Dunno, Homeless. I have never been an accademic and therefore fail to see the relevance of accademic questions! I read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarilion, Book of lost tales and many others before the films were thought of so how can I answer? I enjoyed the books. I liked Ralph Bakshis cartoon. I think Peter Jackson is a god:-)

I equaly enjoyed the works of Conan Doyle, John Steinbeck, C S Forester and Dr Seuss all before seeing any films stemming from those pens. Films I enjoyed include Goldfinger, The Maltese Falcon, Conan the Barbarian and Captain Correllis Mandolin all before reading the books!

I have seen hundreds of films and read, probably, thousands of books. The two media (medii? mediums?) are entirely different and should and can be enjoyed on different levels.

Incidentaly I also read Homer before seeing Oh Brother where art though and read Herbert before seeing Dune. In the former case I enjoyed the film but did not understand the book. Vice Versca in the latter.

There are also many films and books that do not have a literary or cinemagraphic counterpart so back to my original point...

Why even ask?

Cheers and thanks again for keeping my brain alive!

Dave the Hobbit:-)