Comparison to a hypothetical

Yard Sard

Member
One thing that I notice a lot during the analysis discussions is that there's a lot of attention paid to how a particular thing is done in this particular adaptation — character X is like this, this, and this; his line of dialogue has this effect, his actions here have that effect.

What I don't see much of is any asking of the question: What if character X was like this instead? What if he'd said this?

Example: Here is what Elrond is like in the Jackson films. It's great that we examine Weaving's portrayal in that movie and compare it to the book; it's very informative to imagine what we get from him as shown on film as opposed to how he is in the book, or think what our impression would be if we'd never read the book first at all. But what if ... what if we said something like: What if Elrond in the movie were "kind as summer"? What would that look like? What would his dialogue sound like? What might he say instead of "men are weak" or "our list of allies grows thin"? How would he interact with the hobbits, instead of his eyebrows-glowering? What kinds of lines might we put in his mouth, and what effect would that have on the story the film is telling?

I keep wishing I were in the live chats so I could throw in a question like that — "hey, what if so-and-so said X or did Y instead? How would that affect this adaptation? Would that have been better or worse than what we got?"
 
I think the aim of the exercise in the OMH, at least as I understand what Corey and Maggie are doing, is to consider how Elrond in the movies works within the story and themes of the movie as a whole (eg. So he contributes significantly to the ‘weakness of men’ theme, for example). So it isn’t just about how the character is portrayed in the film but how he fits in with the film as a whole, without reference to the books. In the movies Elrond is given a much larger role than he has in the books, and indeed in other adaptations. I’m thinking of Elrond in the BBC radio adaptation where he is the chair of the Council and shows up with Arwen at the wedding but gets no lines there, and then has a couple of lines at the Grey Havens. Not much characterisation in that production - but he certainly isn’t battle-worn and grumpy.
 
There are plenty of discussions on YouTube about what terrible movies the Star Wars prequels are. Most of them discuss what the movies are, and then conclude that they are bad, explaining why. The occasional review defends the prequel films. But a few ask the question of what they could be. Red Letter Media infamously asks the question of whether the Star Wars prequels are more compelling a story than the story of the disgruntled Star Wars fan reviewing them kidnapping a woman and forcing her to watch Star Wars in his basement. But a more comprehensive creative reimagining is presented by Belated Media, which tries to rework the story and characters to create a different film, one that the reviewer deems better. By the time they get to the third film, they even have some storyboards illustrating their alternative version.

'How It Should Have Ended' takes this premise of positing hypothetical alternatives to heart for all their reviews - what if the eagles flew the Ring to Mount Doom? How would you handle various objections to that? How would that change the story. Etc.

If you want to hear Corey Olsen's opinions on how Tolkien's work can be adapted to screen, the Riddles in the Dark podcast explores adaptation choices in the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion Film Project is tackling the adaptation of the Silmarillion to a television show.

You may have to wait 20 years until Silm Film gets to the Lord of the Rings material, though - sorry!
 
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