One of the few people I knew in college who was a bigger Tolkien fan than I was pointed out that there's a recurring pattern in the trilogy. The characters travel, then they face a monster or some other threat, then they stop to eat.
Jayne: Well... I don't like the idea of someone hearin' what I'm thinkin'. Inara: No one likes the idea of hearing what you're thinking.
'Objects In Space'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
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Fred Pete - Jul 20, 2009 11:01:47 am PDT #3142 of 30000
Ann, that's a ferret.
Scrappy - Jul 20, 2009 11:06:19 am PDT #3143 of 30000
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Also in Book 7, Harry has to deal with finding out the Dumbledore may not have been right or honest and heightening his obedience and trust here makes that dilemma stronger when it comes.
"I didn't step in because I couldn't" is less of an internal battle than "I didn't step in and I could have."
beekaytee - Jul 20, 2009 11:51:33 am PDT #3144 of 30000
Compassionately intolerant
I found that LotR works much better aloud (yay, rah, audiobooks!)
Oh my, yes. I cannot recommend highly enough the Recorded Books unabridged versions read by Rob Inglis. Magical! And much better than the various 'full cast' recordings.
beekaytee - Jul 20, 2009 11:57:15 am PDT #3145 of 30000
Compassionately intolerant
While I agree with your first point Scrappy, I think it dilutes the gravity of the situation by shifting the moral dilemma from Dumbledore...and his existential turmoil as described during the coming train station scene (if that even gets included, which I'm doubting at this point)...to Harry. Which gives it much less punch in my imagination.
In truth, I shouldn't be arguing any of these points. The movies are successful, which means I must be missing something in the continuity that is unique to them because I'm so steeped in the books.
I really am happy with the LOTR books and the movies as completely exclusive entities, but I haven't reached contentment with the separation in the Potterverse.
quester - Jul 20, 2009 1:04:55 pm PDT #3146 of 30000
Danger is my middle name, only I spell it R. u. t. h. - Tina Belcher.
But I can't get into it! Such a slog for me.
lisah, I am mostly familiar with them because my father read them out loud to us when were were young, twice! And then some of my siblings became Tolkien fanatics, so I knew more than I wanted to most of the time.
I did eventually read them for myself, but I didn't tell anyone in the family for years, not wanting to be sucked into their insanity.
Theodosia - Jul 21, 2009 2:42:33 am PDT #3147 of 30000
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
The structural plotting of TLotR owes a lot to not only Tolkien's prediliction for walking holidays (he was a hiker who went all over Britain, etc.) but also his experiences in WWI which included a bunch of long slogs, short but dire battles and occasionally reaching a safe place like a trench or camp where there was a fire and some hot tea. In that sense, he's merely writing from experience.
sumi - Jul 21, 2009 6:56:23 am PDT #3148 of 30000
Art Crawl!!!
Aims - Jul 21, 2009 7:19:57 am PDT #3149 of 30000
Shit's all sorts of different now.
I'll wait for movies 7 and 8 and hope they come with Daniel Radcliffe.
Strega - Jul 21, 2009 3:39:39 pm PDT #3150 of 30000
Nobody Watches The Watchmen at Funny or Die. With a special appearance by Glycon.
Jessica - Jul 21, 2009 5:06:06 pm PDT #3151 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Bwahaha. Awesome.