Seeing RotK in December 2003
Dreamwidth Memories
Had a bit of extra time today (mostly because I tossed the cleaning chore off my to do list, HAH! I’m retired! You can’t make me!) and decided to post something a little different!
So, I posted recently about the release of Peter Jackson's extended/remastered The Lord of the Rings (in specific theatre chains in the U.S. June 8, 9, and 10, 2024)!
Honestly I was surprised by my own reaction (joy, glee, squee, and immediate resolution to *see them no matter what*). Although when I stopped to think about it (after I had shared the news all over online), I realized that my response was pretty much the same twenty (plus) years ago when The Return of the King was released. We decided to go to a midnight showing (for the first time!) for that film, no matter what!
And I wrote about it online in posts at what was then my fan LiveJournal although the links below lead to my fan Dreamwidth because I left LJ after the Russian corporation bought it.1
Reading over the posts was fun, and I decided to bring them over here, as an example of how my scholarship (on Tolkien as well as everything I've ever published on) has its roots in my love for the texts.2
I'd warn for spoilers, but heck, *twenty years*! I will warn that these are unedited, copied over "as is," with only a quick spell check (only two errors to correct, go past me!), so the original spoiler warnings which preceded a cut in LiveJournal/Dreamwidth are still there. Also, slang, fan jargon, etc.! And much slashy love (I was writing quite a lot of fanfiction at the time, so you have been warned!).
December 17, 2003 After Seeing Return
We went to the midnight showing. It's now 6 am. Slept in yesterday, went to work, came home, did chores, got about a two hour nap, and then drove (an hour and fifteen minutes). The theatre was showing it in two theatres--the biggest one I've ever been in--we estimate there were nearly 1000 people there. They didn't have us wait in line: we got there at 11, printed the tickets (love online ticketing), and walked in to the theatre where we joined the group sitting and waiting. Screen was so huge we sat in row 6 instead of row 3. Saw preview for Hidalgo!!!!!! Now to avoid spoilers, let's put our squee behind a cut:
OK, yes, I missed the Houses of Healing and Faramir/Eowyn, and Saruman's death. . . . ..BUT. . . . .that said, I loved it. I think it's brilliant. I'm going to see it every day for at least the next two weeks. Started crying at the beautiful scene of Pippin's song voiced over the Gondorian attack on Osgiliath and Denethor's meal. Cried at regular intervals throughout. Will be posting more when I'm more coherent, but Entwife and I both loved it. Talked about it the whole way back and through breakfast at IHOP. The movement between storylines was incredible. The cinematography, ditto. The soundtrack/music. My god, Pippin's song!!!!!!! They should just give all the Oscars to this film. Shelob was suitably horrifying. I thought the Frodo/Sam/Gollum thread was beautifully handled, and even Entwife (whose favorite book is Book 5) thought it much better in terms of tension and conflict than the same narrative in TT. Faramir was, in the scenes he got, not only incredible but beautiful. Eowyn and Dernhelm were totally fantastic. Merry and Pippin got some great time and moments, though I'd like more. Théoden was superb--I think Bernard Hill is fantastic. There was less of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields than I expected--and it worked better for me in the sense of seeming shorter in time and building than Helm's Deep did. I would have liked a lot more about the Rohirrim's trip, the Healing, of course, the coronation (FRODO should have carried the crown), and yet. . . . .I did not miss the Scouring of the Shire as much as I thought I would. I LOVED Gandalf's speech to Pippin about the green land just before the battle in Minas Tirith--that language comes straight from Frodo's dream/vision of Valinor in Tom Bombadil's house, and it's hands down, period, one of my favorite parts of the book--and to have it here, delivered with such authority, by Gandalf, to Pippin, nearly broke my heart. I loved the reunion scene. I loved. . . . ..well I loved everything. I loved the scene at the Grey Havens. I'm looking forward to the extended DVD of course, but think I understand why some of the decisions were made, and I think it so works. And the time just flew by. We had a great audience to watch with--huge but quiet (no stupid comments). Laughed and applauded in the right places. At one point, Entwife said you could tell everybody in the theatre was holding their breath (when Sauron addressed Aragorn/Elessar just before the battle). I heard a lot of sobs and sniffles around me. And my goodness, a huge number of cars leaving the lot at 3:30, and EVERYBODY was courteous and let people in--so you had three or four streams of cars all merging peacefully and without problem. You don't see that often in Texas. But obviously, the only people who would be at a midnight viewing--and from the talk Entwife heard, some had to work tomorrow--would be stone fans. They were GREAT to watch with. We are so happy we went! And we have tickets for the 4:30 showing closer to home tomorrow. . . . .after a 3:00 doctor's appointment. Check up for me, and flu shots for both of us, sigh. But then we get to see it again. Yay!
December 19, 2003 First of Two Posts: Three Times
Be warned, there be RotK SPOILERS to follow,
Have seen it three times, but after second time, just replied to friends' comments in various journals. I still am loving it, cannot be critical yet.
Not any big new thoughts, just things noticed along the way. Random thoughts.
Pippin looks VERY hot in black. That Citadel Guard outfit just rocks on him. If he were my hobbit, he'd be wearing black velvet ALOT. Yum.
Second time we saw the film, less than 12 hours after the first time *snicker,* we noticed how Frodo's neck becomes increasingly abraded from the chain of the Ring--it's fairly subtle at the start, more so by the encounter with Shelob, at the end, very bloody. I like how that wound subtly conveys the weight of the Ring increasing.
In the book, at one point, Aragorn declaims dramatically that Anduril will not be sheathed again until (forget the exact words) the war is over. It's a v. medieval kind of declamation (though has been parodied). I noticed in the film, that when Brego runs away (Paths of Dead nasty wind), the sheath of Anduril is on his saddle. We only see Aragorn carrying the sword from then on: he carries it into Dimholt, gestures with it with the Dead, is carrying it when he leaps out of ship, fights with it of course, carries it riding out of Minas Tirith, holds it until battle starts in front of Black Gate. When he is in council with Gandalf and others (where Gimli is sitting in Steward's chair, NOT the throne, as some people speculated a few weeks ago), he isn't holding the sword, but he isn't wearing it sheathed either. So without saying it, the film SHOWS Aragorn having the sword out until after Sauron is defeated. I find that fascinating.
Entwife and I were talking about how Jackson 'tweaks' filmgoers who have not read the book in all three films:
First one, the Nazgûl attack on bolsters filmed in sneaky way. And Gandalf's fall of course. (Gandalf the Grey is DEAD, snicker.) Second one, Aragorn's fall. Third one, the fact that Sam has taken the Ring from (he believes) Frodo's body is not shown, so Sam's revelation to Frodo that he took the Ring to save it is a revelation to the audience as well. And we also think the way the film ends with tying up the various storylines (which are NOT "false endings"--nobody should be allowed to review this film who hasn't read the book) is also a bit of a tweak. The people in front of me tonight half stood up at least 3 times before "The End" came up on screen.
And while there was no inappropriate laughter tonight (dead silence during Théoden's death scene), a guy behind me asked loudly, as the credits began to roll, "So where did Frodo and those other people GO?"
*sigh*
Well it's after 1 so I must get to bed. More later on. . . . ..oh, I bought the soundtrack today. Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it--it is playing now!
G'night!
December 19, 2003 Second of Two Posts: Now That It's Over
Hmmm, not sure this is going to be spoilery or not, it's coming right off the top of my head, but just to be safe, I will cut it. This is a response to what most of my friends who've posted on RotK seem to be saying: that they are feeling a sadness that it's all over. . . . .
This is why I find it so fascinating to 'talk' to people, to hear all the different responses, to think about all the ways in which we are so alike and so different at the same time. There's such a range of responses to books and films (and music and art but that's a different area at the moment) that I'm always flabbergasted when individuals think they can make any universally authoritative or applicable statement.
And this is why I love the teaching I do--I get to talk about all sorts of texts in all sorts of ways with all sorts of people (though, yes, sometimes it can be quite irritating to deal with the products of the Texas educational system which seems to downplay reading, writing, and thinking in favor of passing standardized tests, but I've bitched enough about that elsewhere). My love for this process is what keeps me going through the shit that happens in every job, and if I ever lose it, I'll leave teaching.
I've spent a lot of years learning that I cannot dictate what any text will mean to somebody else and, as a teacher, trying to learn how to teach critical reading skills without dictating meaning. And part of this is to get students to talk about what they see in a text, what they like, what confuses them, how they respond. NOTHING I can say is as valuable as having students talk to each other and discover that (surprise) everybody reads differently and finds different things in a text. (Of course lots of my students would prefer I just tell them the meaning and let them write it on the test and give them an A, but they're just shit out of luck, I'm afraid. I'm the teacher, and I don't have to lecture if I don't wanta, snicker.)
So, I come out of the viewings of RotK and read my flist, and realize: I'm not feeling any of the wistfulness that some people are identifying in themselves. Before I go on--let me say firmly that I believe everyone has a total right to their feelings, that I'm not trying to say that you should NOT be feeling X or Y. I'm VERY interested in, one, hearing more at some point about how you all are feeling and why you feel that way, when you can talk about it, and talking about my feelings. Just like I enjoy talking about different ways that people write or read. There's so much to learn there if people are willing to think about and talk about it (and I love it when you do it in LOTS of details. At length.) Just saying. What follows is total personal feeling and I acknowledge that I'm widely perceived in most circles to be a little bit. . . . ..weird.
Of course, there's still anticipation for the Extended DVD to come! But I understand what Entwife and other friends are saying in acknowledging that there's a sort of wistfulness, a wish that it could go on and on and on. . . . ..like the road. More of the story. (Did you know Tolkien tried to write something about the Fourth Age, but evil had returned, and he got too depressed to do so?)
Hmm. Maybe I'll feel sad next fall when there's not a film coming out for my winter break.
But maybe not.
See, I don't like anticipation. I don't like waiting. I want it all. Now. I am an impatient greedy sort of person who is into excess in certain areas (even excess in abstention but that's another post, heh).
And my response to finishing a book I love is to read it again. And again. Often immediately after finishing it. And then again. And each experience is a little different than the experience before. And then I start, in some cases, there's just not enough time to do it all, writing about it. I love reading something the first time, but if it's really great, I love re-reading it even more. And sometimes my writing is "analytical" and sometimes it's "creative" (like Tolkien said, his first response to reading something he loved was not to analyze it but to write "it" over again himself. Not plagiarism, but what he did in incorporating the medieval and Anglo Saxon materials into LotR). And for me, now, creative includes fanfic and slashfic.
But always before, this feeling has been about books. Not films. Which I never much liked.
My friends who know I saw FotR 45 times before it left the theatres and watched if 5 times the first weekend when the theatrical DVD came out (cannot even count how many times I've seen it now), and that I saw TT 33 times in the theatres before it left (haven't seen DVD as much because. . . . ..um, I seem to be writing smut), are amazed to hear that before THIS I didn't much like seeing films. I liked reading. Didn't feel any need to see all the big blockbuster films, or the prize winners, or the intellectual ones. Because hands down books are better. Mediocre books are better than "great" films. I wasn't all that visual (before this). Am now having to educate myself in how to read visual texts.
But before this, whole years could go by when I didn't see a single film in a theatre.
And people who freak out when they hear how often I've seen the films freak out even more when I say I have read the books over 150 times. (OK, I admit it, I sometimes like freaking people out.)
And the first time reading of LotR was great (I can remember a lot of it in stunning detail, the summer I was 10, loaned the books by our friend while we were on vacation on the western Washington coast, the PERFECT place to read Tolkien, how I would go into the woods or down to the shore and realize I did live in Middle-earth). But every time reading it (and reading all the volumes of early drafts and finally, eventually, The Silmarillion, OK that took a bit longer, just got through that last February though I bought it when it was first published) has been good. And there's so much. . . . .*stuff*. . . . .that comes to mind when I read now. It just keeps getting better and better and better. . . . .and I'm reading other stuff (yep, litcrit) about Tolkien and Jackson.
And now there's the film. And I can watch the DVDs (though prefer it on big screen) again and again. And RotK is finally OUT (OK, I'll be even happier when Extended DVD comes out) (wonder if I'll get sad after that. . . . .). And I can watch them and talk about them and write about them and and and. . . . .
I'm just not feeling that sadness though apparently I am in the minority here. I'm feeling excited and happy and thrilled and and and. . . . .well, really really good. Happy.
Really really happy and so looking forward to the next few years, hell, even the next few months (of course I'm blessed enough to get to teach Tolkien which adds a whole new dimension of fun to life).
December 20, 2003 That Film. . . . ..(need I use any more identifiers?)
Spoilers, definitely spoilers, though I wish to state emphatically that despite rumours to the contrary, I do NOT spoil our ten cats, three dogs, or the neighbors' dogs who hang around let alone the cows who live in the next field. I am philosophically against spoiling. They come spoiled. It is not my fault. . . . .so to avoid spoilage, avoid the cut!
I screwed up on the sword observation made in my last post about the movie. Aragorn does *not* carry it unsheathed all the time after Brego runs away with the sheath outside the mountain. When he leads the Men of the West out of Minas Tirith, when they ride up to the Black Gate, he is NOT carrying it. But when the Gate opens, and the Orcs are matching toward him, and the camera pans back toward him, he does have it out. And I'm pretty darn sure he is riding Brego on the last March--which means of course that Éomer kindly caught his horse for him and brought him along snicker. Ditto white horse for Legolas and Gimli (by the book it should be Arod, but Arod was a bay I think, not white, but oh, well, we wouldn't want to be too picky now would we?)
And speaking of Éomer, I do wish they hadn't given him a short joke ("I do not doubt his heart just the reach of his arm.") Snort. At least the dwarf tossing has been dropped.
Which leads me to think about a future post on some ideas I have about point of view and what a difference it makes in why I like books more. Relates especially to the ride of the Rohirrim (and I was obsessively checking book and Geography because it looks to me like there's a sunrise behind the hill on which the Rohirrim mass before they charge down--but it would be possible for them to be coming from a sort of eastern direction to the City as it turns out..)
And I just checked today--I'm pretty darn sure that after Aragorn's speech about the days of peace, given in the Common Tongue, when he starts to chant, what he's chanting is the Elvish straight or pretty straight from Tolkien's description of the coronation:
Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn 'Ambar-metta
Which is what Elendil said when he came to Middle-earth fleeing the destruction of Númenor: "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide; and my heirs, unto the ending of the world."
Added Later D'Oh. Hits self on head. Well, yeah, I was listening to the RotK soundtrack, and suddenly realized that I could check the lyrics in the little paper foldy thingy--what do they call them in CDs these days? Anyway. Yeah. It's exactly those words, attributed to Tolkien, the Elvish and the translation. Hah, but I recognized it just from hearing it, well, um, four times.
So now the question comes about Pippin's song: is it a Tolkien one or not? I cannot recall any, but the imagery is very Tolkien-esque. Must go find info on that.
But I am still *pissed* that Frodo is not the one who carried the crown to Gandalf. I don't know why they did it, I know there are much bigger things, and yes, I love the "bowing" scene, but goddamnit. It *should* have been Frodo. *pouts*
And at the bowing scene, I am struck by how Merry and Pippin (on either end of the line of hobbits not side by side which is unusual) have these smiles, enjoying their moment of fame, and Sam and Frodo, in the middle, side by side (which is usual) have almost identical looks of….I don't know. Not smiles. Not sadness. But perhaps an awareness of what will come and what has been paid, a blend of sadness and joy.
And speaking of looks (for a movie with so much action, I am more or less remembering the quiet moments, the interchange of love), when Sam comes into the chamber at Minas Tirith after everyone else, the look he and Frodo exchange is heartbreaking--AND Sam is the most beautiful at that moment. The smile he gives Frodo--I don't know how to express it. But it's one of my favorite moments. Sam and Frodo, there. The reunion is nifty, but it builds beautifully to that last moment which technically isn't a reunion, but an affirmation.
And I love how in that scene, Gandalf's laughter (described in Ithilien when Sam wakes up in the book) and the reunion is such a perfect example of Tolkien's eucatastrophe.
Perfect.
Silly thought: DRAG in this film. I love the fact that the Nazgûl screams are modified/enhanced versions of Fran Walsh's shrieking (think I picked that up on audio commentary by the production team! cannot recall). And that most of the Riders of Rohan are women (covered on variety of special features--on the South Island, the women are the riders, so they just put them in beards). And the Nazgûl in the chase scenes in the first film--women. (I bummed out one fanboy by telling him this, snicker.) And finally, that at least one of the major orc actors/stuntpeople is a woman (Lani is my favorite, I am in love with her after the TT EE special features). And that most of the Moria orcs were females (smaller). And that the "giant" looking people in Bree in "big suits" at the Inn walking behind the hobbits were women gymnasts. And at least one of the fight choreographers working on the film (did Eowyn's sword bit with Aragorn in TT) is a woman.
And I see a lot of women's names in the credits in all areas.
I like that about this film.
A few minor quibbles: at one point the cut on Frodo's face switches side (on the Mountain of Fire). Cannot believe I noticed that, but I was paying lots of attention go his face, hee. Only short, and next scene, it switches back, but it's like Merry's cut in Fangorn.
And, agreeing with everyone else, the Denethor death scene--he just could not run that distance while on fire. It's giving in to the B movie impulse or something. I could live without the palantir backstory if they just let him die on the pyre. *sigh*
And is it just me, or do the helmets on the Guards of the White Tree/Courtyard (with the white seabird wings which are technically correct to what is described in the book) strike anyone else as looking really really. . . . .stupid? You don't see them much, thank goodness, but I don't know. I prefer the other helmets with the engraved wing design, not big white things sticking out on either side of the head. May be an example of why there cannot always be a literal translation from book to film. Like having the Rohirrim NOT sing as they slew was a GOOD idea, I think. Would evoke Monty Python too much.
Well we'll be off today--my fifth viewing, Entwife's third. But will probably stay home tomorrow, a lazy day, a day for writing fics, not going out, and maybe a chance to process a bit more as well.
A question or two: is there any translation anywhere of the Māori text that comes at the end of the credits?
Has anyone caught Peter Jackson's cameo? I keep thinking he will be in one of the Gondor crowd scenes (the first two films had him in Bree street scene, then at battle of Helm's Deep), but cannot believe he will be a soldier (helmets cover up so much of face??), but cannot see him in any of the crowd ones.
A bit of context: I got an invitation to LiveJournal from someone I met at an academic conference in March 2003; I’d been deep in love with the films since Fellowship hit the theatres, but this invitation brought me back into active (online media) fandom. It was a lovely time for a while! Joining LiveJournal and meeting all the other fans inspired me to start writing fanfiction for the first time in my life, and that was also lovely.
I used to tell my students I got a Ph.D. so I could get paid for teaching sff in English classes! It was a cunning plan!