Here I am having finished the Hobbit and all that is on my mind is the crazy amount of differences between it and its silver screen counterparts. The question that flows out of my ponderings is this: is it really as much of a deal as we (or I) make it out to be?
This divergence between literature and film is something that I find quite beautiful. Having seen all of the LOTR films as well as the two Hobbit films that are currently available I think I can say that it is quite difficult to completely capture the imagination of the author. That being said this is true for any book being brought to the silver screen. Now this isn't to say that I haven't myself become irritated at a director's attempt to bring a beloved book to film before (Eragon anyone?), but I do think that when it's a task of this proportion it can be very hard to perfectly capture and execute the imagination of what the author intended, unless of course the author is himself directing the adaptation (are there any such cases?)
What I'm getting at is this: is there a certain amount of similarity that a film must reach before we find it acceptable when adapting the beloved books of our current generation? When it comes to the two movies based on the Hobbit that are out right now with the third coming soon all I can say is that I think they are great films. Yes I think that they obviously strayed from the books, but the world that the director brings us into is no less reminiscent of the world that Tolkien called me into at a young age. It's still the same Middle-Earth with the same characters that I know and love. Perhaps we should all stop dwelling on the fact that the director failed to create a perfect adaptation and instead enjoy the beautiful imaginings that have paired themselves with Tolkien's mind to create a wonderful visual world.
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