"Two Roads to Middle Earth": Comparing Visualization of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Cinematic Trilogy

Authors

  • Jennifer Grek Martin

Keywords:

The Lord of the Rings, visualization, film, Information in Society

Abstract

When comparing a much-loved novel to a cinematic adaptation, many people will say, “the book was better.” Even so, some of the same people remember scenes from the movie more vividly. Why? Building on Martin Barker’s (2006) study of audience visualization, this paper examines Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s

The Lord of the Rings through DVD “making-of documentaries,” and compares Jackson’s cinematic vision with Tolkien’s original work. The nature of film means adapting a textual work relies more on maintaining certain essential qualities of the original story, rather than a “page by page” rendering. Film may solidify a reader’s visualization of these essential qualities by reinforcing similar images, or by forcing the reader to choose between their own images and those suggested in film adaptation.

References

Barker, M. (2006). Envisaging 'visualisation': Some challenges from the international<br />lord of the rings audience project. Film-Philosophy, (10)3, 1-25. Retrieved from<br />http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=f3h&amp;AN=24120637&amp;site=eh<br />ost-live.<br />Brenner, M. (1996, May). The man who knew too much. Vanity Fair, 1-13. Retrieved<br />from http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1996/05/wigand199605.<br />Carr, N. (2008, July/August). Is Google making us stupid? The Atlantic Monthly, 301(6).<br />Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google.<br />Duff, A. S. (1998). Daniel Bell&rsquo;s theory of the information society. Journal of Information Science, 24, 373-393. doi:10.1177/016555159802400601.<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/016555159802400601" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/016555159802400601</a><br />Fonstad, K. W. (1991). An atlas of middle earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.<br />Ford, J. A., &amp; Reid, R. A. (2009). Councils and kings: Aragorn&rsquo;s journey towards<br />kingship in J. R. R. Tolkien&rsquo;s The lord of the rings and Peter Jackson&rsquo;s The lord of<br />the rings. Tolkien Studies, (6), 71-90. Retrieved from<br />http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/tolkien_studies/v006/6.ford.pdf.<br />Grossman, L. K. (1999). The insider: It's only a movie. Columbia Journalism Review,<br />60-62. Retrieved from<br />http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=f3h&amp;AN=BFLI01101099031<br />9885&amp;site=ehost-live.<br />Hight, C. (2005). Making-of documentaries on DVD: The lord of the rings trilogy and<br />special editions. Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film &amp; Television, (56), 4-17.<br />Retrieved from<br />http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=f3h&amp;AN=19657073&amp;site=eh<br />ost-live.<br />Jackson, P. (Director). (2002). From book to script. In The appendices part one: From<br />book to vision, special extended DVD edition of The fellowship of the ring. [DVD].<br />New Line Home Entertainment, Inc.<br />Jackson, P. (Director). (2003a). From book to script. In The appendices part three: The<br />journey continues, special extended DVD edition of The two towers. [DVD]. New<br />Line Home Entertainment, Inc.<br />&ldquo;Two Roads to Middle Earth&rdquo; 14<br />Jackson, P. (Director). (2003b). The two towers. [DVD]. New Line Home Entertainment,<br />Inc.<br />Jackson, P. (Director). (2004). From book to script. In The appendices part five: The war<br />of the ring, special extended DVD edition of The return of the king. [DVD]. New Line<br />Home Entertainment, Inc.<br />Tolkien, J. R. R. (1991). The lord of the rings. London: HarperCollinsPublishers.<br />Valente, C. (2004). Translating Tolkien's epic: Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.<br />Intercollegiate Review, 40(1), 35-43. Retrieved from<br />http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=f3h&amp;AN=15206176&amp;site=eh<br />ost-live.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 6 (2010)

Section

Articles

License

Papers published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management must be the original, unpublished work of the author. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any copyright clearances required in relation to their work.

Authors submitting a paper to the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management automatically agree to grant a limited license to DJIM if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license gives permission for DJIM to publish the paper in a given issue and to maintain the work in the electronic journal archive. DJIM also submits issues to institutional repositories and Open Access repositories.

Contributors agree to each reader accessing, downloading, or printing one copy of their article for their own personal use or research. All other copyrights remain with the author, subject to the requirements that any republication of the work be accompanied by an acknowledgement that the work was first published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and that the DJIM Editorial Chair must be notified of any republication of a work first published in DJIM.

Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management
c/o School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5
Canada

Email: djim@dal.ca

Authors should recognize that, because of the nature of the Internet, the publisher has no control over unauthorized copying or editing of protected works.