Christopher Tolkien in a very rare interview with Le Monde:
“I could write a book on the idiotic requests I have received,” sighs Christopher Tolkien. He is trying to protect the literary work from the three-ring circus that has developed around it. In general, the Tolkien Estate refuses almost all requests. “Normally, the executors of the estate want to promote a work as much as they can,” notes Adam Tolkien, the son of Christopher and Baillie. “But we are just the opposite. We want to put the spotlight on that which is not Lord of the Rings.”
The Tolkien Estate was not able to prevent an American cartoon called Lord of the Beans, but a comic-strip version of it was halted. This policy, however, has not protected the family from the reality that the work now belongs to a gigantic audience, culturally far removed from the writer who conceived it.
Invited to meet Peter Jackson, the Tolkien family preferred not to. Why? “They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25,” Christopher says regretfully. “And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film.”
This divorce has been systematically driven by the logic of Hollywood. “Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time,” Christopher Tolkien observes sadly. “The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away.”
Im not sure I would agree with his son that Tolkien has become a monster devoured by his own popularity. That smacks of someone who thinks a little too highly of his fathers work and his own. I absolutely love Tolkiens works but what his son said makes me think of a scenario where someone…say a painter who creates something beautiful finds that their work is honored in the Louvre…after a few years so many people enjoy the painting so much that they begin hanging up prints of it in their homes this is after the painter sells the rights to do that and gets profit from this. While the painter may glory in his work at the Louvre and rightly so Sally Sue might be inspired by it for being the perfect color scheme for her kitchen. Meaning will be different to everyone and if Tolkien was looking towards Hollywood to capture that meaning he was right to suspect what they might do but should think on how much meaning was created
For others in totally different ways. Peter Jackdon didnt capture the Elven language or all the hintings of a deep history in Middle Earth? Well thats like saying the printer didnt capture the textured brushstokes of the painting when making $20 prints for someones home. Theres no way a movie can do what a book does with plot develoment and explanation but thats what happens with a different medium. I have a friend that was so caught up in the books that he refused to see the movies because Tom Bombadillo wouldnt make an appearance…REALLY? Im also pretty sure very few people would have read Tolkiens works without the epic descriptions of battles the Lord of the Rings as books appeals mostly to 15 to 25 year old males as well. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. What say ye Jake?