Accidentally going off on fandom kindness again
Once, someone I know saw the Hobbit films and got obsessed with them. They almost immediately reached out to me because they knew I loved Tolkien. They had bought the book and wanted to talk to someone about Hobbit things as they read.
They did not ask me how I felt about the movies, so I did not tell them. I was just excited to support someone as they explored Middle-earth more, even if the messages were extremely enthusiastic and frequent.
Before they started reading, I got questions like “Who is your favorite dwarf?” to which I could only answer… “Honestly, Bombur, because I think he is funny when he wakes up from the Enchanted River” to which I then got a 1000 character response explaining why someone else was there favorite dwarf. (I am a bit ashamed that I can’t remember which, given the detailed essay, ha.)
Next, during chapter one or so, I got texts like, “wow! This is just like the movies!” to which I could only respond, “Yeah, the movies really capture the vibe of the Shire and the dwarves really nicely!”
By Rivendell, however, the texts started to change tone: “This is not what I was expecting, this is so boring.”
By Mirkwood: “When do Bilbo and Thorin become, you know, friends?”
At that point I had to break their heart and explain that the movies took a lot of liberties, added plotlines and developed characters, and drew upon material or suggestions of material from other sources, like the LtR appendices.
To put it lightly, they were heartbroken, so we talked very briefly about the purpose of the Hobbit as a book compared to the purpose of the Hobbit as a film, and then I suggested they watch the LotR films instead.
They didn’t finish the Hobbit and they never read LtR, but they loved the original trilogy films: PJ’s films–the Hobbit & LotR both–enriched their life.
I share this because I could have chosen to be a dick about how the Hobbit films are so different they shouldn’t even count as adapted material. I could have said “I don’t have a favorite dwarf because I wasn’t fond of the movies and the dwarves are entirely undeveloped in the books and difficult to forcibly flesh out, even moreso than many characters in Silm, because at least then you have the explicit historical context and family relationships to make the picture fuller.”* I could have insinuated that I couldn’t deal with their disappointment with the source material and didn’t understand their obsession with the films; I could have suggested the films are overhyped popular culture; I could have implied their taste in media was lacking.
But I didn’t. I tried very hard not to let any negative opinions about them and their media preferences leak in.
They loved the films, so I let them love them.
And maybe one day they’ll come back to the books and love them, too.
But at least I won’t have soured the idea of the source material for them. At least when they pick the book up in 15 years–perhaps to read to a child–they won’t think of how elitist and lame and cruel book fans are: at least they won’t have been damaged by vitriol on my behalf, in the name of education, or purity and canon.**
And that’s all I have to say about that.***
*I say, fully aware of the irony, having read the Hobbit at 8 and promptly latched onto wood-elves who have no depth in the books, and have been thus obsessed for 20+ years.
**This post ended up somewhere far different from where it began, oops.
***For now.
