From Hobbits to Hollywood
Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings
Published on 1. January 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
428 pages
978-90-420-2062-7 (ISBN)
Description
Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) is the grandest achievement of 21st century cinema so far. But it is also linked to topical and social concerns including war, terrorism, and cultural imperialism. Its style, symbols, narrative, and structure seem always already linked to politics, cultural definition, problems of cinematic style, and the elemenal mythologies that most profoundly capture our imaginations.
From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings treats Jackson's trilogy as having two conditions of existence: an aesthetic and a political. Like other cultural artefacts, it leads a double life as objet d'art and public statement about the world, so that nothing in it is ever just cinematically beautiful or tasteful, and nothing is ever just a message or an opinion.
Written by leading scholars in the study of cinema and culture From Hobbits to Hollywood gives Jackson's trilogy the fullest scholarly interrogation to date. Ranging from interpretations of The Lord of the Rings' ideological and philosophical implications, through discussions of its changing fandoms and its incorporation into the Hollywood industry of stars, technology, genre, and merchandising, to considerations of CGI effects, acting, architecture and style, the essays contained here open a new vista of criticism and light, for ardent fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, followers of Jackson, and all those who yearn for a deeper appreciation of cinema and its relation to culture.
From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings treats Jackson's trilogy as having two conditions of existence: an aesthetic and a political. Like other cultural artefacts, it leads a double life as objet d'art and public statement about the world, so that nothing in it is ever just cinematically beautiful or tasteful, and nothing is ever just a message or an opinion.
Written by leading scholars in the study of cinema and culture From Hobbits to Hollywood gives Jackson's trilogy the fullest scholarly interrogation to date. Ranging from interpretations of The Lord of the Rings' ideological and philosophical implications, through discussions of its changing fandoms and its incorporation into the Hollywood industry of stars, technology, genre, and merchandising, to considerations of CGI effects, acting, architecture and style, the essays contained here open a new vista of criticism and light, for ardent fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, followers of Jackson, and all those who yearn for a deeper appreciation of cinema and its relation to culture.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Publishing group
Brill
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
626 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-420-2062-7 (9789042020627)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Murray Pomerance is Professor in Sociology, Ryerson University (Canada).
Ernest Mathijs is Assistant Professor of Film and Theatre Studies, University of British Columbia (Canada).
Ernest Mathijs is Assistant Professor of Film and Theatre Studies, University of British Columbia (Canada).
Content
List of Illustrations
Dramatis Personae
Acknowledgments
Contributor
Ernest MATHIJS and Murray POMERANCE: Introduction: There and Back Again: An Editors ' Tale
Douglas KELLNER: The Lord of the Rings as Allegory: A Multiperspectivist Reading
Ernest MATHIJS: The Lord of the Rings and Family: A View on Text and Reception
Sean CUBITT: The Fading of the Elves: Eco-Catastrophe, Technopoly, and Bio-Security
Martin BARKER: On Being a 1960s Tolkien Reader
Ken GELDER: Epic Fantasy and Global Terrorism
Ian CONRICH: A Land of Make Believe: Merchandising and Consumption of The Lord of the Rings
Jennifer BRAYTON: Fic Frodo Slash Frodo: Fandoms and The Lord of the Rings
Sarah KOZLOFF: The Lord of the Rings as Melodrama
Lianne MCLARTY: Masculinity,Whiteness, and Social Class in The Lord of the Rings
Steven WOODWARD and Kostis KOURELIS: Urban Legend: Architecture in The Lord of the Rings
Tom CONLEY: The Lord of the Rings and The Fellowship of the Map
James BUHLER: Enchantments of The Lord of the Rings: Soundtrack, Myth, Language, and Modernity
Cynthia FUCHS: "Wicked,tricksy, false": Race,Myth, and Gollum
Ruth GOLDBERG and Krin GABBARD: "What does the Eye Demand ": Sexuality, Forbidden Vision and Embodiment in The Lord of the Rings
Kirsten Moana THOMPSON: Scale, Spectacle and Movement: Massive Software and Digital Special Effects in The Lord of The Rings
Jerry MOSHER: Morphing Sean Astin: "Playing Fat " in the Age of Digital Animation
Tom GUNNING: Gollum and Golem: Special Effects and the Technology of Artificial Bodies
Murray POMERANCE: The Laddy Vanishes
Works Cited and Consulted
Index
Dramatis Personae
Acknowledgments
Contributor
Ernest MATHIJS and Murray POMERANCE: Introduction: There and Back Again: An Editors ' Tale
Douglas KELLNER: The Lord of the Rings as Allegory: A Multiperspectivist Reading
Ernest MATHIJS: The Lord of the Rings and Family: A View on Text and Reception
Sean CUBITT: The Fading of the Elves: Eco-Catastrophe, Technopoly, and Bio-Security
Martin BARKER: On Being a 1960s Tolkien Reader
Ken GELDER: Epic Fantasy and Global Terrorism
Ian CONRICH: A Land of Make Believe: Merchandising and Consumption of The Lord of the Rings
Jennifer BRAYTON: Fic Frodo Slash Frodo: Fandoms and The Lord of the Rings
Sarah KOZLOFF: The Lord of the Rings as Melodrama
Lianne MCLARTY: Masculinity,Whiteness, and Social Class in The Lord of the Rings
Steven WOODWARD and Kostis KOURELIS: Urban Legend: Architecture in The Lord of the Rings
Tom CONLEY: The Lord of the Rings and The Fellowship of the Map
James BUHLER: Enchantments of The Lord of the Rings: Soundtrack, Myth, Language, and Modernity
Cynthia FUCHS: "Wicked,tricksy, false": Race,Myth, and Gollum
Ruth GOLDBERG and Krin GABBARD: "What does the Eye Demand ": Sexuality, Forbidden Vision and Embodiment in The Lord of the Rings
Kirsten Moana THOMPSON: Scale, Spectacle and Movement: Massive Software and Digital Special Effects in The Lord of The Rings
Jerry MOSHER: Morphing Sean Astin: "Playing Fat " in the Age of Digital Animation
Tom GUNNING: Gollum and Golem: Special Effects and the Technology of Artificial Bodies
Murray POMERANCE: The Laddy Vanishes
Works Cited and Consulted
Index