Verisimilitude
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:10 pm
It all comes down to that.
Does it feel real? This is why I am a hard-core reenactor.* This is why I loved PJ's FOTR, and walked out of Two Towers.
When I first read LOTR, I was sucked into a world that I believed in. Was it fantastic? Yes, but I believed. The Hobbit was slightly less believable, it's a fairytale. But even so it has substance and weight.
I was scared of FOTR, but it felt real, and I was sucked in. Most of that was because of the attention to the material culture that I attribute to John Howe, one of the world's preeminnent medieval reenactors. http://www.companie-of-st-george.ch/cms/intro.html
So far, the Hobbit movie does not have that feel. Dwarves without beards, aviator caps, and now Orcrist's absurd dimensions gives me the feeling of Hellboy's comic book hyperbole, and not the gravitas of FOTR.
I will go, but my expectations are low.
*Standard disclaimer: Not to disparage others with alternate approaches. I fully realize that most people on the outside can't tell the polyester t-tunic SCAdian and I apart. I also know that I started in silver lamee' chain mail and thought I was the bee's knees. If that's where you are, I'm fine with that. This is the approach that makes me happy.
Does it feel real? This is why I am a hard-core reenactor.* This is why I loved PJ's FOTR, and walked out of Two Towers.
When I first read LOTR, I was sucked into a world that I believed in. Was it fantastic? Yes, but I believed. The Hobbit was slightly less believable, it's a fairytale. But even so it has substance and weight.
I was scared of FOTR, but it felt real, and I was sucked in. Most of that was because of the attention to the material culture that I attribute to John Howe, one of the world's preeminnent medieval reenactors. http://www.companie-of-st-george.ch/cms/intro.html
So far, the Hobbit movie does not have that feel. Dwarves without beards, aviator caps, and now Orcrist's absurd dimensions gives me the feeling of Hellboy's comic book hyperbole, and not the gravitas of FOTR.
I will go, but my expectations are low.
*Standard disclaimer: Not to disparage others with alternate approaches. I fully realize that most people on the outside can't tell the polyester t-tunic SCAdian and I apart. I also know that I started in silver lamee' chain mail and thought I was the bee's knees. If that's where you are, I'm fine with that. This is the approach that makes me happy.
