second-hand smegma posted:

I think everyone eventually comes to terms with their lovely childhood taste. An example might be Star Wars. In the 4th grade it was all I cared about, and it had an almost mythological sway over my preferences. I'm sure I felt offended by the poor quality of the prequels for about 5 minutes, but by then I had realized that I was more fond of the cinematic qualities that the original trilogy was aping from earlier art and film, and I was aware that Star Wars (as a phenomenon) sort of represented the bulldozer that had opportunistically destroyed the culture of risk-taking experimental and auteur cinema from the 60s and 70s. I still have nice memories of the original movies but I also recognize that they played a huge part in the standardization of everything I loathe about studio culture nowadays (and over the last 25 years).

The Lord of The Rings is sort of like that. I read the books when I was in my teens and at the time they felt really deep and original and emotional (probably because I had very little depth as a person), not something easily translatable to cinema. I was simultaneously excited and nervous about seeing the first movie, and I bought the 4 disc version because it looked like a book and some such poo poo. But by the time I had seen and collected The Two Towers, the formula of the experiences, the music, CG, commercials, and consumer paraphernalia started to feel like a habit rather than a mystery. RotK winning 11 oscars was a total farce to me, but mostly I was just happy that I'd never have to hear about Peter Jackson's vision ever again. Until, you know, The Hobbit came along. I haven't seen more than 30 minutes of that 'trilogy' but I feel bored out of my mind just thinking about it. The Peter Jackson style has seeped into all the cracks of contemporary blockbuster cinema and I think, by this point, I'm even pretty sour on the books.

Not that it's all I read, but I find myself going back further and further in search of good sci-fi or fantasy like Lem, Bester, or Sturgeon (since they've already licensed the Phillip K Dick extensively, and poorly) in order to find anything that hasn't been franchised to death, and mostly I've just realized that the further back you go the better it gets. Star Wars and LotR are just the moldy topcoat.

edit; I'm still fond of Dune, as well, and I'm amused that it has managed to defy multiple efforts at translation.