Persuasive Essay On The Hobbit

“‘You can say Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like’” (Tolkien 19). See what Gloin just did? He changed the phrasing to convey the same idea, like Peter Jackson did in adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, which is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is chosen to go on a quest with a wizard named Gandalf and 13 dwarves (named Kili, Fili, Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Dori, Ori, Nori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur). The group, called Thorin and Company, travel to Dale to kill a dragon named Smaug, and encounter many creatures to vanquish along the way, a few of which being trolls, goblins, and massive spiders. The movie adaptation (which is split into three movies: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation

Tolkien states, “It was the wizard’s voice that had kept the trolls bickering and quarreling, until the light came and made an end of them” (Tolkien 41). This impacts the storyline because it was what let Bilbo and the dwarves escape from the trolls’ shelter. Tolkien intended for this part to be humorous because Gandalf tricked the trolls and made them argue until sunlight shone upon them and they died. In the movie, Gandalf used his magic staff/Jesus stick to crack a big boulder in half while the trolls decided how to eat Bilbo and the dwarves, revealing sunshine and killing the trolls (Jackson). This version of the dwarves’ salvation is more effective because it was easier to understand and it worked better with the story rather than the book version. Jackson’s intent was to lighten the mood a bit after the stress of seeing Bilbo and the dwarves almost get eaten by the trolls. He uses high key lighting, extremely little to no music, and long shot framing to convince the audience of this. It also puts a heavy emphasis on Gandalf’s powers by using these techniques. All in all, Jackson’s visual embodiment of Tolkien’s The Hobbit is effective through the use of visual techniques and slightly adapting the storyline to make it flow more

The movie, however, added life to the plot. The movie was more effective because the storyline worked out better than in the book. Also, the movie gave life and emotion to the story that Tolkien tried to show, but wasn’t very good at showing. Movie directors take creative license for time reasons, enhancement (or in other words, better entertainment quality), or to make the movie more memorable. They also include dynamic visual and audio techniques to help the viewers understand the story better and to draw them in more. The changes Peter Jackson made were effective, the two most noticeable changes being the dwarves’ endeavor to save Bilbo and the fourteen humanoids’ eventual liberation. These changes basically “rephrase” the central idea of what Tolkien intended, like how Gloin made the word “burglar” seem less unruly and simply changed the way the idea