Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201 
|
Post by Confessor on Jan 28, 2019 4:09:42 GMT -5
Nice illustration, for sure, but not really how I've ever imagined Gollum to look. Too devilish or impish or something, and not tragic looking enough, I think. I'd say that the tragic element of Gollum doesn't come into play until we see him in Lord of the Rings, but in the Hobbit (if that is the only source you are drawing from and the illo is form the scene in the Hobbit with Gollum on his boat) he is more of a devilish, impish figure trying to trick the Baggins with his riddles and looking for ways to get the tricksy Baggins once he loses the riddle contest. The tragic element is Smeagol, not necessarily Gollum, and Smeagol isn't introduced until the trilogy, so as an illo of the Gollum as presented in the Hobbit, I don't think Frazetta's interpretation is off the mark (except, as you noted, for the size of the eyes). Fair enough, but I still think Gollum cuts a pretty pathetic figure in The Hobbit -- especially after he realises that he's lost the Ring and deduces that Bilbo has it in his pocket. Remember, the last time we see Gollum in that book, he's frantically searching the Goblin tunnels, crying and whimpering about how he's lost "his precious". Tolkien tells us that Bilbo's reaction to Gollum in this state is one of pity mixed with horror. So, there is still tragedy over how much hold the Ring has over him, even in The Hobbit. And here's another early visual representation of Gollum I saw, Gollum by the Brothers Hildebrandt from the 1978 calendar... I prefer that to the Frazetta depiction: the eyes, face and body look more like how I imagine Gollum. He still looks a little too ferocious -- rather than cunning and nasty -- for my tastes, but it's a nice painting. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2019 4:49:04 GMT -5
Here's an article on SyFy about the Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth exhibit that will be at the Morgan Library. -M |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201
|
Post by Confessor on Jan 28, 2019 5:34:11 GMT -5
Here's an article on SyFy about the Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth exhibit that will be at the Morgan Library. -M A highly recommended exhibition. Really, it's a once in a lifetime chance to see all of those treasures in one place. |
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 28, 2019 9:35:30 GMT -5
And here's the first visual interpretation of Gollum I encountered, the animated version from the Hobbit animated by Rankin-Bass...  -M That was my first visual encounter as well but it was very different than how I had pictured him in my head. |
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Feb 7, 2019 8:40:25 GMT -5
Wasn't Gollum described in one passage as being black? While the above isn't quite what I'd picture either (since he was supposed to be one of the river folk, I'd have expected him to be more human looking than that) at least the color seems about right.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 7, 2019 20:46:45 GMT -5
Wasn't Gollum described in one passage as being black? While the above isn't quite what I'd picture either (since he was supposed to be one of the river folk, I'd have expected him to be more human looking than that) at least the color seems about right. “Dark as darkness”, although I always imagined him troglodyte pale (and a bit on the greenish side). |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 23:42:14 GMT -5
The trailer for the Tolkien biopic has dropped...
it opens May 10th.
-M
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Feb 14, 2019 4:22:19 GMT -5
Has everyone already heard about Russian writer Killin Eskov's (or Yeskov, as I've seen it elsewhere) re-thinking of Tolkien's novel as a legend based on the proverbial victor's re-writing of history? It was brought to my attention a few years ago and I must say that I find the idea intriguing. His novel based on the premise is called The Last Ring Bearer. I plan to read it one of these days but will probably put it off until after I re-read Tolkien himself. |
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 14, 2019 6:30:25 GMT -5
Has everyone already heard about Russian writer Killin Eskov's (or Yeskov, as I've seen it elsewhere) re-thinking of Tolkien's novel as a legend based on the proverbial victor's re-writing of history? It was brought to my attention a few years ago and I must say that I find the idea intriguing. His novel based on the premise is called The Last Ring Bearer. I plan to read it one of these days but will probably put it off until after I re-read Tolkien himself. That sounds like a pretty cool idea, kind of like what Wicked was to The Wizard of Oz. |
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Feb 16, 2019 1:44:40 GMT -5
Has everyone already heard about Russian writer Killin Eskov's (or Yeskov, as I've seen it elsewhere) re-thinking of Tolkien's novel as a legend based on the proverbial victor's re-writing of history? It was brought to my attention a few years ago and I must say that I find the idea intriguing. His novel based on the premise is called The Last Ring Bearer. I plan to read it one of these days but will probably put it off until after I re-read Tolkien himself. That sounds like a pretty cool idea, kind of like what Wicked was to The Wizard of Oz. I don't have any real grounds for saying this since I haven't read either book, but my impression, or perhaps just my hope, is that The Last Ring Bearer is something a little more substantial than Wicked, which I thought was more of a light parody, though you're right of course that they share that aspect of looking at or re-telling the original story from the perspective of its villain. |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 16, 2019 1:53:40 GMT -5
The trailer for the Tolkien biopic has dropped... it opens May 10th. -M Kind of interesting, but the trailer doesn't give much away, in terms of what we'll be getting. I do like the fact that it looks as if there will be scenes of Middle-earth interspersed throughout the film. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2019 1:57:05 GMT -5
The trailer for the Tolkien biopic has dropped... it opens May 10th. -M Kind of interesting, but the trailer doesn't give much away, in terms of what we'll be getting. I do like the fact that it looks as if there will be scenes of Middle-earth interspersed throughout the film. I expect another trailer (i.e. a full trailer rather than this teaser trailer) will drop closer to release (probably after all the Oscar buzz dies and the Captain Marvel opening weekend hoopla dies down but before the ramp up to Avengers Endgame dominates the coverage of movies, so my guess is early April). -M |
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Feb 16, 2019 2:23:50 GMT -5
I'm sure that Tolkien biographies do, and probably this bio-pic will, get into this, but where did Tolkien's visual image of Middle-Earth come from? He was brought up partly in South Africa, wasn't he? Did that have an impact or was it all from his idea of pre-industrial England?
|
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 16, 2019 7:23:16 GMT -5
That sounds like a pretty cool idea, kind of like what Wicked was to The Wizard of Oz. I don't have any real grounds for saying this since I haven't read either book, but my impression, or perhaps just my hope, is that The Last Ring Bearer is something a little more substantial than Wicked, which I thought was more of a light parody, though you're right of course that they share that aspect of looking at or re-telling the original story from the perspective of its villain. is actually quite tragic!  It’s been a while since I read it, but as I recall it shows how an intolerant and totalitarian state pushed the main character to become who she was, how Glinda was a self-righteous bully, and how most of what we had assumed about the wonderful land of Oz was clearly a case of a story being told by the victor! I also liked how Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) is not made into a stereotype of the poor misunderstood innocent. She is not pretty, she used to bite people as a child, she has a rotten temper and is altogether an unpleasant individual. Still, she did try to escape her nature... but her being “different” could not be tolerated. |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 16, 2019 9:09:28 GMT -5
I'm sure that Tolkien biographies do, and probably this bio-pic will, get into this, but where did Tolkien's visual image of Middle-Earth come from? He was brought up partly in South Africa, wasn't he? Did that have an impact or was it all from his idea of pre-industrial England? It was an amalgam of a number of different places: the Shire was, as you say, inspired by the pre-industrialised landscape of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire; the landscape of Rohan was inspired by, I believe, the New Forest, with its wild horses; and Mordor was inspired by the battlefront of the Somme. |
|
