The first thing that needs to be said is that fantasy fans shouldn’t take anything personally when it comes to anyone not liking one aspect of fantasy or another. It’s personal preference after all and something that is up to each person to decide for themselves. But hearing someone like Guillermo Del Toro state that there’s a type of fantasy that he doesn’t like is a bit jarring due to the fact that he’s one of the biggest peddlers of fantasy imaginable at this time. It does sound however as though he’s not too fond of hero-type fantasy, and the manner in which he describes this sounded an awful lot like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Plenty of people are bound to surge to their feet at such a mention, some of them might even boo and think that Del Toro doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Well, when it comes to fantasy, he does have a very good idea of what he’s talking about and doing since he has the awards and reputation to prove it. But considering the fanbase and the amount of money that’s been made by the LoTR franchise, it might be that one should just let Del Toro have this one since his opinion isn’t making the franchise any less effective.
This is, after all, his opinion, which is something that all of us get to have and shouldn’t be allowed to influence how people think about certain things. It is just a little bit tragic to think that Del Toro’s opinion might be enough to sway some people into not liking the LoTR trilogy any longer, or perhaps not even watch it, to begin with, but that’s an extreme case to be certain since most people are going to continue liking what they want, regardless of opinion. Del Toro is allowed to say what he wants and, ironically, to enjoy The Hobbit, which he apparently picked up and read, and loved. It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it?
Plenty of people tend to like certain aspects of a genre and not others, it’s not a big secret that this happens. But when someone like Guillermo says what he likes and what he doesn’t it might be taken by a lot of his fans as either a bit of vindication for not watching said material or a shock since there are many fans that love a broad spectrum of fantasy and can’t imagine that their favorite storytellers and directors don’t feel the same way. We all have our personal biases when it comes to entertainment though, and this is what drives competition between those that operate one franchise and those that operate another. Personal preference isn’t going to go away anytime soon, and the fact is that it’s what helps to create so many different aspects of a genre that can keep people entertained on a constant basis. But personal preference is also what will keep allowing people to voice their opinions since Guillermo isn’t the only one that apparently doesn’t enjoy the LoTR trilogy. Some folks enjoy a story with a harder edge, and the one thing about Tolkien’s creation is that he was a product of his time, as was his story, and adapting it has taken on a look that is a little too flowery at times in terms of the speech and invites too much prose and exposition during times when people might feel that it’s time for action.
There are plenty of people that enjoy this, however, and it’s been proven that people are either enamored of it or are willing to sit through it to get to the action since the box office numbers, despite being able to be skewed, are evidence enough that people were willing to attend each screening in order to see what was so exciting that people went to see the movies again and again. For all that Guillermo doesn’t appear to enjoy Middle Earth, or at least didn’t before reading The Hobbit, he was actually attached to The Hobbit at one point. Obviously, Peter Jackson stepped back in after Guillermo backed out, but the fact is that despite his dislike of Tolkien’s story, he just about took part in a very important story that led into the main tale.
It’s best to remind people that none of what Guillermo says is to be taken personally since he’s voicing his own opinion, not a known fact that will change anything in the years to come. A person can like or dislike anything they want, especially when it comes to entertainment since this helps to keep things interesting in a lot of ways. Whatever Guillermo Del Toro thinks of the LoTR trilogy is up to him, while the rest of us can sit back and enjoy the tale over and over again if we desire.
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