Peter Jackson has all the fuel he needs to start war with new Government

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What’s it got in its pockets? 

The one problem National had in their plans to use the Hobbit Law reform to open up a front against the new Government with the same impact the first Hobbit war created was always whether or not Peter Jackson would once again throw a tantrum.

I think the question mark over how willing Jackson would be to starting a fight over the reform has been well and truly answered by this…

Plug pulled on Sir Peter Jackson’s war exhibit
Taxpayers face a $13m bill, and tentative plans for a National War Museum have been canned, after the Government failed in efforts to prolong the life of Sir Peter Jackson’s troubled Great War Exhibition.

The issue had seen Ministry of Culture and Heritage at loggerheads with Massey University over the future of Wellington’s Dominion Building, with the ministry wanting to extend the lease and lifespan of the exhibition and the university wishing to reclaim the space for its college of creative arts.

A joint press release from the ministry and university this evening indicated Massey had won that tussle and would soon reoccupy its building, with the exhibition’s last day flagged as December 2.

…so you now have a humiliated Peter Jackson and if National start whispering in his ear as Labour shyly push forward the Hobbit Law reform with the possibility of the LOTR TV series being filmed in NZ hanging in the wind, you have all the makings of a full blown crisis.

Can NZers be conned into believing this law will stop the LOTR series being filmed here the way they all believed the Hobbit being filmed in NZ was at risk? I’d like to say no way, but when you read the comments section on Stuff, you appreciate just how much you underestimate how stupid a lot of our fellow citizens really are.

Grab the popcorn, this is going to be epic.

20 COMMENTS

  1. If you want to test Jackson’s motives, let him pay for a permanent display say at Waiouru. It could be an adventure playground for war gamers.
    I don’t support any state funds leaked from the fiscal cap to be wasted on celebrating chauvinist, imperialist wars.
    WW1 has been flogged to death with all the wrong lessons repeated ad infinitum.
    Never Again? Like Hell.
    If we want to hype kiwi nationalism to commemorate the sacrifice of millions of workers for the greater good of profits, lets be honest and say what’s its for – not only Jackson’s exploitation of local workers, but all parasites who continue to drive us towards the next world war.

    • How many wars has NZ been in or involved with since 1918.

      key has even involved us with NATO in recent times. All a part of keys “club”.

      Glorification of war comes in many guises. Who makes the money.

      Not those who pay the price.

    • It would be brilliant moved to Waiouru…for me I saw the exhibition as a history of the tragedy of war, not the glorification

      ….this is Peters Jackson’s finest…he should make anti-war films

        • yes personally I think his work is an asset to Wellington…and some attempt should be made to find another home for it in Wellington…both exhibitions are very moving

      • The fact he signed up for the Dam Busters suggests his anti war sentiments are not that high..I would assume from his exhibition and interviews that he views War as a noble sacrifice and a great adventure

        “Quinn’s Post has got everything Gallipoli had – it’s got snipers, it’s got tunnels, it had the Turks close by, it’s on a steep hill – so it sums up the entire campaign”…….

        “It’s a place where New Zealanders shone,” he said.

        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/04/sir-peter-jackson-dishes-on-new-gallipoli-trench-exhibit.html

        • Siobhan: ““Quinn’s Post has got everything Gallipoli had – it’s got snipers, it’s got tunnels, it had the Turks close by, it’s on a steep hill – so it sums up the entire campaign”…….

          “It’s a place where New Zealanders shone,” he said.”

          No. Not much in the way of anti-war sentiment there.

          The above quote from Jackson neatly illustrates my distaste for what he’s done regarding the Gallipoli campaign in particular, and WW1 in general.

          The eldest four (would’ve been five, but for lack of medical clearance) of my father’s brothers went to WW1; one came home. Three of them fought at Gallipoli (Quinn’s Post, with Malone); the remains of two are still there. Not in graves, though. For many years, they were listed as “missing in action”. No death certificates; so, to the day she died, my grandmother hoped for her boys’ returning.

          The loss of those young men left a huge chasm in my father’s family. They were unmarried, so no descendants. The effects reverberate down to the present day.

          In my view, what Jackson does is war porn. It’s not in the least respectful, or in any way anti-war. To be honest, I’m enraged at the thought of him – or other tourists and sightseers – tromping all over the peninsula, where the remains of my family members lie scattered about. The entire area is a cemetery, and he – and they – should stay the hell away.

          • In my view, what Jackson does is war porn. It’s not in the least respectful, or in any way anti-war.

            I believe there might be an element of truth to that. I’ve visited the WW1 displays at the Dominion Museum and Te Papa… there was something about them I found distasteful.

            • “I believe there might be an element of truth to that.”

              Thanks, Frank. It’s good to know that there are others of a similar view.

    • Dave Brown: “…let him pay for a permanent display say at Waiouru…”

      Speaking personally, I’d prefer not. We have a perfectly respectful military museum at Waiouru; I’d like it to stay that way.

      In fairness to Jackson, this exhibition was intended to last four years only. Massey wanted its space back, and the Ministry couldn’t persuade the university otherwise. I don’t know whether Jackson has taken it personally; as far as I know, there’s no reason for him to do so.

      However: Jackson has form for wanting the ratepayers of Wellington to fund his exhibition spaces. Many of us are of the view that there are more pressing priorities here. Critical infrastructure maintenance and upgrade, for instance.

      “…the possibility of the LOTR TV series being filmed in NZ….”

      Setting aside the question of whether Jackson should be attempting yet again to flog this particular dead horse, it’s difficult to see how he could make a credible series anywhere other than in NZ. Unless it is to be a cartoon, or fully CGI. So: it seems to me that he’s not now in a position to blackmail the current government over the Hobbit Law reform.

  2. Lindsay Ellis did a great series of videos on YT about The Hobbit controversy, including some great interviews with kiwis involved in the production in various ways. A great summary of what happened for anyone who didn’t follow the issue closely at the time, or a refresher for anyone struggling to remember what all the fuss was about. Starts here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTRUQ-RKfUs

  3. These exhibitions dont glorify war imo..they show the minute of soldiers lives…the mundanity, horror , fate , hardships…I saw a number of New Zealand family people sitting quietly outside the exhibitions in somber contemplation. I saw people with tears in their eyes.

    History is history , although it is often revised. We should respect the heroism of the times and the futility and waste of war…(our own lives pale in comparison)

    …these exhibitions are a warning about war when civil society breaks down

    ….and btw i also had an antiwar ancestor who was a reluctant navigator in WW2 ( his dream was to climb in the Himalaya) …he ended up in a tree in a German forest and spent the rest of the war in a German camp for airmen. He thought Douglas Bader was an idiot. He never joined the RSA . He and others survived the freezing Long March with the help of German prison guards. He never said a bad word about the Germans. His contempt was for warmongers.

  4. I asked an early 20 something if he thought the exhibitions glorified war.

    He said “No”.

    I asked him “Why would people think the exhibitions glorified war?”

    He said “Hippie downies will be hippie downies”

    • Red Buzzard: “I asked an early 20 something if he thought the exhibitions glorified war.

      He said “No”.”

      And someone of that age – who’s grown up on a diet of computer war-type games – would recognise war porn when they see it?

      Right. The young know jackshit about such things.

      • re “The young know jackshit about such things.”

        …and that is the sort of male politician patronising attitude towards male youth that sends them off to war as canon fodder in the first place ….(which Jacksons exhibitions show ….it was youth that did the sacrificing ( not elderly male politicians))

        …and just because today’s youth play video war games does not mean that they don’t read ‘War and Peace’…and have not thought deeply about war and what it means to be male

  5. Beware those who would annihilate a countries’ history or culture ( Mao’s Cultural Revolution) Pol Pot’s extermination

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