Soutenance mémoire
J.R.R. Tolkien: inspirations and general facts
To better understand the ideas and concepts Tolkien brought to light in his books, one may want to understand his inspirations first. Tolkien is considered to be the father of high fantasy (Sullivan, 2018), but such complex and deep lore could not have seen the light out of nowhere, out of a single human mind; leading to the question: who were the forefathers of high fantasy who inspired Tolkien?
Tolkien was a man of culture and a renowned philologist, and his personal hobbies (Tolkien, Letter #165, 1955) enticed him to read and, later on, to master, a lot of Old English poetry and tales. He also had a strong interest in Norse mythology, whose most noticeable works are Beowulf, considered by scholars as the oldest fantasy tale ever written (~10 th century), and Prose Edda, a recollection of Norse tales compiled by Snorri Sturluson (~12th century). His love of this culture was so strong that many of the places, characters and events were inspired, or even come directly from, these stories. As a matter of fact, some core events from TH were borrowed from the story of Beowulf: a dragon had seen one of his precious artifact stolen by a thief in his den, and unleashed his rage on the inhabitants of the nearest village. The parallel could be made with TH, when the dragon Smaug, infuriated after the theft of the Arkenstone, a highly prized gem, flies out of his den to unleash fire on the inhabitants of Laketown, the nearest city. The concepts of dragons, elves, fairies and such were then evoked in these precursory works from ancient times. They were then brought back into fashion and even broadened by Tolkien.
Moreover, something primordial in the life of Tolkien left its mark on his whole legendarium: an indefectible love, both for his lifelong wife Edith, and for God and Christianity. On a very personal note, Tolkien himself said that he put a huge part of his life into his work, and that his personal values and beliefs shaped the world in his mind “…more than [he] would have wanted to…” (Tolkien, Letter #142, 1953). I will illustrate both these points with examples from the books: in TS and later on in Beren and Lúthien (Christopher Tolkien, 2017), Tolkien presents his masterpiece, his favourite tale from his entire work: the tale of Beren and Lúthien. Compendiously, this is the story of a man, Beren, who falls in love with an elf, Lúthien. They met in the forest where she was dancing, and went through numerous ordeals together, in order to live a happy life together. Tolkien will use this analogy again later on in TLOTR, with Aragorn, a man, who falls in love with Arwen, a half-elf. This parallel with The Professor’s own life has been proven many times and is not surprising; countless writers were and are inspired by real or personal events to help them shape their imaginary worlds (Stephen King, Dan Brown, …). Secondly, Tolkien’s religious beliefs were embedded in the core of the Tolkienian mythopoeia: “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”
(Tolkien, Letter #142, 1953). A parallel could be made between the highest being Eru/Ilúvatar (The One/God), who created and shaped the world as we know it, and the Christian God, in whom Tolkien trusts, along with many other parallels to be explained later on.
Also, any Tolkien reader has to bear in mind that he was not a writer, but a scholar first.
Indeed, he spent most of his time as a professor of Anglo-saxon and English literature at Oxford, breaking ground in those fields and translating numerous medieval works including the famous Beowulf. He worked alongside the most eminent philologists, writers and professors of his time at the University of Oxford. A healthy rivalry of some sort even arose between him and C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy…). This competition sometimes bordered with quarrelling. It eventually led to the formation of an informal literary club within an Oxford Campus’ pub. This competition and love for letters, myths and fantasy fuelled Tolkien’s mind with ideas, while receiving constructive criticism from his fellow colleagues (Tolkien, Letter #122, 1949).
Last but not least, his fourth source of inspiration and motivation were children. Tolkien’s very first novel, TH, was primarily written for his children, as a bedtime story. I think his love of words and tales combined to the love of his children produced this story, rich in details and symbolism, so that he could pass it on to his child whose interest was aroused the most by his works; Christopher. In all of his stories, a great part is given to children and filiation: Tolkien produced one of the biggest genealogy work of all time. Ancestries are so sprawling that some of the family trees seem to be inconsistent and shift from one Tolkien’s draft papers to the other (cf. Appendix 1), even if overall the work remains consistent. Family bonds were then very important to Tolkien, and it transpires in his work. Most heroic fantasy writers (Howard, Conan the Barbarian, 1932 / Gemmell, Legend, 1984, …) do not bother tackling childhood in a heroic fantasy, male oriented story Tolkien himself acknowledges that “Children aren’t a class. They are merely human beings at different stages of maturity. All of them have a human intelligence which even at its lowest is a pretty wonderful thing, and the entire world in front of them” (Tolkien to the NYT, 1952). Be it in his works or in his life, he always bore in mind that children embody the future, and hope.
On the importance of sound: languages and their importance in the legendarium
Tolkien gave consistency to his world through numerous ways, as seen previously. One of the most important and impressive were the languages created and used in this world. First of all, the sheer number of languages imagined by Tolkien is colossal: about twenty languages are mentioned, and two languages were created from scratch. As a gifted philologist and linguist, he gave these languages their own vocabulary, grammar, literary devices, substantives and such. Quenya and Sindarin, the two languages most complete were considered as the crowning achievement of Tolkien. They were so complete and worked so well that they are still taught nowadays and learnt in a few places around the globe. Still, Tolkien himself admitted that he was more interested in ceaselessly polishing and refining things than in giving them a complete and finished form, and his languages were no exception to the rule: around fourteen languages are only evoked and stayed as preliminary drafts on Tolkien’s desk. But he searched until the very end the solutions combining credibility, originality and harmony between phonetics and grammar. The vitality of the elven languages nowadays is still strong, and readings of poetry as well as translation contests are still held -in secrecy- online or around roleplaying tables because for Tolkien, stories are not shaped by the words, but the other way around; words literally shape the story.
The weight of words in Tolkien’s legendarium is not limited to their quantity or linguistical depth, but to the power attached to it. In most heroic fantasy works, acts and events take a way bigger place than words and conversations, as in Legend by David Gemmell (1984): Druss, the hero, is a cantankerous and solitary man, who does not like words and the company of human beings, hence the lack of conversation -and sometimes depth in character- in this novel. Yet, in TH and TLOTR, words take on a symbolism rarely reached in this genre, to the point that entire conversations are considered turning events for the story. A few examples of powerful words to illustrate this concept: many songs and poems were directly integrated in Middle-earth by Tolkien; and most of them produce an effect -sometimes unexpected- on those who listen to these words. Sam and Frodo, the two famous hobbits whose task was to destroy the One Ring, had even a song to find one another if they got lost on their way: “The road goes ever on”. And even if it is never clearly stated in Tolkien’s legendarium that this song is magic, it always produces a soothing effect on the hobbits, no matter the situation they find themselves in. There are also the “words of power”, simple and secret spells who could free somebody from a trap (in TH for example) or heal someone who is in a state of shock (TLOTR). These words of power may be elvish names, magic formulas or even simple whispers in the wind, as long as the one who pronounces them do it with all his/her heart. In order to better understand the depth of words, the greatest example of all would be the creation of the world itself; how Middle-earth came into being, lore-wise. To do so, more context will be necessary to fully understand the concept of the Ainulindalë, the very first lines of TS begin thusly : “There was Eru, the One” (TS), which is undoubtfully a reference to the Bible -dear to Tolkien – “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, Holy Bible). Eru, as stated earlier, can be considered as an almighty god, with none above him. In the chapter “Anulindalë”, Eru creates the word out of his thoughts, who take the form of a great music. In addition to a strong Christian cosmology, Tolkien included his own perception of mythopoeia as a form of song and words shaping the essence of things into being(s). Moreover, the purpose of the valar alongside Eru was, at the very beginning of times, to sing in harmony. Words literally created the entire world of Arda, and were the sole weapon of the throughout TLOTR, TH or even TS, is this verse from the Bible: “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself” (Mark, 12:31). The two main examples of this kind of selfless and pure love may be taken from TLOTR, with the characters of Gandalf and Frodo. To illustrate this concept, one may think about the conversation Gandalf has with Denethor – the steward and current ruler of the kingdom of Gondor -, during which Gandalf utters these words: “The rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?” (Tolkien, RK). As a maia (cf. Useful lexicon), Gandalf is in charge of the world and the balance, which is the task imposed to him by the valar. This dichotomy between Gandal f and Denethor is interesting; as two versions of “duty” are presented here; Gandalf is acting out of kindness and divine duty, sacrificing his time and life for the greater good; as opposed to Denethor, who is acting only out of self-interest for his country, and even for himself. Another great example of agape in the legendarium may be found in the character of Frodo, the hobbit ringbearer. On a smaller scale (as he is not as powerful as Gandalf obviously), when the ring befalls Frodo in the Shire (Tolkien, FR) his love for the Shire and its inhabitants is so powerful that it could be compared to an agape of some sort. Going against his protective and homeloving nature as a hobbit, Frodo becomes the champion of righteousness and, even more, embodies the image of the Christian martyr: he will destroy the ring, sacrificing his well-being and peaceful life to protect the Shire. One could argue that, as Denethor, he tries to protect what he loves, hence acting out of self-interest, but Tolkien in a letter confirmed that the “chief hero” of TLOTR is well and truly Frodo, despite his many failures during this ordeal of an adventure: “Frodo indeed ‘failed’ as a hero, as conceived by simple minds: he did not endure to the end; he gave in, ratted” (Tolkien, Letter #246, 1963) but stated in another letter that “Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far.” (Tolkien, Letter #192, 1956).
On the importance of Nature: ecology versus industrialization
Even though it may not be the most famous facet of the scholar, Tolkien truly was a great defender of the environment a long time before Greenpeace and new-wave ecology, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Peter Jackson: from influent literature to enthralling cinema Antoine GUIDEZ fought with his weapons against the devastation provoked by massive industrialization. Yet, the ecologist dimension of his works is rarely put in the spotlight. You do not need to read the whole books package to understand how much Tolkien was nostalgic of the rural British life: the first three chapters of FR may seem staggering, as these hundred or so pages do not include any action, but a simple description of the Hobbits and their country; the Shire, where no one toils much, where there is almost no political power or army, and where nature is omnipresent through well-kept gardens and blooming flowers:
Tolkien here describes an utopia; his natural utopia, blended with his inspirations coming from the British countryside. You also have a huge part of the world covered in forest (the main ones being Mirkwood, Lòrien, The Old Forest and Fangorn), in which one could find more than fifty plant species, with the nature of rocks geologically explained at length.
Nevertheless, this utopia was on the brink of extinction when Sauron and Saruman, the two main antagonists of TLOTR, took arms against nature itself. To contextualize, at some point in FR and TT, Saruman, a maia sent to Middle-earth by Aulë, the vala of craftsmanship and great construction, rebels against the order and allies himself to Sauron, the evilest maia.
Sauron was also taught his craft by Aulë -even if his primary vala remained Morgoth- hence becoming -as Saruman- a master of his craft. Both were taught by the same vala, both began their existence as servants of the greater good, and both ended up corrupted and twisted far from their true nature. In this story of TLOTR, an entire race symbolizes the personification of nature and its struggle against the consequences of uncontrolled knowledge and creation; the Ents, “shepherds of the trees” (RK, Appendix F). The Ents were sentient beings, with a treelike physical appearance. They are the oldest living race in the world, and live in the middle of the oldest forest of Middle-earth, Fangorn. During the events of the TT, the Fangorn forest, home of the Ents, is ravaged by Saruman and his troops, who need all the wood they can to fuel the fires of industry and forge weapons and armors to go to war. At this point, what is most interesting are the origins of the Ents and their link with Aulë, and thus Saruman and Sauron.
The Ents, protectors of nature, soil and trees, were “created” by the vala Yavanna, spouse of Aulë and vala of growing things. And this is where the dichotomy and ambivalence of these representations become ambiguous: how come that Saruman, a disciple of Aulë, tries and destroys all of Yavanna’s offspring? One can suppose that Tolkien saw Saruman and the Ents as the two sides of the same coin: The Ents, ancient as Nature herself, who only cared for their forest and their peace, were thrown, despite themselves, into war because of the greedy and warmonger Saruman, who, in the end, only saw them through the prism his own profit and interest: “He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment” (TT, Treebeard).
A parallel with the current society can be easily made, with all the environmental problems mankind is facing: is it just a coincidence if every aspect of Nature in Tolkien’s work is either destroyed or corrupted by the intervention of a third party? It is almost as if Tolkien, pioneer as he was, foresaw what was coming: the ecological crisis. Once again, Tolkien imbued a part of himself in his stories and a part of his beliefs in his legendarium, and as his work is analysed nowadays, the timelessness of his symbolism becomes stronger because of the outcome of this story. If one wants to go deeper in the comparison, then the end of this passage should not be left aside: the Ents, having been left no other choice, went to war against Saruman, and were forced to destroy everything he worked so hard for. In the end, nature should and must overcome human productions as it could never be more than an ersatz of Nature: “The trees and the grasses and all things growing or living in the land belong each to themselves” (FR, Goldberry) and even more: they can defend themselves. To make a final link with Nature and Tolkien’s life, an event happened to Tolkien in his own life which illustrates this idea: he was most annoyed by the noise of cars around his house while he longed only for a soothing and peaceful atmosphere -as the one you may find in a sylvan glade- : he even compared the noise of these cars to “his Mordor”(Aurélien Dupouey-Delezay, J.R.R. Tolkien, Un auteur écologiste? conference), the infamous territory where the shadows are.
General differences between books and movies
“Translation is always a treason […]” wrote Kakuzo Okakura in The Book of Tea (1906). Adapting a movie on screen is a form of translation, as the director reads the book(s), takes some ideas and leaves some others out, identifies with certain concepts and completely discards others. Fundamentally, it is impossible to transcribe everything the original author thought of directly on screen, and paradoxically, the movie would not exist without the book, but that it must necessarily detach itself from it to become a new and fully fledged work. Going further this way, the audience may wonder to what extent is the movie I am watching faithful?
Does it respect the lore, the characters, or the events of the source material? Leaving the law about intellectual property, copyrights and inalienability of these books aside, and after having seen most of the ins and outs of Tolkien’s written work, I will try to find an equilibrium between the good and bad points of Jackson’s trilogies when compared to the original work.
Adding a pure mathematical perspective to it – which may be useful to have an idea and a point of comparison -, in TLOTRT, all the characters combined speak about 32.000 words. We are far from the 576.000 words count of TLOTR, but cinema has a great advantage who does not necessitate words; visuals, because directors and their team have to convey the sense of what a book expresses with words with sound and images.
Clarification on the distinction between theatrical and extended editions, making-ofs and their link to the source material
The theatrical version of a film is the one that was originally shown in theatres. This is a cut version of the film that the studio thought was best under this format for most moviegoers. As opposed to the extended edition (may also be found under the appellation director’s cut or uncut edition) which has added scenes that were filmed but cut from the theatrical version. Most often, it is created to entice people who have already seen the film to buy another version of the movie, as it will contain something more that they have not already seen. Since scenes are often removed because they slow down the pace of a film or are redundant, the extended version can be a longer but less impressive experience. As an example, the difference between TLOTRT and THT theatrical and uncut versions are huge: 11.4 hours to watch the whole extended version of TLOTRT (3.5 hours for FR + 3.8 hours for TT + 4.1 hours for RK) as opposed to its theatrical edition which lasts 9.2 hours (3 hours for FR + 3 hours for TT + 3.2 hours for RK). You have then 2.2 hours of added footage in the extended edition of the trilogy. When it comes to THT, the extended edition would require about 8.7 hours to watch in its entirety (3 hours for UJ + 3 hours for DS + 2.7 hours for BFA), whereas you would need 7.9 hours to watch the theatrical edition (2.8 hours for UJ + 2.8 hours for DS + 2.3 hours for BFA).
All these numbers seem to be colossal when compared to the average movie in 2001, when FR was released on screen; about 2 hours long. A question arises from this statement: why are there scenes cut from the theatrical edition and what are they? Do they comprise essential scenes or not? If not, why do they even exist?
Now, the movies’ making-ofs offer some indications; dozens of hours of cast and crew interviews, anecdotes and explanations about the choices made when the movies were written.
These making-ofs will guide the way for the analysis of how Tolkien’s books were treated and adapted by Jackson and his technical team. One cannot possibly forget the own J.R.R.
Tolkien’s opinion about a potential film treatment of TLOTR when it comes to analysing the late adaptation of the work of a lifetime: “[…] the failure of poor films is often precisely in exaggeration, and in the intrusion of unwarranted matter owing to not perceiving where the core of the original lies […] one of the writer’s chief faults is his tendency to anticipate scenes or devices used later, thereby flattening the tale out […] He has cut the parts of the story upon which its characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends, showing a preference for fights; and he has made no serious attempt to represent the heart of the tale adequately: ” (Tolkien, Letter #210) “, these facts will pave the way for a complementary analysis of the choices of Jackson’s adaptation.
On Jackson’s technical achievement and its link with the literary genre
The first major achievement of Jackson is the music and sound atmosphere of his movies. Howard Shore, the composer of the entire TLOTRT music, has focused on one specific aspect and nailed it: leitmotivs. The principle was first applied in the field of music to designate a conductive musical motif, a key theme repeated throughout a work to impose an idea, a character, a feeling. This technique is usually used to help and guide the listener (or, for movies, viewer) towards a particular character, as the reminiscent and repetitive part of it will seem familiar. During the prologue of the FR movie, a lot of themes interplay to correspond to the atmosphere and mood of what the narrative voice is describing. For example, even before the first image of the movie is displayed, the viewer can hear a chorus ominously singing, as the events you will first hear about are dire and are part of the central story of TLOTR, the One Ring and its creation. The chorus who sings is called the Lothlorian theme, and in that sense perfectly fits the prologue, as the first narrator of the story is the elven queen Galadriel. Still, the One Ring theme, even more ominous and gloomy, intertwines with the Lothlorian theme.
We can suppose that Shore and Jackson chose to do so to settle the mood directly to a serious one. Also, due to the very nature of elves and the ring – good for the former and evil for the latter – this choice seems accurate and adds to the depth of what is going to be presented: the history of Elves and that of the One Ring is connected, and their themes themselves are fighting to be in the spotlight. Then, the narration shifts from Galadriel to Bilbo, a simple yet brave hobbit, who is introducing us to the lighter Shire and Hobbit race, and the theme follows this narration; the Shire theme is played, while the viewer is visually absorbed as well, as maps are displayed in the background, so as to settle us in due mood, time, and place. To conclude on this musical note and to show how Shore managed to transcribe most of the atmosphere of Tolkien’s books, let us focus on one particular theme called The Fellowship theme. The first time it is played is when Frodo and Sam, leaving the Shire to seek counsel to the elven scholar Elrond, master of Rivendell (where the Fellowship is later formed): this theme, although enjoyable, seems uncomplete and not heroic at all, as Frodo and Sam are alone wandering in the wilderness. 2 minutes later, another version of this theme is played, this ti me darker, as Gandalf is riding his horse towards his superior Saruman. Shore foreshadows the betrayal of Saruman to the attention of the viewer. We hear it several times throughout the movie, but the most important idea behind this Fellowship theme reveals its true potential only when the Fellowship is gathered for the very first time with all its members in Rivendell, as it is displayed three times, each with its unique variations in instruments and rhythms, but following the same pattern, as it is always revolving around this idea of bond and friendship between people from every horizons (the Fellowship of the Ring is composed of 9 characters from 4 different races). The first time, when Elrond announces the official formation of the Fellowship, the full orchestra is gathered and all the instruments are present, as are the members of the Fellowship. The second time, when the company departs from Rivendell, and the third time, when the company is setting forth in the wilderness, resolute and determined. This idea of bond is enhanced by the visuals at this precise moment: full shots presenting each of the nine companions between two huge rocks, with snowy mountains in the background (cf. Appendix 6). This is one of the many definitions of epic heroism, and belongs to the fantasy genre the movie is inspired of. Yet, an 45 minutes later, when Gandalf the wise is lost, the Fellowship theme will only be played in its fragmented form for the rest of TLOTRT, so as to signify that they lost a priceless member of their fellowship, and it will never be the same, as the music will never be complete again. In that sense, Shore succeeded in two major things: conveying with music only what would have required hundreds of written words to express, and also creating a musical leitmotiv for each of the main characters of these movies.
Choices as a deliberate travesty or genuine interpretation
Many cinema and literary critics have had harsh words about Jackson and his Hollywoodian production (David Bratman, Janett Brennan Croft,…). As the saying goes, “opinions are like noses… everybody has one.” Still, one may genuinely wonder if it is right, after the backlash Jackson and his team experienced – that has to be contrasted with the overwhelming positive reception of TLOTRT and, to a lesser extent, that of THT – if it is just a celebration of different forms of expression, or just a personal and distorted take on Tolkien’s books, denaturing the essence of it? Overall, Jackson’s visual take on TLOTR and TH were good, and convey the general atmosphere one can imagine when reading TLOTR or TH. Yet, the real symbolic problem lies in the narrative and story setting choices; some important characters were left out, and flattens the symbolism of TLOTR and TH complex stories, casting entire narrative arcs aside, whose some were dear to Tolkien. One may suppose that Jackson mustered everything he could up in order to render a diverting yet faithful interpretation of these stories. Again, it is difficult to formulate an unbiased and objective opinion, but all these facts prove that he at least tried to do so. Yet, for most Tolkien fans, it was only acceptable at best; because they could feel the Hollywoodian influence from the beginning: reasonable in TLOTRT, but insufferable in THT: TH book is 300 pages whereas TLOTR is 1100 pages, yet Jackson bet on a trilogy for both, which is almost a nonsense in its format. Tolkien’s own son becomes the herald of an entire part of Tolkien fans who were disappointed by the lack of accuracy, especially in the characters choice and pace of the movies: “Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing” (Christopher Tolkien, Le Monde Interview).
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Table des matières
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Context and motivations
1.2 The necessity of mentioning the source material
1.3 A word on the other material and tools paving the way for the analysis
2.1 Field of research & general outline
2.2 Framework and questions arisen
CHAPTER I: A GENERAL STUDY OF TOLKIEN’S LEGENDARIUM
1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien: Inspirations and general facts
1.2 On the importance of sight: maps, drawings and visuals
1.3 On the importance of sound: languages and their importance in the legendarium
2.1 On the importance of feelings
2.2 On the importance of nature: ecology versus industrialization
CHAPTER II: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JACKSON’S TRILOGIES
1.1 General differences between books and movies
1.2 Clarification on the distinction between theatrical and extended editions, makingofs and their link with the source material
2.1 On Jackson’s technical achievement and its link with the literary genre
2.2 Change in events and characters
2.3 Choices as a deliberate travesty or genuine interpretation
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER III: ON THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THE LORD OF THE RINGS IN CLASS
Résumé du mémoire – mots-clefs
BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES
1.1 Source material
1.2 Other material
1.3 Webography
APPENDICES
Télécharger le rapport complet
