Good Essay On The Hobbit In Text And On The Screen

Given that The Hobbit was written in 1937 and The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey appeared on the screen in 2012, some differences were to be expected. Even if the second version were a rewrite of the novel, differences in language and expression of theme would have to take place for the novel to be publishable. The dense language that appears in the novel, which readers in that era would have appreciated, is not as popular with readers today. Whether one wants to attribute that to a lowering of the cultural reading level or a shortening of the cultural attention span, while it is true that people will make bestsellers out of long adventure novels (see the Harry Potter series), the prose in those novels is significantly less complex. Moving from the text of a novel to the different form of cinema requires changes as well, as all of the events in a novel must be culled to determine what will best tell the story to a viewing audience. With The Hobbit, that culling did not have to take place, as director Peter Jackson elected to expand this novel into a trilogy all its own, even though the book is shorter than any of the three Lord of the Rings novels. Jackson had to select what to include from the novel and convert “sentence-long descriptions from the novel into 20 minute scenes in the film” (Klassen). Additionally, Jackson decides to maximize the roles of certain characters who are minimal at best in the book, in order to increase audience interest and establish connections with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also, certain scenes in the novel that are fairly innocuous have additional tension infused in order to bring in extra interest from the audience.
In The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey, there is considerable tension between Thorin and Bilbo. Thorin believes that Bilbo doesn’t have what it takes to make the long journey and keeps making fun of the easy life that Bilbo has at home. During the course of the novel, their arguments serve to build suspense in the audience, becoming unpleasant in their personal nature. In the book, though, while there is a little animus between Thorin and Bilbo, it mostly has to do with petty things and almost never verges on the personal. Another instance of adding tension to the film happens when Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves make it to Rivendell, where the elves dwell. In the novel, they are happy to receive a warm meal and some safe shelter. When this party shows up in the film, though, there is some tension between the dwarves and the elves, as the dwarves tell Gandalf that they do not want to sleep in the same place with elves. This connects to the rivalry that Gimli and Legolas, the dwarf and elf who accompany Frodo on his trip to drop the all-powerful ring into the lava inside Mount Doom.
One particularly aggravating attempt to connect the Lord of the Rings series with The Hobbit happens when Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) occupies a lengthy scene. One of the writers of the film rationalized this as a way to place a woman in the story, joking that “You start to feel the weight of 13 hairy dwarves” (Klassen). Galadriel plays a central role in the first trilogy, and this also connects the audience with those movies. The character Radagast the Brown is one of the five wizards in Middle Earth, and in the film, he has a weighty role. He comes across as an odd character in each of his communications with Bilbo, the dwarves and Gandalf. He keeps a herd of goblins from attacking the group of travelers as well. However, this scene is not present anywhere in the novel. Radagast is only present in a list of characters in the book, making no active trek into the story itself. This whole section of the story is something that Jackson creates.
A disconcerting trend has to do with the way that Hollywood requires its characters to look attractive. While hobbits are described in Tolkien’s novels as fat, the actor who plays Bilbo is in good shape. Thorin is another attempt to make the characters in the film more photogenic. Even those he’s also a dwarf, he doesn’t have the scratchy beards or the huge noses that the others have. His voice is deep, and he remains calm in a way that reminds the viewer of Aragorn, although in a shorter form. The novel’s Thorin is much less competent and much more selfish, but in the film he is a grizzled hero, calm and collected.
In the final analysis, Peter Jackson makes multiple changes to the novel in order to make it fit the sensibilities of modern culture. By making connections between the movie and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, adding more tension to the script and making many of the elements more photogenic, Jackson ushers the story into the twenty-first century.

Works Cited

Klassen, Anna. “’The Hobbit’: 19 Changes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Novel to Peter Jackson’s Movie.”
The Daily Beast 14 December 2012. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/14/the-hobbit-19-changes-from-j-r-r- tolkien-s-novel-to-peter-jackson-s-movie.html
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen,
Richard Armitage. New Line Cinema, 2012.