Why aren’t we going “There and Back Again”? by Jody Boyce
PJ’s announcement Thursday morning has me thinking and more than a little disappointed. He has stated that he believes Desolation of Smaug has already addressed Bilbo’s arrival and departure of Erebor (really? his departure? when did that happen? will that be in the Extended Edition?) But what concerns me the most is the further shift away from the hobbit. Not just the book, but the character, the spirit of the book, the moral of the story:
“There is more in you good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of use valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
The very essence of The Hobbit is that to be a Hero you don’t have to be a soldier or a wizard or a king. Being honest and wanting peace has value, too. And shifting the focus of this movie to The Battle of the Five Armies completes the Jackson trend to take away the art and poetry out of Tolkien and make them into Hollywood Action Movies. And audiences have packed theatres to watch the spectacle.
But what they won’t be packing the theatres to see this winter will be the story of The Hobbit. And that’s too bad.
I found the title change to be appropriate. He did say that “There and Back Again” will likely be used later for a box set of the three films, and that is a better solution. It’s the title of the book, to it’s the title of the complete story arc. Plus, the title change doesn’t alter the content of the film in any way. It was always going to be the one with the huge battle. A battle that does happen in the book, so there’s nothing wrong with that. Plus, it doesn’t give the end away, in the same way that “There and Back Again” does. In fact, “There and Back Again” made the third film sound like we were going to get to watch a return trip, and perhaps nothing more, if you didn’t know that the last part of the book was about an epic battle between five armies.
All I know is this, and this is a fact: When I go see “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” this December, I’m going to see “The Hobbit.”