Peter Jackson has faced a reasonable amount of criticism recently for shooting The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in brand new 48 frames per second technology. Critics of the newstuff got a ten minute sneak peek of the film at this years CinemaCon, and essentially claimed that the films aesthetics looked “TOO GOOD”:
While 48fps may create a more realistic, “you are there” picture quality, it actually works against The Hobbit from the 10 minutes of footage we saw. This undeniable “reality” kept pulling me out of the movie rather than immersing me fully into its world as the Lord of the Rings films did; the very fantasy element, the artifice of it all (whether it’s the wigs, fake beards or CG monsters) was plainly, at times painfully, evident.
Now I’m not a rocket scientist or anything but I’d say that twice the quality of video is a step FORWARD for the movie industry and is a GOOD thing.
Peter Jackson responded to the skepticism by saying that people will simply have to deal with his movie looking “too good”:
Ya. You idiots. Oh. Did I just say that out loud? Can Peter Jackson yet again bring us a dope sauce rendition of J.R.R. Tolkein’s absolutely delight-filled and charming classic fantasy novel The Hobbit? If I was a bettin’ man. I’d say yes. Because The Hobbit is literally, figuratively, and arguably one of the best fictional novels of all time. Ever. Don’t hold me to that one that though. As there are some pretty solid stories in book form in the world as we know it. Like this top 10:
Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, Pride and Prejudice, 1984, Grapes of Wrath, Hamlet, War and Peace, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Fountainhead
(Post your personal top 10 below!)
WHAT TRULY MAKES a vivid, illustrious, and captivating fictional tale you ask? Well. Some would say that it starts with a dense and meaningful relationship between the main characters. Like for instance the somewhat strained but still very dear friendship between Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey. Who? You ask? Well. Let’s take a look.
Rationals and Guardians can indeed make for powerhouse dynamic duo’s, as both of them seem to share an inherent fondness for the structures within society, Rationals seek desperately to improve it, while Guardians work tirelessly to preserve it. Indeed a Rational’s pragmatic, skeptical, and relativistic mindset match up quite well with a Guardians stoical, pessimistic, and fatalistic viewpoint. The two however do have a bright side, and can sometimes take break’s from their work to sit back and enjoy one anothers company.
But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out farther than the brim of his shady hat.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
“All of them at once,
said Bilbo.
— The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
