• Welcome to The Tolkien Forum! Connect with fellow Tolkien enthusiasts and join a community that is over two decades old, and still going strong. We look forward to meeting you.  Register

What the hell is everyone's problem with Merry's Broken Carrot?

Originally posted by Ciryaher
You have completely skewed my intentions.
I said that the words weren't set in stone because adaptations shouldn't follow a work word for word.
When would there be a better time to say something humorous? When shouldn't a dwarf be more concerned with his pride than when he's in danger?
If I have skewed them, then you haven't read what I said:
that MOST of the film IS pretty much as the author wrote, which you seem to be saying is not a good thing for a film to be.
A time when the whole company are in great danger, pursued by vicious enemies, the orcs and the Balrog, taking massive risks to their lives in leaping the chasm, is a good time to be humorous, to throw in a couple of comic lines that could have come from "Snow White"? I ask you..
 
I figured this out the other day.
If you use only the direct dialogue mentioned in the book, The spoken word in FotR would be roughly 13 minutes of film.


Of course they padded it. Silent films went out years ago.
Even Mel Brook's Silent Movie is old


RD
 
I figured this out the other day.
If you use only the direct dialogue mentioned in the book, The spoken word in FotR would be roughly 13 minutes of film.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying: the spoken word in the movie, or the dialogue in the book spoken outloud? I assume the movie, since some of the chapters in the book (Council of Elrond) are pure dialogue and are easily 20-30 minutes of well paced dialogue in thier own right.
 
Originally posted by Talimon
"Snow White"!?!?!
No Comment
Yes, any of the lady's seven dwarfs could happily have said "you don't toss a dwarf" and shouted "not the beard", though maybe not in such a corny pseudo-Scottish accent.
A character in deadly danger would find less jocular remarks to make.
 
It's not very jocular, from Gimili's point of view. He is maintaining his dignity. Sure, it's supposed to be funny, but I don't see what's wrong with that. It's not like it happens while Gandalf dies or something. PJ knows when it is inappropriate to put in a little comedy. And it's not like we laughed at the scene. It was just funny that Gimili would maintain his pride, even in such a dramatic, life-threatining moment. It doesn't make the scene any "lighter". You are immediately transported back into the drama.
 
Originally posted by Talimon
It's not like it happens while Gandalf dies or something. PJ knows when it is inappropriate to put in a little comedy. And it's not like we laughed at the scene. It was just funny that Gimili would maintain his pride, even in such a dramatic, life-threatining moment.
So it would NOT be appropriate "while G dies", but it IS appropriate at a "dramatic life-threatening moment"? - where's the difference? And PJ knows when it is inappropriate? If there's any logic in that I'll go and toss a dwarf.
I laughed AT the lines, and others here did the same.
Maintaining pride, and saying silly lines, are two different things.
 
I think you misinterpret laughing "at" lines. That is when you watch something that is very corny and you laugh at just how bad it is. That had nothing to do with what made that line funny. When Gandalf dies the whole audience is shocked, saddened. It is a moment of high drama. It would be horrible to have a moment of comedy then. It's completely different.
 
Originally posted by Talimon
I think you misinterpret laughing "at" lines. That is when you watch something that is very corny and you laugh at just how bad it is. That had nothing to do with what made that line funny.
When Gandalf dies the whole audience is shocked, saddened. It is a moment of high drama. It would be horrible to have a moment of comedy then. It's completely different.
Well, I know the way interpret my own words!
I laughed AT the words, and the idea behind them, partly I admit because of the double entendre on "tossing" that may not be familiar to US ears but certainly would be familiar to PJ's; I thought they WERE corny and bad - and totally inappropriate at that point. And again, they clash with the rest of the great scene.
"That had nothing to do with what made that line funny."
Does that you mean you agree it was funny? If so, what do YOU think made it funny?
"Horrible" when G (apparently) dies, "completely different" when Gimli is narrowly escaping a very similar fate? I still don't get the logic.
 
Originally posted by Confusticated
With all the posts about Arwen replacing Glorfindel, and the arguements about the humor in the movie,.... I just have to ask if anyone else has considered that it could have been much worse? In specific, has anyone considered this....
I think this is called exaggeration, or hyperbole, but it's the thought that counts!
Where do you draw the line that makes something OTT?
Some say PJ hardly ever goes OTT, others disagree, in different degrees!
 
Well, what I found funny about the line was the fact that Gimili, who is in such a life-threatning situation, would maintain his pride at the risk of his life rather then be assisted. It is different from Gandalf dying because when Gandalf dies it is an extremely sad and dramatic moment. There is nothing sad happening when Gimili says what he says.
 
Originally posted by Talimon
It is different from Gandalf dying because when Gandalf dies it is an extremely sad and dramatic moment. There is nothing sad happening when Gimli says what he says.
Well, it would have been sad if he'd fallen in, and it's certainly dramatic!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by lilhobo
lol, tis a phallic joke
Many of us have been shot down in flames for even hinting at such a thing!
 
Well they get angry and usuaully attack you if you throw them against their will.
 

Today's events

Similar threads

Back
Top