{"id":20481,"date":"2015-01-02T05:29:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=20481"},"modified":"2015-01-01T20:46:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T01:46:46","slug":"the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hobbit movie as “tedious havoc”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was greatly disappointed in the third part of Peter Jackson\u2019s makeshift trilogy based on The Hobbit.\u00a0 <\/em>The Battle of the Five Armies<\/em> was mostly, to use Milton\u2019s words, tedious havoc.\u00a0 It was two-and-a-half hours of killing orcs, with little story beyond that.<\/p>\n

But here is what artists who aspire to the genre of fantasy need to realize:\u00a0 a good fantasy evokes a sense of wonder, of the numinous.\u00a0 Jackson\u2019s version of The Lord of the Rings<\/em> had that; his version of the Hobbit<\/em> did not.\u00a0 Tolkien\u2019s novels have that on virtually every page.
\nThe lines from Milton, the introduction to Book IX of Paradise Lost, <\/a>his treatment of the Fall.\u00a0 He says that he had long wanted to write an epic poem, but found the traditional subjects\u2013wars and over-hyped warriors\u2013tedious.\u00a0 He wants to write an epic about \u201cthe better fortitude\u201d\u2013the greater courage\u2013of patience, bearing suffering, and martyrdom:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • No more of talk where God or angel guest<\/span><\/li>\n
  • With Man, as with his friend, familiar used,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • To sit indulgent, and with him partake<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rural repast; permitting him the while<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Venial discourse unblamed. I now must change<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • And disobedience: on the part of Heaven<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Now alienated, distance and distaste,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Anger and just rebuke, and judgment given,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That brought into this world a world of woe,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Death\u2019s harbinger: Sad talk, yet argument<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Not less but more heroic than the wrath<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Of Turnus for Lavinia disespoused;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Or Neptune\u2019s ire, or Juno\u2019s, that so long<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Perplexed the Greek, and Cytherea\u2019s son:<\/span><\/li>\n
  • If answerable style I can obtain<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Of my celestial patroness, who deigns<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Her nightly visitation unimplored,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • And dictates to me slumbering; or inspires<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Easy my unpremeditated verse:<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Since first this subject for heroic song<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Pleased me long choosing, and beginning late;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Not sedulous by nature to indite<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Wars, hitherto the only argument<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Heroic deemed chief mastery to dissect<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • With long and tedious havoc fabled knights<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • In battles feigned; the better fortitude<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Of patience and heroic martyrdom<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Unsung;<\/strong> or to describe races and games,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Or tilting furniture, imblazoned shields,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights<\/span><\/li>\n
  • At joust and tournament; then marshaled feast<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Served up in hall with sewers and seneschals;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The skill of artifice or office mean,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Not that which justly gives heroic name<\/span><\/li>\n
  • To person, or to poem. Me, of these<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Nor skilled nor studious, higher argument<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Remains; sufficient of itself to raise<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That name, unless an age too late, or cold<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Climate, or years, damp my intended wing<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Depressed; and much they may, if all be mine,<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.\u00a0 (Book IX, lines 1-47)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I was greatly disappointed in the third part of Peter Jackson\u2019s makeshift trilogy based on The Hobbit.\u00a0 The Battle of the Five Armies was mostly, to use Milton\u2019s words, tedious havoc.\u00a0 It was two-and-a-half hours of killing orcs, with little story beyond that. But here is what artists who aspire to the genre of fantasy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,31],"tags":[812,1135,3508],"class_list":["post-20481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literature","category-movies","tag-fantasy","tag-j-r-r-tolkien","tag-the-hobbit-battle-of-the-five-armies"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hobbit movie as "tedious havoc"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was greatly disappointed in the third part of Peter Jackson's makeshift trilogy based on The Hobbit.\u00a0 The Battle of the Five Armies was mostly, to use\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hobbit movie as "tedious havoc"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was greatly disappointed in the third part of Peter Jackson's makeshift trilogy based on The Hobbit.\u00a0 The Battle of the Five Armies was mostly, to use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-02T10:29:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-02T01:46:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/\",\"name\":\"The Hobbit movie as \\\"tedious havoc\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-02T10:29:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-02T01:46:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"I was greatly disappointed in the third part of Peter Jackson's makeshift trilogy based on The Hobbit.\u00a0 The Battle of the Five Armies was mostly, to use\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/01\/the-hobbit-movie-as-tedious-havoc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Hobbit movie as “tedious havoc”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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