HUGE MEANING out of stuff that's iffy at best and a flat out fabrication at worst. AND the film is shy about naming names or doing any direct attribution, so unless you already know his story, you're left wondering what's so important about, say, the steams and smokes rising above the battlefield that the director feels he has to keep hammering home how ugly it all is. It's just so fucking hamhanded and clueless and CLUMSY, I couldn't figure out why anyone would have thought this film was a good idea.
ARGH
And how are all of you?
.
no subject
Date: Friday, August 16th, 2019 10:33 am (UTC)I hope to see "Tolkien" by the end of the month, but am keeping expectations low. It's a darn shame that the story wasn't treated more skillfully.
no subject
Date: Saturday, August 17th, 2019 12:12 am (UTC)Good to see you, too!
no subject
Date: Friday, August 16th, 2019 10:43 pm (UTC)Thanks for the review. Sounds like a movie I can skip no matter how much I like and admire Tolkien.
no subject
Date: Saturday, August 17th, 2019 12:13 am (UTC)Nice to see you, too. :)
no subject
Date: Saturday, August 17th, 2019 09:54 pm (UTC)Yes, in that case I would probably watch it.
I don't come to LJ much anymore or even go on line. I'm in pretty dire shape health-wise. Just happened to see your post.
Your comment reminds of a joke I saw recently. A couple walked out of a movie theater with sour looks on their faces. The man said, "And we left the dog home alone for that?"
Haven’t seen it yet
Date: Monday, August 19th, 2019 08:02 pm (UTC)I caught up with Princess of Geekdom the other day and mentioned I hadn’t see this film yet, wondering if it would be any good. What I was interested in was the friendship between CS Lewis and Tolkien. I thought with so many letters that we have between them that they could do something with those to make the story engaging. His life wasn’t that interesting, true. But he was supposed to have a humorous side and was an entertaining lecturer and liked parties.
Re: Haven’t seen it yet
Date: Tuesday, August 20th, 2019 06:58 am (UTC)So how is PofG doing? I haven't heard from her in at least a decade.
Re: Haven’t seen it yet
Date: Tuesday, August 20th, 2019 04:02 pm (UTC)It’s sad that they didn’t focus in on that part of his life. I assumed that’s where the movie would take us. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised that they made it at the wrong time.
On PofG, I found her on Dreamwidth and posted about some genealogy mysteries regarding her family. I accidentally found her account on AO3 and realized she had an account here on Dreamwidth.