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Paulo Gabriel
Lorien
Jan 31, 10:22pm
Post #1 of 2
(49559 views)
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The Arthedain Annex
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Well, some of you may have seen bits and pieces of it, and I myself have posted many, many times on this very TORn profile excerpts of it, so if it does sound familiar, it probably is. :)
The hell I am babbling 'bout? I am QUITE A BIT, to put it mildly, simply LATE, but it is still a few hours until January ends, so there actually is time left. Late to what, you ask?
January 2024 marks the 20th, yes, TWENTY, anniversary of the last essay posted on the Arthedain Annex, which used to be written, edited and hosted by one Joan Barger from New Hampshire, aka ''Philosopher at Large'', aka ''Bellatrys''. Here is how she presents herself and this collection of essays/texts:
''My other nom-de-guerre is Philosopher At Large, which is abbreviated to P@L. That's the original one. Unfortunately a lot of forms won't accept an @ sign that isn't part of an email address, so I had to come up with another one for sigs. Hence "bellatrys." All the same persona''.
''The Arthedain Annex is where I deal with Peter Jackson's films, the second and third only, I'm afraid. Be warned, I am not a fan. If you're likely to be really upset by this sort of humor/combat dialectic/analytical deconstruction applied to them, you might want to steer clear of arthedain''.
https://bellatrys.livejournal.com/profile
So, the Arthedain Annex is just that: Barger tearing to shreds the so beloved, so ''untouchable'' Lord of the Rings movie trilogy from 2001-2003. I think she definitely can be described as a hater of these films.
So, I will just leave the link(s) from Wayback Machine, since the original website and sub-sections are no longer up on the 'Net ''proper'' (as they were originally, hosted by Barger, that is).
So, happy ''late'' anniversary to our most well-read, well-educated and persuasive LOTR movie hater! 
As said, I will just leave the link(s) here, but since RIGHT NOW we have come to be even able to say if one of her ''predictions'' were actually true or not, I will quote this bit, which, sadly, reaches the lowest of the low points by being very negative to, yes, the even-more-beloved-than-the-films-themselves Howard Shore's score (!):
[..]"the music was not great, either. I am not the only one to find it flat, either, even those who have raved about the previous scores (which I did not) and like this one, still concede it below par by comparison. (When people are saying "you have to listen to it 3+ times and then it will start to grow on you," — guess what, the Emperor isn't wearing Magic Cloth, folks. Music, like other aesthetic experiences, either works or it doesn't. If you have to make yourself appreciate it positively, out of a sense of moral obligation, then it isn't working. There are many composers whose complex and rich compositions require multiple listenings to grasp, but Howard Shore ain't Beethoven, or even Wagner.) There was more of the same bland brassy chordal blare, no uses of silence any more than there was use of stillness in the visuals and and no alternation between bombast and something else".
"There was no meaning, no aural irony — the "Shire Theme," one of the few immediately recognizeable themes, is pretty — no more than that, but a pretty tune, and yet it was entirely worn out and vitiatied — and worse yet, served to suck the life out of a scene that thanks to Sean Astin, could otherwise have been quite moving despite all the previous wreckage. But by the second or third cheesy blast of the Shire Theme, unmitigated, not transformed into a minor key, or used as a haunting, thin wistful backdrop to the earthquake rumbles of falling Mordor, not only has all emotion been drained into something hackneyed and more forced than anything in a Spielberg kids' film (and I never thought to write that!) but the employment of the "Tara Theme" in GWTW has been shown to be subtle and underused, by comparison at least. (Contrast ROTK-M's with John Williams' scores to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, where the themes themselves are given variation in key and orchestration, as well as being individually discernible and attuned to the events and characters they accompany. Is anyone, twenty years from now, going to be humming the Witch-King's March before an unpleasant office meeting, or whistling the Viggo Mortensen Theme when they feel cheerful?)".
You could say that, in the end, maybe it is insignificant in whole scheme/picture of things, but did THIS specific ''prophecy'' came true? 
But...enough babbling. I will leave the main links below...I have been always, since I first discovered her site and Arthedain, back in 2007, when it was still ''on air'', a firm admirer of Barger, not nearly as much of her opinions, but of her way of expressing them (I think her rhetorical abilities can hardly be denied).
So, here they are:
The (in)famous The Two Towers (''TTT-M'') review:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090613040742/http://oddlots.digitalspace.net/arthedain/broken_promises.html
The even more controversial and critical, Peter Jackson-hating, The Return of the King ("ROTK-M") review:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090614045920/http://oddlots.digitalspace.net/arthedain/promises/promises_kept.html
The Arthedain Annex itself:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090613063540/http://arthedain.netfirms.com/
Probably the most complete article on the whole damn Internet about Joan/Bellatrys/P@L:
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Philosopher_At_Large
That's all I have for today, TORn folks-- and it should be plenty.
--Enjoy!
(This post was edited by Ataahua on Mar 31, 2:37am)
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Paulo Gabriel
Lorien
May 7, 4:56pm
Post #2 of 2
(47457 views)
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Since this is one of the bits I quoted directly, I have to ask: does anyone agree with ANY of that?
I mean, Howard Shore is one of the movies most ''untouchable" elements.
Does anyone see any valid point in this writer's criticisms of the trilogy's musical score?
(This post was edited by Paulo Gabriel on May 7, 5:02pm)
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