Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Broke That Hobbit - 21 September 2021 - Plague Journal Day 558

Micah 6:8
Revelation 22:16-21
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

On 21 September 1937 JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit was first published. It was a nice, little book. A story that could be read in a short time. It had all the makings of the classic of (children's) literature which it has become.
It did not have the makings of a trilogy of overlong, overstuffed movies taking nearly eight hours to watch. Good grief, at fewer than 300 pages it could be read aloud in far less time than those bloated films take to screen.

I was and am a fan of Peter Jackson's work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Four of us attended the first film and as it ended we were all of the same mind - we would sit there for another three hours right then to watch the next, were it available. Sadly, Mr Jackson decided to "fix up" the Hobbit to make it more like LotR rather than letting it be itself. What a shame. I've seen a fan-edited version of the three Hobbit films pared down to one that is a reasonable length and actually hews to the original story. It's a much better product than Jackson's overblown trilogy.

What a shame. I'd recommend grabbing the little paperback off your shelf and giving it a read. It really is a good story, and it didn't need any of the extras that were pasted to it.



Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

No comments: