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4. Dubbing of the Lord of the Rings UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI PEDAGOGICKÁ FAKULTA BAKALÁŘSKÁ PRÁCE OLOMOUC 2016 MICHAL JURČÍK UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI PEDAGOGICKÁ FAKULTA Ústav cizích jazyků MICHAL JURČÍK III. ročník – prezenční studium Obor: Anglický jazyk se zaměřením na vzdělávání – Historie se zaměřením na vzdělávání THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FILM AS THE DIRECTOR'S PERSONAL VISION Bakalářská práce Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Jana Kořínková, Ph.D. OLOMOUC 2016 Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto závěrečnou práci vypracoval samostatně pouze s použitím uvedených zdrojů. V Uherském Hradišti dne ................................. ..................................... podpis I would like to thank Mgr. Jana Kořínková, Ph.D. for her consultation with me and her invaluable observations and comments regarding the content of this thesis. Table of content Abstract............................................................................................................................................6 Introduction......................................................................................................................................7 1. The term “adaptation”..................................................................................................................9 2. Summary of the film storyline...................................................................................................11 3. Film interpretation of the novels................................................................................................14 3.1 The Fellowship of the Ring............................................................................................15 3.2 The Two Towers.............................................................................................................22 3.3 The Return of the King...................................................................................................26 4. Dubbing of The Lord of the Rings.............................................................................................29 4.1 Features of dubbing........................................................................................................30 4.2 Translation......................................................................................................................31 4.3 Voice casting...................................................................................................................34 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................38 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................39 Audio-visual sources......................................................................................................................40 Online sources................................................................................................................................42 Résumé...........................................................................................................................................43 Annotation.....................................................................................................................................44 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to present The Lord of the Rings films as Peter Jackson's subjective vision of the narrative. In the first section, a couple of various positions on adaptation of books will be introduced. Afterwards, in the main section of the thesis, significant scenes will be commented on and analysed in terms of their relation to the books' content. It will also be communicated what the film-makers' original drafts were and how they ultimately developed. As well as conveying the film-makers' reasons for deviating from the books, this thesis will, in its final chapter, include the analysis of the Czech dubbing of the trilogy as the localised recreation of the original performance supervised by Peter Jackson. Introduction The Lord of the Rings has for a long time been of great importance to me. When I saw the films for the first time, I was as young as ten. Immediately, I became very fond of them, even though I may not have understood them in their deeper meaning. Here it is apt to confess that I had not read the books before so my acceptance of the film was not influenced by the original literary story. It was only after seeing the films that I endeavoured to read the trilogy. Reading the novels, I immediately realised they differed from the films in many aspects. However, it was also apparent in the course of the narrative that the films, indeed, carried something from the books. The director had managed to capture the essence of the novels. Thus, my intention to write a thesis on the comparison of the novels and the films has lately been conceived. My approach, however, will be in reverse. Commonly, a film adaptation is compared with the book as the original source of inspiration. I have determined to compare the books with the films and the film-makers' intentions. As the extent of this thesis does not facilitate devoting sufficient space to every tiny detail, only selected key scenes will be analysed. On these scenes, I will illustrate the film-makers’ vision and determination to render the story of Middle-earth real. The films as such exhibit a particular eclectic grasp of the novels by an individual. Therefore, in their concise form, it is more convenient to compare these chosen bits and pieces adapted from the novels with the actual information contained within the novels. It is also essential to accent which film version is the one discussed in this thesis. Since there are two, which are the theatrical cut and the extended cut, it appears to be apt to aim at the extended one, incorporating the director's ultimate vision. Consequently, all the references in the following text will be in relation to the extended edition. Nevertheless, there may still be references to whether a scene was in the theatrical cut or not. As the books focusing on the life of J. R. R. Tolkien and his trilogy do not take into consideration the contemporary film adaptations, there is a dearth of reasons to exploit them for statements or explanations helping to comprehend the films. The only source containing the information about the development of the films are thus the film producers and the film crew themselves. Considering how elaborated films the director and all the people involved in the process of -7- shooting managed to deliver, it would seem very likely of such films to have been granted a rich budget. Strikingly, the contrary is true. As Andrew Lesnie, the director of photography, commented: “This is the biggest low-budget film being made anywhere in the world at this time.”1 In the face of the numbers, his claim can be agreed on as the overall budget for the trilogy was $280 million2 or, as another source states, almost $297 million.3 By the way, such a sum almost matches the budget for a single film of The Hobbit Trilogy.4 Being aware of this fact, it is even more staggering what a feat the film crew managed to accomplish. The films contain a number of errors, visual and narrative ones. Still, their essence is loyal and pays homage to the novels. Yet, as it is going to be presented, film adaptations will always suffer from changes, at least for the director's personal bias. And these films are no exception. In addition, a number of such mistakes were made willingly, intentionally and solely for Peter Jackson's bias and desire to portray the events in accordance with his own vision. Apart from intentional directorial modifications, there were also alterations of parts of the story which, as Peter Jackson implies, “work in the books but not in the films.”5 The books thus retain their own distinctive imagery and specific dialogues which would be overly heroic or striking and thus ridiculous for the audience to see in a motion picture. Having said that, the films on the other hand offer, in its own distinctive manner, a greater volume of information from Middle-earth as the film-makers exploited not only these three novels but other books concerning Middle-earth too. For this reason, even those who have read the novels may find fragments of information unexpected, not to mention surprising. In this fashion, these films attest to the claim that film adaptations should not be viewed as something inferior to literature.6 1 Behind the Scenes. 2001, time 2:10 2 Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lotr.wikia.com 3 Box Office History for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Movies. The-numbers.com 4 Ibid 5 Commentary with Director and Writers. 2001, time 1:03:00 6 BUBENÍČEK, Petr. 2010, p. 18 -8- 1. The term “adaptation” As it will be presented in the following chapters of this thesis focusing on the very narrative of the films, rendering the story of novels into films is always, at least to a degree, affected by their respective film-makers, predominantly by their director. Eventual acceptance or evaluation of such films is then bound to differ considerably, depending on whether the audience have read the original books or not. Watching the films, the concepts and mental images of the content of the books are exposed to somebody else's comprehension of the content which does not have to, and surely seldom do, coincide with the reader-viewer's constructs.7 Brian McFarlane in his book claims that “much of the dissatisfaction which accompanies the writing about films adapted from
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