by Stanley Anderson » August 17th, 2006, 3:09 pm
Just read the chapter Shortcut to Mushrooms aloud last night.
As a side note, I'm continually reminded of the sorts of thing the Jackson movies chose to focus on to show their impression of what the book was mainly "about", and how they continually missed, deleted, or changed the parts and atmosphere of what I think the book is mainly "about". Of course the book is about a lot of things, and the choice of what to focus on (if such a choice must in fact be made -- such choices must probably be made in a two hour movie, but I'm not so sure it needs to be done -- at least to the extent Jackson did it -- in a nearly 12 hour movie!) is up to the director I suppose. And with a budget of three hundred million dollars acting about as effectively as the barrel of a mobster's gun against the back of one's head to force a guaranteed return on the money, I also suppose choosing a typical Terminator/Die Hard/action/horror/thriller-type focus was unavoidable. There was so much beauty and richness that the movies so completely overlooked or cheapened and changed to fit the MTV crowd.
Ok, sorry for the diversion -- I have to have my occasional rage-fix, don't you know:-)
Anyawy, let me see...for this chapter, hmmm...I suggest posting your feelings and thoughts about mushrooms in general. We have often referred to our son Gawain as a hobbit for various reasons, but one counterpoint is that he detests mushrooms of any sort (at least so far -- this is true for most kids I suspect:-). It took a while for me to warm to mushrooms. Even now, though I love them simply for the magical atmosphere their mere presence conjures, I don't generally crave their taste. Still, I don't dislike them and just seeing, for instance, those long stringy mushrooms ("enoki", I guess from just now looking it up on Google) on a salad is such a visual feast that they (or any other mushrooms) can make a meal seem irresistable. And besides, Tolkien makes them sound so delicioius in this chapter, I'd like them even if I didn't like them, if that makes any sense (and for Jackson to turn the mushrooms in to a stupid 60's drug referenece in the movie was unforgivable in my mind -- ok, sorry for going back there again:-)
--Stanley
…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.