A Comparative Study on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Trilogy

Introduction

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s fantasy novel, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937) has always been regarded as a canonical work of literature by the literary critics. The journey into Middle-earth has flourished with this novel and paved the way for his other canonical trilogy, The Lord of Rings (LotR). This novel has also included a great fellowship of different characters plunging into an unexpected quest. Tolkien has created his own imaginary space, a world of adventures including its own historical facts, linguistic aspects, geographical features and mythological stories. The novel, written in 1937 by J. R. R. Tolkien might also be considered as a primary source of inspiration for all literary researchers, artistic scholars, and film directors in terms of long and adventurous journeys, great and intimate fellowships, imaginary and magnificent spaces, because it is the story of fundamental human values in clear and understandable English. Thus, since its publication, the novel has become one of the best-selling and most widely read novels worldwide. It has also been translated into dozens of languages and has clearly been known as a classical masterpiece in children’s fantasy literature worldwide. Harold Bloom (2011) claims that, “The Hobbit proved to be a bestseller and under pressure to produce a sequel to it, Tolkien began writing again” (p. 10). Moreover, the novel has been adapted into various forms of art ranging from short films, feature films to children’s opera, comic books and video games. Of all these adaptations, Peter Jackson’s adaptation is arguably the most highly acclaimed work of cinema. As being a competent director, Jackson has divided the novel into three distinct episodes and directed a series of three fantasy films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). These films are based on the novel, written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937.

There have been numerous similarities and differences between the novel by Tolkien and the films by Jackson. There have also been numerous additions, omissions, transformations, misrepresentations and changes between the novel and the film trilogy in view of the concepts as journey, fellowship, and space because Tolkien and Jackson reflect dissimilar generations of experiences in addition to working in various media and aiming for distinct audiences (Oziewicz, 2016, p. 253). Thus, the major purpose of the study is to compare and contrast J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit and Peter Jackson’s film series, The Hobbit trilogy in terms of journey, fellowship and space, based on Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation theory. Thus, this study is going to be divided into three sections. After a brief introduction including the novel’s and the films’ background and the fundamentals concerning the theory of the study, the first section is going to elaborate the concept of journey into Middle-Earth in both the novel and the films. In the second section, the concept of fellowship is going to be analysed in the book and the film series. The third section of the study is going to argue the concept of space created by Tolkien and Jackson. Then, the main arguments of the study are going to be evaluated in the conclusion section.