Thoughts on Hobbits

Thought On Hobbits In the Movie (Small Folk vs. Digitally Shrunk Big People) more options

Author: zorag
Email: zorag@my-dejanews.com
Date: 1998/08/29
Forums: alt.fan.tolkien, rec.arts.books.tolkien

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Since I have last checked, many hundreds of new messages have been posted to r.a.b.t. and a.f.t. regarding the movie. That is way too many for me to wade through, so I have read only a random sampling of threads. In the next few posts are my random thoughts in response, first concerning the portrayal of hobbits.

J.R.R. Tolkien makes it quite clear that hobbits are not little people.
Hobbits have the same proportions as plump humans, only smaller. One of many
examples: when Pippin meets Bergil, the 10 year old lad in Minas Tirith,
Bergil assumes Pippin to be of a similar age. I do not think he would have
reached the same conlusion if somebody looking like Willow had shown up! I
have nothing against little people, but their disability precludes them from
being cast as normal hobbits. Even if hobbits could be accurately portrayed
by little people, the talent pool would be very small compared to that of
normal people. At least five highly talented actors are needed to be hobbits
in pivotal roles in the movie (Frodo, Sam, Gollum, Merry, and Pippin). I
think that it would go much better if those roles were filled with normal
people who were great actors instead of trying to appease the monster of
political correctness with mediocre-talent little people. To those of you
who think that digitally shrinking the actors would be cause of poor quality
and character interaction, I think that you underestimate the art of special
effects.
--
Zorag, of the race of the Big People

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