The Picture İn Dispute İs Not Gollum: Peter Jackson

Director of The Lord Of The Rings, Peter Jackson joined the debates on the case of a Turkish doctor, Bilgin Çiftçi, facing trials for allegedly posting pictures comparing Turkish President Tayyip Eroğan to the character of the series, Gollum, and insulting the President.

Legal team of the case has decided to prove that the character in question is not an evil character that could cause an insult. The court decided to convene referees including psychologists and film experts, in order to declare if the character is evil.

But Gollum / Smeagol is more complex than we know, according to the director of the series, Peter Jackson.

Gollum vs Smeagol

According to the Wrap, an online platform covering the Hollywood, Jackson and his co-writers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have made a joint statement and stressed everyone involved have missed the point: The images posted by Çiftçi do not belong to Gollum at all.

"If the images below are in fact the ones forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit, we can state categorically: None of them feature the character known as Gollum. All of them are images of the character called Smeagol" the statement said.

Then what is the difference between Smeagol and Gollum?

According to Jackson, Smeagol as joyful and sweet, utilizing its power for good, and should never be confused with the malicious Gollum. Smeagol has turned into Gollum, known as an ugly, bloodthirsty character, after being corrupted by the ring.

"Saving the pride of Gollum"

Dr Bilgin Çiftçi, worked as doctor for 23 years, has been barred from the family health hospital where he had been working over the accusations of "insulting statesmen", after the case has become public.

The court has decided that an investigation by the referee regarding whether Gollum is a bad character will be necessary, while the trial was reprieved, in its fourth round that has taken place on Dec. 1.

A health union has conducted an online survey, where people polled if Gollum was a malicious, good, ugly, or suffering character.

According to the poll results presented, 20.6 percent said 'Gollum is good', 26.3 percent said 'Gollum is a sufferer', and 13.3 percent said 'Gollum is neither good nor bad'. Some 7 percent of the votes were for the 'Gollum is ugly' option, while 8 percent said 'Gollum is ugly'.

Thus, the lawyer of Çiftçi has said the case has turned into "a case of saving the pride of Gollum".

(Photo) - Istanbul