RichS

I present to you without comment the e-mail I received from a very good friend of mine and Wellington resident. Obviously he has been troubled by the Super12 recently...

The first thing that I said in ROTK was "This is G*y!!" The Hobbits bouncing
on the bed at the end confirmed its g*yness. Walking out of the newly
refurbished embassy theatre "for LOTR" I cursed Peter Jackson for wasting 3
hours of my life. "damns yous Jackson, give me my 3 hours back" The other
people coming out of the cinema were too busy lifting each others shirts in
the whole New Zealand-ness of it all.

Now I'm not one to kiwi bash but seriously I want to puke how these people
are acting, parties in pubs watching the Oscars, online commentaries, a
f**kin scoreboard showing how many the rings won...seriously!!!!! Get a
Grip. "We are the greatest..bla bla" no we are not! Peter Jackson with the
help of a very large whack of American money and a huge tax rebate from the
government (NZ has now some of the highest tax rates in the OECD) took the
worlds most famous story, used a bunch of reasonably good actors and heap of
computers to make a film. Last time I checked a bookie would give you good
odds on that formula turning up a winner. (Except if Kevin Costner is
involved) If I hear one more word about tax cuts for the film industry (as
opposed to for everyone) I will place that golden statue were no golden
statue (should) have gone before!

It was your Johnny Wilkinson that said, "all kiwis want to know is how
beautiful the country is and how good the all blacks are, tell them that and
they will leave you alone"

It really makes me cringe!

Gladrags

Personally I have become mighty sick of the constant back slapping in the media over the Oscars. They're like little children. Sadly it's a trait all too common in NZ in my opinion. Every bloody time a 'personality' is interviewed from overseas they are invited to comment on just how beautiful/special/etc NZ is.
This article in the Listener puts LOTR in perspective for me.

Ring some changes
by Jon Gadsby

Is anyone sick of Lord of the Rings yet? I never thought to hear myself say it, but I am, thoroughly. This comes at the end of a week when, had it not been for Tolkien's epic and its cinematic rendering, much of National Radio's programming would have consisted of dead air. Could we stop talking about LOTR, please? Lots of important other things are happening. We can talk about Don McKinnon and Robert Mugabe at CHOGM. All right, on second thoughts, let's talk about LOTR again.

Linda and Tim were talking about New Zealand movies, and apparently LOTR is three of them. How this came about is slightly beyond me. New Zealand is a backdrop for the movies, surely. New Zealand was a giant Hollywood lot for the films. I'm not putting down the onscreen results or the brilliance of Peter Jackson in any way, but these are not New Zealand films. Whale Rider is a New Zealand film. Heavenly Creatures is a New Zealand film. So is Goodbye Pork Pie and Came a Hot Friday. LOTR is not a New Zealand product any more than the latest Star Wars instalment is an Australian one. Certainly, the tourists may be flocking to our locations to buy stick-on pointy ears and reproduction hairy feet, but they do something much the same on tours of the major Hollywood studios. You can buy whips just like Indiana's and light sabres just like Luke's. Is The Sound of Music an Austrian movie? Most of Clint Eastwood's early epics were shot in Italy and Spain. In the 80s, most British stuff had Yugoslavia to call home.

This is not a New Zealand project. It wasn't conceived here, it wasn't written here, it's not about here and it isn't set here. We are a canvas, get it? A beautiful one, a stunning one, a magnificent one, but a canvas nevertheless. There's nothing wrong with this, but can we swallow it, please?

Once we start claiming LOTR as part of our national culture, we might as well avow Tom Cruise's Last Samurai is also part of our distinctive nationhood – with Mt Taranaki playing the lead role as Japan's Mt Fujiyama, to boot. We might as well claim Jaws was ours as well, by virtue of being filmed in the Pacific. Well, it's the same ocean, isn't it? Bollywood productions are a dime a dozen in the South Island now – and approximately the same budget. Are these garish Indian epics now part of New Zealand's rich filmic culture? God forbid.

It was a relief when Linda and Tim moved onto another film – Jamie Lee Curtis's latest offering: Freaky Friday. Something about a daughter metamorphosing as her own mother. Tim confessed to having enjoyed this gem, and Curtis's performance. Linda remonstrated. "Tim," she said, "all I can remember Jamie Lee Curtis doing in the movies I've seen is getting all her clothes off, and leaving them off for the duration. In fact, in some of her films she appears not to have a costume at all." It was a freaky Friday after all. Perhaps we should all give thanks that some mogul decided not to shoot this one in Fiordland, Matamata and the Mackenzie Country. It might have become one of ours.

Amazulu

It's an American movie partly made in New Zealand, that's it.

Vegemite Kids

ROTFPMSL

reminds me of when Braveheart came out, Mel G was constantly being asked if he enjoyed Scotland and felt an affinity to the land and people , everybody was talking about how beautiful scotland was (Braveheart was mostly filmed in Ireland I believe ) and there were lots of dicussions about the forthcoming revival in the Scottish movie industry - What movie industry - it doesnt ******* exist so how can it revive?

Don

Who cares? - as long as tourist numbers increase and house prices go up.

seang

Correct all battle scenes filmed in Ireland

Don

Still, it was tough to see Braveheart (as I did) in that wee cinema near Jinty McGinty's in the West End in Glasgow with my very broad voiced Scottish girlfriend, and a Dumbarton boss of mine (coincidentally) with his wife and daughter behind us; asking for an ice cream at half time with a subdued English accent and lots of Glasgie nutters looking at me a bit angrily...

Still, that wee girlfriend was worth it!

theguitardoctor

Be careful...you'll get run out of NZ for putting down LOTR ....!!!

It is a sorry situation...I commented once on the TV programmes that always stated "New Zealand's own.....Sam Neil (or whoever)"...you don't get that in the UK. We'd be forever stating...British actor such and such....it would be too tiring for the presenters.....

NZ was just the backdrop for a movie, but the trouble is, when there's not a lot else going on in a country, they have to grab onto anything that's going to thrust them into the spotlight for a while. I can't blame them really, as the whole LOTR thing will improve tourism and bring money into NZ. The UK has done it at times, the US has done it, Oz even (look at the Matrix), so all NZ is doing is following suit...though I have never seen it done to such an extent I must admit...it is definitely like prostituting NZ for any gain as you can buy LOTR themed anything.

Hollywood tends to reward special effects movies as a trend these days, so as one poster stated...hardly going to fail was it? I'd be happier if they actually ignored the insider gossip (oh, Peter Jackson must win this time, the industry virtually ignored the last 2 LOTR films....)...then he walks away with multiple oscars.... ask yourself, was the 3rd instalment really 11 times better then the first 2 ??? Or was it just a case of lavishing attention on PJ and LOTR because he had missed out previously? Exactly...that's why I refuse to watch a film just based on the awards it won.

but that just my opinion.....

Rich.

Amazulu

Looks like they are, Air NZ are startinga Auckland- San Fransisco flight in June, I guess to cater for all the yank tourists.

jandjuk

I have to say I agree with the general gist of this thread. It was the same with the america's cup when it was held in auckland.

the media goes on and on and on about such things....

it's just a fact of life in a small country on the edge of the world. NZ is not used to having big events. it's the same in Wales really....

Gladrags

Yes, well, it seems all or nothing doesn't it. When the Americas Cup went west it was a national/personal affront to each and every NZer. The failure to grasp the ultimate rugby prize was accepted with a resigned and collective sigh funnily enough.
There just seems to be no middle ground here. Either it is a disaster of epic proportions or 'look, we took on and defeated the rest of the world'. Either way I find it irritating.

jandjuk

not to me. but i know what you mean

I think you're confusing the media with actual people. Sure a lot of people see it this way too (most of them talkback radio callers), but just as many could care less.

Bix

To lonng too red but right jj think

Sazzle

"It is a sorry situation...I commented once on the TV programmes that always stated "New Zealand's own.....Sam Neil (or whoever)"...you don't get that in the UK. We'd be forever stating...British actor such and such....it would be too tiring for the presenters....."

Actually, we do go on about it, endlessly. The american astronaut who is/was up in the space station..english born, This person dropped in a UK maternity wing, that person, another one........ Sometimes the only claim to someone's fame is that they used your toilet. What can I say.

But it really is annoying to be told how absolutely awful something is over there, and how wonderful it is here in blighty. And there I was thinking that ppl here wanted to move away.. obviously I got it wrong.

jandjuk

yes you said it.... people don't tend to see it in their own country that's all.

and I've about given up pointing out things like that.... though I do think it is slightly worse in NZ than England.

But that's only because NZ national media is like local media in England. If you watch the local UK news, you tend to a lot more parochialism than on the national UK news.