Thursday 17 January 2002

We finally got to see Lord of the Rings (or LOTR as "everyone" refers to it) last Saturday and oh wowowowowow. I’m still spinning. What a trip.

I was incredibly impressed by the way the story was adapted, so that the story and ensemble of characters was enhanced and clarified. The Lord of the Rings is not the easiest read; much of it is slow, sludgy and thick even (I want to say "turgid" but that word always sounds lewd to me, somehow); the story is told in bits and pieces all over the place, not in chronological order or for best impact.

For example, the full story of the relationship between Aragorn and Arwen is only told in Appendix A to the trilogy, and thus Arwen herself is a very minor character throughout the saga - until its time to marry the King of course in the final book Return of the King. Female characters are pretty thin on the ground in LOTR, its true; the strongest female character is Eowyn, Lady of the Mark of Rohan (the horse lords - where Gandalf gets Shadowfax) who rides off to battle, has a major crush on Aragorn, but ends up happily marrying Faramir, Boromir's brother.

The casting and characterisation was brilliant -   a really great ensemble cast, al though Sir Ian McKellan was truly outstanding. Aragorn of course provided  the major *yum* factor; the hobbits were sweet and naive without being overly cutesie (it is possible that Elijah Wood's permanently haunted wide-eyed gaze may pall a little though).

The landscape and cinematography just blew me away, although Sam reckoned there was far too much of it (I can see his point but personally believe it was essential to give such an impression of distance and all the different lands and terrain); "breathtakingly beautiful" sounds both overblown and trite, but that's what it was. The character of each land and venue (the Shire; Isengard, Bree; Rivendell, the Mines of Moria etc) was realistic and utterly believable.

And as for the creatures and special effects; so well realised, particularly the Ringwraiths aaiiiiieeee!

« « « « «

So of course I'm re-reading, and my admiration of Peter Jackson and co. continues to grow. I can't wait for The Two Towers; I am really keen to meet their version of the Ents, and of course I can't wait for the Lords of Rohan and the rest of the Rohirrim - horsies wheeee!

I'm also interested to see how the next two instalments will be handled - whether the adventures of the three "groups" - Merry and Pippin, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn, and Frodo and Sam - will be concurrent ie, a section following Merry and Pippin, then a section with Frodo and Sam, etc, or in larger chunks as with the separate book format of The Lord of the Rings.

And how will it end? The final book, The Return of the King, is 75% what happened after the battle, and spans years. Aragorn becomes King (obviously), and marries Arwen. Legolas and Gimli take off on all kinds of adventures together. The hobbits mosey back to the Shire and put matters right there; Merry and Pippin metamorphose into local heroes and legends; Sam marries Rosie Cotton and has many children, becomes Mayor of Hobbiton and generally plays an important role; Frodo drifts out of view, and eventually joins the Elves and Bilbo on their journey to the Grey Havens, where he can at last be at peace.

Perhaps not the most exciting filmic content. I'm guessing the trilogy will end with the final battle, great celebration, and the marriage of Aragorn and Arwen (and lesser characters Faramir and Eowyn, who I actually prefer*). The return of all the heroes could perhaps best be told in a concluding montage? Who knows ...

*  Great news - Faramir is to be played by David Wenham, award-winning and generally superb Australian actor and oh so yumyumyum - he played Diver Dan in SeaChange and mmmm. Eowyn is being played by another Australian, the incredibly talented Miranda Otto. I hope she's been taking lots of horse-riding lessons.

« « « « «

Meanwhile I've been downloading wallpaper off www.lordoftherings.net (the official site and fucking brilliant - make sure you check it out, also Ian McKellan's "Grey Book). The poster of the Ringwraiths is incredible, and of course Aragorn mmmmm mmmmmmmm.

« « « « «

Wedding update – organising music, readings, yaddayadda for the service. Everything else is pretty much organised, much to my surprise, it's true. Yep, photographer, florist, dress, reception, service ... We have to organise cars, and write our vows, and that's it. We've had most of the RSVPs back already, looks like we'll have 35-40 as planned, and the wedding gift list at Debenhams has already been somewhat reduced, or so we've been informed. Ooooh.

So. Music for the service; Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary for my entrance, Handel's De Torrente from Dixit Dominus for the signing of the register (my favourite soprano/mezzo duet), and the third movement from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, for exit. Yay.

For the reading we've chosen John Donne's poem "The Good Morrow" - mostly because I have this thing for Donne, also the chief message of the piece, and in particular the reference to different hemispheres (North [Ireland] and West [Australia]), definitely appealed to us.

« « « « «

The Good-Morrow

I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I
Did, till we lov'd? were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd on countrey pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?
T'was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desir'd, and got, t'was but a dreame of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking soules,
Which watch not one another out of feare;
For love, all love of other sights controules,
And makes one little roome, an every where.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have showne,
Let us possesse one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appeares,
And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest,
Where can we finde two better hemispheares
Without sharpe North, without declining West?
What ever dyes, was not mixt equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.

— John Donne (1572-1631)

« « « « «

previous          home          next