Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings. A Look at Hollywood's Take on Tolkien's Epic Tale. [Paperback]

Greg Wright (Author), David Bruce (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2004

Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings brings under one cover the dozens of essays and lectures that first began appearing on the website Hollywood Jesus in December of 2001. Since then, author Greg Wright (Tolkien in Perspective: Sifting the Gold from the Glitter, VMI 2003) has analyzed and anticipated the cinematic choices of director Peter Jackson with almost prophetic critical insight. He rightly attributes the success of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King to the power of film itself, the power of Jackson's artistry and the original power of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary masterwork-and in so doing provides an educational, entertaining and respectful look at the process of bringing a much-loved novel to the screen. Like a sculptor of words and ideas, Jackson has pared away pieces of Tolkien's fanstastic epic to reveal both the essence of Tolkien and something entirely new, something uniquely his own. The essays in this volume are an invaluable guide to understanding both Jackson and Tolkien.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a thorough and insightful piece of work that should enrich anyone's understanding of both the films and the books. -- Jeffrey Overstreet, Looking Closer, December 2004

Many people can enjoy the films; not all can write about them with Wright’s expertise, clarity and insight. -- Cliff Vaughn, Ethics Daily, 12/14/04

Terrific and insightful. -- Steve Beard, Good News Magazine, Nov/Dec 2004

From the Publisher

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings. As Tolkien set the standard for literary fantasy, Jackson has now set the standard for movies. Greg Wright explains how, and why.

Like a sculptor of words and ideas, Jackson has pared away pieces of Tolkien's fanstastic epic to reveal both the essence of Tolkien and something entirely new, something uniquely his own. The essays in this volume are an invaluable guide to understanding both Jackson and Tolkien.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Hollywood Jesus Books (August 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975957708
• ISBN-13: 978-0975957707
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,044,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book meets movie and expands the mind, December 9, 2004

By 

Maureen Stewart (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings. A Look at Hollywood's Take on Tolkien's Epic Tale. (Paperback)

The great thing about The Lord of the Rings is what J. R. R. Tolkien called "applicability," or the ability of his myths to speak to everyone who reads them where he or she is. Too often those of us who love his work, and those who write up big explorations of his themes and symbology act as though we have found THE key to understanding Tolkien. That's trying to cram his myth into allegory, which he would have hated passionately. Tolkien's genius is that his myth sustains many of these explanations simultaneously because it is myth and encompasses much more reality than mere fact or truth could. (See On Fairy Stories for an explanation of this.)

Greg Wright has the ability to explore Tolkien's themes and yet not set his explanations in stone. Then he highlights these themes as they did or did not show up in the film. My enjoyment of Tolkien and insights into his work, and the ways in which it was interpreted in the movies directed by Peter Jackson was expanded in Greg's collection of ongoing musings. Greg also has a great gift for keeping it short, sweet, and clearly logical-which means there is more to continue thinking about after he's got you started. He also has a good feel for how literature, image and culture intersect to bring about our engagement with this story in both book and film. If you want an exploration of Tolkien that comes in small bites and opens up new vistas in Middle-earth for you and sends you off on new mental quests, this book is a winner.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kept in perspective, January 24, 2005

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings. A Look at Hollywood's Take on Tolkien's Epic Tale. (Paperback)

Perhaps the biggest controversy among J.R.R. Tolkien's fans is: Are Peter Jackson's films masterpieces, or travesties? Greg Wright tackles this question in his second book on Tolkien and Middle-Earth, "Peter Jackson In Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's 'The Lord of the Rings.'" And Wright handles it with remarkable objectivity and grace.

Wright starts with an examination of novels vs. movies -- after all, the flow and content of each is completely different -- and the disastrous past attempts to film "Lord of the Rings." He even tells the story of his first viewing of Ralph Bakshi's infamous rotoscoped cartoon.

He then takes a hard look at what Jackson cut out, what characters are MIA (Tom Bombadil, for good or ill), whether it helps or hurts the story, the presence of love and romance, the way that Jackson filmed the three stories, and compares Jackson's efforts to the Rankin-Bass cartoons. I give you three guesses which Wright declares to be better, and the first two don't count.

And as in his first book "Tolkien in Perspective: Sifting the Gold From the Glitter," Wright gives his analysis a faith bent. For example, when talking about Gandalf's fall into Khazad-dum, he reflects that many have noticed the crucifix-lookalike pose that Gandalf falls in.

Wright doesn't overburden his narrative with rambling or ponderous opinions. Instead he writes like an intelligent pal who's telling you his thoughts on the movies he's seen recently. However, he never loses sight of the important themes in either the movies or books.

What's more, he's able to keep a balanced, calm look at the novels and movies. Although some points can be debated (one can argue that there is some religious presence in the films), his attitude has an objectivity that many fans and authors cannot fully achieve.

""Peter Jackson In Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's 'The Lord of the Rings'" is a solid read for anyone wanting a balanced look at the movies vs. the books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Review or religious sermon?, May 12, 2007

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J. Moskowitz - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema's The Lord of the Rings. A Look at Hollywood's Take on Tolkien's Epic Tale. (Paperback)

I bought and read this book and was quite taken aback that although the author did bring out some very interesting insights and reviews about Peter Jackson and the adaptation of Tolkien's works, too many references to Christ and religious revelations supposedly "hidden" in LOTR made it sound more like an Evangelist sermon. I didn't need an editorial how Gandalf's fall at Khazad-dum and later return represented Jesus rising from the grave or Aragorn ushering in the Messianic era, or Sauron representing the anti-Christ.

Perhaps the book should have been titled "Peter Jackson in Christian Religious Perspective."