posted
I believe that previous to this in several or many threads Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung and/or its relationship to LOTR has been discussed. Anyone interested in fantasy and such should check this out:
I think someone should make the point that although Tolkein drew on the sources of Wagner's the Ring he never was inspired or really cared for the operas himself; he was amused, but he dismissed them. He was a detail-oriented guy, and there was no way in hell he was going to accept Wagner changing age-old myths to meet his own thematic needs, mostly that of the fantastic powers of love. Whatever, I like them both, I can't wait to see this movie. I can see the TX as Brunnhilde very easily.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I wonder who will compose the soundtrack for the movie?
In all seriousness, I think that it hardly does the Ring cycle justice to compress it into just one movie. Still, it could be interesting.
I don't see much of a link between Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's series, aside from the obvious similarity of using a ring as a world-shaking thing of power.
The stories are about very different things. Wagner's cycle deals very heavily with romantic love, a theme which is conspicuously absent from LOTR (not that you can tell this from watching the movies). Even the rings themselves are viewed very differently. Sigfried's ring makes him master of the world in a potentially good way, but there is no doubt that Frodo must destroy his ring.
Perhaps most telling of all is the fact that Wagner's characters are not very three-dimensional. Then again, this shouldn't be surprising considering that the were written for an opera. Operas are not generally known for subtle characterization. Tolkien creates much more human players in his epic, as he well should since his characters don't have to explain their every action and thought in soaring arias.
The fundamental problem with comparing the two is that the mediums are so very different. This leaves us only comparing the plots, which are fundamentally very different.
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Yeah, this sounds like they're going to be using the Ring's sources as their basis, but they're bringing up Wagner and Tolkein as a hook.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Wasn't there a movie "The Ring" last year? Huh, I guess it was directed by the same guy who did "Pirates of the Carribean." I guess it is a better title than "The Video that Scared Everyone to Death".
Posts: 666 | Registered: Dec 2003
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The main problems with Richard Wagner's Ring cycle are that the plot is dumb, and the hero Siegfried is too stupid to have any fear of anything. It takes over 20 hours to take in the entire operatic cycle, and at the end you wish Wagner had gotten somebody else to write the story. The music is great, though.
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