Newswise — Alf Siewers can discuss the faithfulness of Peter Jackson's film adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings" to the original material, the ways the films explore (or ignore) the books' themes, and the challenges of adapting fantasy literature to film.
An expert on Tolkien and medieval literature, Siewers has written the foreword to a new book in the well-known "Dummies" series, "The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth for Dummies" (by Greg Harvey, published September 2003). Siewers is currently co-editing a collection of essays by Tolkien scholars on Tolkien's adaptation of medieval material into modern fantasy literature. Siewers teaches medieval literature, Celtic studies, and literature and the environment.
Siewers liked the first two installments of Jackson's movie version. As reported last Dec. 24, 2001, in The New York Times, in a story headlined "The Quest Of 'The Ring': Draw Novices Not Just Fans," Siewers thought the first Jackson adaptation was admirable. "My feeling was that the key themes of Tolkien's story really got across, although maybe it was made a little more dramatic to impress movie viewers," Siewers told The Times.
As for the second installment, Siewers noted that the book's focus was reoriented for the film, to center on the battle of Helms Deep, in order "to make it even more of an action movie than the [first] one was." Siewers also said that the second film's handling of the book's talking tree figures, the Ents, may have reflected Tolkien's treatment of nature and the environment. Among other subjects, Siewers teaches "eco-criticism" and its relationship to medieval literature.
In April 2003, at a conference organized by Siewers, a panel of the nation's leading medieval scholars discussed how Tolkien (an Oxford scholar and expert on early languages and literature) adapted his scholarship into best-selling fantasy. The conference also touched on the ways that Tolkien's work addresses various modern issues — including race, gender, ecology, and fantasy in U.S. popular culture.
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