eveil
Since: Jun, 2011
11/08/2011 00:00:00
By "modern fantasy genre" you mean "western modern fantasy genre".
Troliolio
Since: Dec, 2011
03/18/2012 00:00:00
Great review. I completely agree, and I have a hard time understanding the criticism of the movies. They do a fantastic job of summing up the at times painful blather of the books, and provide some of the best imagery I've seen in years.
VincentQuill
Since: Jan, 2013
05/08/2013 00:00:00
I reckon the movies paled in comparison to the books... but no one else could possibly do a better job. Lord of the Rings is just not compatible with film, so a lot had to be changed to make the decent movies that we have today.
"All shall love me and despar!"
TheRealYuma
Since: Feb, 2014
12/26/2015 00:00:00
It'actually the bedrock of High Fantasy.
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The bedrock of the modern fantasy genre
The influence of Tolkien's epic high fantasy saga has had on the fantasy genre, and Anglo-European culture in general, has been very great indeed. There is no aspect of culture that it has not affected, and no middle class household seems to be complete without a dog-eared copy on a shelf somewhere.
The books themselves are long-winded and verbose, but every seemingly superfluous adjective and apparently throw-away reference conceals an almost obsessive degree of thought and care. A lifetime was poured into fleshing out Middle-Earth, and the result is a fictional 'world', the detail of which is perhaps unrivalled outside of real life.
The trilogy of films has by most accounts done the novels justice, and 'may' be Ur Example of Adaptation Distillation at its best. The writings of the man himself have proven a hard act to follow, with many 'successors' and fan-writers struggling to produce material of a comparable style and/or standard.