The Desolation of Smaug anticipation thread [SPOILERS]

Post by **yovargas** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:06 pm

I actually did rewatch it before posting that. Her eyes get watery and she only sheds one tear that I could see.

Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:12 pm

You miss my point. It's not the tears that are the problem.

Post by **yovargas** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:22 pm

Yes, I get it, she over-delivers those 2-3 lines. The delivery should have been subtler and more dignified. But that's really all that's wrong with it. She overacts for, like, 5 seconds, then sheds a tear or two.

PS:
"blubbering
1.
to sob noisily and uncontrollably."

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:24 pm

Okay. Just saw the scene again and no. It is still much better than Tauriel's. In all ways a scene can be judged.
Oh. Except for the music.

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:25 pm

Also imo EL overacts the Elvish chant too.
"nonnenonne nonye noneanonye..."

Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:26 pm

SV, you left out a not, or more likely accidently changed a word. Here, let me fix it for you:

"Okay. Just saw the scene again and no. It is still much worse than Tauriel's."

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:32 pm

Nope.

Well, you can't expect me to agree with you always V.

(though I think post-DoS we are more anti than syn.

)

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 5:52 pm

Let me play the diplomat. There is egregious overacting in both scenes.

Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:26 pm

True, it is just that Arwen's is much worse!

Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:52 am

New DoS poster for China:

Wowsa!

Post by **Elentári** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:14 am

Woah!

But it is interesting how they are pushing Smaug the Evil when dragons are so revered in these cultures...have WB done their research?

I don't know if anyone saw the thread on TORn, where Avandel asked a friend originally from southern China, very well educated, what people in China might think of this depiction of a dragon.

He answered very interestingly, I thought - as best as I can describe, the Chinese concept of a dragon is very complex, respectful, and deep, tightly bound to religion. That a dragon is "king", neither good nor bad, but above all very, very powerful, a force of nature that is not a god, but something like that. Very much associated with the ocean (or THE ocean king), and "when the dragon is angry, there are earthquakes, tsnuamis. To give a dragon "human" characteristics is impossible, because a dragon is "above", all powerful". That a dragon is associated with kings, and the children of kings, and that people in China may refer to themselves as "children of the dragon". That a dragon is, inherently, a king.

I showed him a picture of Smaug and asked what he thought people in China would think of the concept re a "bad cruel dragon", who had destroyed a town and stolen gold, and a king who would kill a dragon. As near as I could understand, basically there is no concept of a "bad dragon", that a dragon is a great power/king and I had the impression that it would be the ones trying to kill the dragon who would be "bad". (He did not say so, but I got the impression that if a dragon destroyed your city it was something you bow to, and accept). He did say that for younger people in China they would understand the Western concept of a dragon, but for older people such a Western depiction would be confusing, and possibly disrespectful? And he said, looking at a picture of Smaug, that a hundred years ago if you had depicted a dragon like that in China, since they were a symbol of the king, you would probably be killed. He also said that when the filmmakers translate this film, they basically shouldn't call Smaug a dragon, but he couldn't come up with a good translation - but instead using something like fire worm, fire devil, fire snake. And my friend seemed to have to work hard at understanding that a Westerner could consider a dragon bad, when he himself has no reference for a dragon being "good", "evil", "cruel" - as he explained, a dragon is "above" and you do not give a dragon "human" characteristics, also that it is a concept of religion and of the imagination.

I thought this was fascinating and both of us had to work very hard to understand each others' concepts - also there were some language issues. But I think I understood enough (including him saying there's a concept of a "black" dragon, but a gold dragon would be considered auspicious) to think that WB must be working very hard on the subtitles for this movie, and it's a mistake for the some writers on other boards to think that Western depictions of dragons might automatically do well in some Asian markets. Perhaps.

Post by **Frelga** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:34 am

Well, Bilbo is very respectful to Smaug.

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 9:02 am

There is certainly a strong element of reverence for dragons in traditional Chinese culture, but in many cases, they still represent powerful and destructive natural forces (such as water dragons, that bring great floods). The difference, perhaps, is that "destructive forces" are not necessarily characterized as "evil." So, that poster might simply be interpreted differently. More like "Look at Bilbo being humbled by the awesome power of Smaug."

In any event, I think they've at least done their homework in terms of style. That certainly looks Chinese!

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:18 pm

That's a pretty poster.

Post by **Elentári** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:30 pm

According to a TORn member who has a Chinese-speaking wife, the translation reads

The Hobbit People: Smaug's Fight...

Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:40 pm

This Japanese video appears to have a bit more than we have seen before of CumberSmaug's motion capture work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31-XS3t ... e=youtu.be

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:50 pm

Video on the Sound-mixing and editing of DOS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANB_QQF5124

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:43 am

A blog-article defending the point, how the Tauriel/Kili "romance" fits in Tolkien's world.

http://jewellandshifrin.wordpress.com/2 ... haracters/

But I still disagree of shoehorning this into The Hobbit.

Post by **Elentári** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:15 am

The fact still remains that the only inter-racial romances, let alone marriages, in Tolkien, were between Elves and humans. the Elf-Dwarf attraction did not happen in Tolkien, except uniquely, and on a different level, between Gimli and Galadriel. I guess that is not saying it couldn't have happened again after those two, but to blatantly pre-empt that historic mutual admiration just seems wrong to me...

Post by **narya** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:42 am

Elentári wrote:The fact still remains that the only inter-racial romances, let alone marriages, in Tolkien, were between Elves and humans. the Elf-Dwarf attraction did not happen in Tolkien, except uniquely, and on a different level, between Gimli and Galadriel. I guess that is not saying it couldn't have happened again after those two, but to blatantly pre-empt that historic mutual admiration just seems wrong to me...

What Saruman was doing was interracial, but probably not too romantic.