Movieverse Essays Challenge
Challenge Details
Take a place where the books and the movies differ, and write an essay comparing and contrasting the book with the movie. The idea isn't to say one medium is "better" than the other, but to educate others that there is a difference. If you can show how the difference affected the movie as a whole, all the better.
You might choose a certain scene that is in the movies but not in the books. For instance, in the movies at first the Ents decide not to attack Isengard. How does this reluctance on their part (and the later "hasty" decision to attack, once Treebeard sees the destruction of the trees) affect the Ents' characters in the movies? Or the Elves in Helm's Deep -- maybe you would like to write an essay about what the Elves were really up to, and why they were not fighting side-by-side with Men at this point in their history.
Perhaps you would like to touch on something that is present in the books but not in the movies. Denethor's use of the palantir, the Scouring of the Shire, the Grey Company, Beregond -- how does their absence affect the movies, and what is so important about their role in the books?
Does one line bug you? ("Dwarves are natural sprinters", anyone?) Take this line and show how it is conflicts with what Tolkien says in the books.
Or maybe it's something more subtle that bothers you. Is your favourite character characterized throughout the movies in a way that irks you? Maybe there are physical traits that Tolkien clearly described, but Jackson chose not to design his characters that way. Personally, it has always bothered me that every elf east of the Misty Mountains seems to have blonde hair, when in Tolkien lighter hair colours like gold and silver are relatively rare and usually significant.
We all know he had to make some changes to the book, but those changes did, well, change the storyline. I'd be interested in seeing some essays written comparing the books and the movies.
Courtesy of Marta.
Entries with Stories
The following authors have entered a story in the Challenge.
- elanor of aquitania - Movie!Faramir’s lost honour
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 22 Jan 07
- Essay on the methods used to reduce Movie!Faramir's impact on the viewers mind. This essay presents a very personal opinion and was written for Marta's Movieverse Essays Challenge which asked to describe differences between the books and the movies.
- Marta - In Defence of Gollum
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 18 May 05
- A short essay investigating the character of Gollum. Was he really completely evil, or did he have a seed of goodness buried deep inside?
- Nessime - A Faithful Heart
- General Audience
- Last Updated: 19 Dec 05
- *a place holder for the Movieverse Essays Challenge*
Placeholders
The following authors have entered a placeholder in the Challenge.
- Berzerker prime
- Entry Date: 13 May 05
- elanor of aquitania
- Entry Date: 16 Nov 05
- Gandalfs apprentice
- Entry Date: 20 May 05
