Return of the King thoughts
Dec. 20th, 2003 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyEvery cut-tag leads to spoilers. I decided that doing it this way made more sense than making posts on every subject under the sun.
The movies are much more obvious about the power of the ring, from what I can tell. No one escapes its call, because it would have (in the words of the screenwriters) ruined the ring's credibility if there was anyone who wasn't tempted.
Sam gives the ring back to Frodo in Return of the King, but Frodo tried to give the ring to both Gandalf and then Galadriel after he'd been carrying the ring for quite a while. And it was often against his skin. Makes sense that the closer it is to you, the faster it works, and most of the time, it was as close to Frodo as he could get it without getting inside it.
The worst part of the movie is seeing how completely the ring destroys him. Seeing the red marks on his neck where it's taken a physical toll. The way that he treats Sam, the way fear and mistrust becomes habit to him. It's horrifying.
So it has to be established that even with this horrible price, Frodo is still the only one who can bear this burden. If we see people who are unaffected by the power of the ring, we're going to ask why they couldn't take the bloody thing to Mordor and save Frodo's heart, mind, and body the torment he went through.
In the movies, everyone is tempted by the ring and what it promises. Some ultimately resist the call, but they all feel it. Sam hesitates before giving the ring back. Gandalf dares not even touch it. Galadriel goes all inverted-colors on us while resisting. It has to be very clear (because we don't have internal monologues) that the ring is Big Time Evil. In the books, I remember being a touch thrown out of the story when the group encountered Tom Bombadil, because if there were people around who could resist the ring, why make poor Frodo take it? I suspect I would have had the same reaction to Faramir's big speech. "Oh, it doesn't affect you? Ah, then you get to be the one who carries it - after a few months, let's see if you're still all tough and strong, eh?"
And once it has taken a hold of you, it doesn't let go. Even after all the ring has been destroyed, Bilbo and Frodo still long for it, long to 'hold it one last time'.
I love the last shot of Frodo - that smile that held within it the promise of peace reminded me of the look on Buffy's face in the Gift - and the way it echoes how he was introduced. Frodo greets us with a smile and leaves us with one, and the difference between the two tells us so much of his journey and how much he's lost. His smile is so much older in Return of the King.
And then, as Arwen had told us earlier, there is life - we see Sam and his family and there, right there, is the reason that Frodo went on the quest, the reason that he gave up so much of himself - to make it possible for there to be life.
It shows us that Frodo's journey was worth it all.
I've always been a big fan of the 'friendship becomes romantic love' angle. And it isn't because I think that friendship's not enough. It's because when I see two characters who get along well, I wonder how they'd get along in a relationship.
Most fanfic is about relationships. People like to explore them, like to see emotional and sexual possibilities. And, you know, lots of people get off on it.
I'm a big fan of turning 'just' friendship into love. I like the idea of an ever-deepening relationship, where friendship takes on new dimensions until it becomes love.
This is actually part of the reason that I like Aragorn and Arwen - they've known each other for years and years. I can't even imagine how amazing it must be to be in love with someone who knows you that well.
I need an icon that says - "I think trust and respect is hot". Because I really, really do. The relationship between Legolas and Gimli and the way that developed makes me sigh happily.
"I never thought that I would die side by side with an elf."
"How about side by side with a friend?"
*cue swoon*
And the Merry and Pippin relationship is amazing because they start out as merryandpippin and develop into Merry and Pippin - they both grow into their own without losing their love for each other. Thing of beauty is a joy forever, yo.
How amazing is Billy Boyd? Far too amazing for words.
Pippin is definitely tied with Frodo as my favorite character in the films. I love watching characters grow up and that's exactly what Pippin does. I've always found it amazing how young Billy Boyd looks, considering that he's the oldest of the hobbit actors, and I'm even more amazed at how he looked both still so young and yet so much older. Billy Boyd deserves a shiny award of some kind and any film role that he ever wants to play.
So many of my 'perfect moments' are about Pippin - the palantir, singing during Faramir's charge (one of the most haunting moments I've ever seen on screen), lighting the first beacon, saving Faramir's life, and finding Merry on the battlefield.
It was both horrible and beautiful to see him grow up so. Because he did lose a great deal of his innocence (which starts in Two Towers when he truly realizes that the entire world - including the Shire - are at stake in this conflict.), and yet he also gained so much - he knows what he's capable of now and he'll never lose that. Also, does Pippin ever actually apologise before RotK? It felt like such a huge thing when he did it that I immediately wondered if it felt that way because he hadn't before.
But yeah, now I want to watch every movie that Billy Boyd ever makes. His performance is just that wonderful.
The movies are much more obvious about the power of the ring, from what I can tell. No one escapes its call, because it would have (in the words of the screenwriters) ruined the ring's credibility if there was anyone who wasn't tempted.
Sam gives the ring back to Frodo in Return of the King, but Frodo tried to give the ring to both Gandalf and then Galadriel after he'd been carrying the ring for quite a while. And it was often against his skin. Makes sense that the closer it is to you, the faster it works, and most of the time, it was as close to Frodo as he could get it without getting inside it.
The worst part of the movie is seeing how completely the ring destroys him. Seeing the red marks on his neck where it's taken a physical toll. The way that he treats Sam, the way fear and mistrust becomes habit to him. It's horrifying.
So it has to be established that even with this horrible price, Frodo is still the only one who can bear this burden. If we see people who are unaffected by the power of the ring, we're going to ask why they couldn't take the bloody thing to Mordor and save Frodo's heart, mind, and body the torment he went through.
In the movies, everyone is tempted by the ring and what it promises. Some ultimately resist the call, but they all feel it. Sam hesitates before giving the ring back. Gandalf dares not even touch it. Galadriel goes all inverted-colors on us while resisting. It has to be very clear (because we don't have internal monologues) that the ring is Big Time Evil. In the books, I remember being a touch thrown out of the story when the group encountered Tom Bombadil, because if there were people around who could resist the ring, why make poor Frodo take it? I suspect I would have had the same reaction to Faramir's big speech. "Oh, it doesn't affect you? Ah, then you get to be the one who carries it - after a few months, let's see if you're still all tough and strong, eh?"
And once it has taken a hold of you, it doesn't let go. Even after all the ring has been destroyed, Bilbo and Frodo still long for it, long to 'hold it one last time'.
I love the last shot of Frodo - that smile that held within it the promise of peace reminded me of the look on Buffy's face in the Gift - and the way it echoes how he was introduced. Frodo greets us with a smile and leaves us with one, and the difference between the two tells us so much of his journey and how much he's lost. His smile is so much older in Return of the King.
And then, as Arwen had told us earlier, there is life - we see Sam and his family and there, right there, is the reason that Frodo went on the quest, the reason that he gave up so much of himself - to make it possible for there to be life.
It shows us that Frodo's journey was worth it all.
I've always been a big fan of the 'friendship becomes romantic love' angle. And it isn't because I think that friendship's not enough. It's because when I see two characters who get along well, I wonder how they'd get along in a relationship.
Most fanfic is about relationships. People like to explore them, like to see emotional and sexual possibilities. And, you know, lots of people get off on it.
I'm a big fan of turning 'just' friendship into love. I like the idea of an ever-deepening relationship, where friendship takes on new dimensions until it becomes love.
This is actually part of the reason that I like Aragorn and Arwen - they've known each other for years and years. I can't even imagine how amazing it must be to be in love with someone who knows you that well.
I need an icon that says - "I think trust and respect is hot". Because I really, really do. The relationship between Legolas and Gimli and the way that developed makes me sigh happily.
"I never thought that I would die side by side with an elf."
"How about side by side with a friend?"
*cue swoon*
And the Merry and Pippin relationship is amazing because they start out as merryandpippin and develop into Merry and Pippin - they both grow into their own without losing their love for each other. Thing of beauty is a joy forever, yo.
How amazing is Billy Boyd? Far too amazing for words.
Pippin is definitely tied with Frodo as my favorite character in the films. I love watching characters grow up and that's exactly what Pippin does. I've always found it amazing how young Billy Boyd looks, considering that he's the oldest of the hobbit actors, and I'm even more amazed at how he looked both still so young and yet so much older. Billy Boyd deserves a shiny award of some kind and any film role that he ever wants to play.
So many of my 'perfect moments' are about Pippin - the palantir, singing during Faramir's charge (one of the most haunting moments I've ever seen on screen), lighting the first beacon, saving Faramir's life, and finding Merry on the battlefield.
It was both horrible and beautiful to see him grow up so. Because he did lose a great deal of his innocence (which starts in Two Towers when he truly realizes that the entire world - including the Shire - are at stake in this conflict.), and yet he also gained so much - he knows what he's capable of now and he'll never lose that. Also, does Pippin ever actually apologise before RotK? It felt like such a huge thing when he did it that I immediately wondered if it felt that way because he hadn't before.
But yeah, now I want to watch every movie that Billy Boyd ever makes. His performance is just that wonderful.
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I think the screenwriters were absolutely right...
Date: 2003-12-20 08:21 am (UTC)One question, though, for book and film alike: Gandalf saw the final stages of Ring-addiction in Gollum, and an early stage in Bilbo. And he didn't even want to touch the thing, or keep it anywhere near him, for fear of his own corruption. Do you think he was aware that he sent Frodo on more than a suicide mission, i.e. on a soul-destroying mission?
(As for Frodo, he probably volunteered his life, not his soul, in Rivendell, but he got a glimpse on what the ring could do shortly afterwards with Bilbo turning on him for a moment, and then of course saw it taking Boromir, so I think that when he left the Fellowship, he was aware he was offering his heart and soul as well as his life with this quest.)
Re: I think the screenwriters were absolutely right...
Date: 2003-12-20 01:45 pm (UTC)And yeah, I agree that Frodo started to get it with Bilbo - I mean, when the guy who sheltered you as a child and who pretty much loved you as kin because he had none turns on you, even for a moment, it registers.
Frodo was very brave and very selfless, doing what he did - willing to give up both life and... wholeness.
*sniffle*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-20 08:59 am (UTC)*weeps*
God, I loved him so much in that film.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-20 01:42 pm (UTC)And there was actually someone at work who went to see it opening day and plans to see at least eight times, which sounds like a fun plan.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-20 07:14 pm (UTC)Frodo and Sam's journey as the ring took ever deeper hold of Frodo was another. Actually, all the stories were painful and deep and glorious.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-28 09:25 pm (UTC)And seeing Frodo waste away and how deeply the ring carved into him and... *shudders*