Return of the Big Expensive Fanfic

[lavendertook]

I'll develop my points further in a later review, but I've seen RotK twice and my feelings about it are mixed. The film is a visual feast and its beauty will draw me back for a number of viewings, but in some ways it left me cold because there were parts of the storytelling that didn't work for me.

VISUALS, PACING, AND SATISFYING TELLINGS

Meduseld brought fully to life, the Gothic intricacy of Minas Tirith, the grandeur of the landscape, especially used to maximum effect in the scene where the watchtowers are lit, the Celtic detail of the encampments, the Gothic ruins of Osgiliath, more beautiful downtown Rivendell, the Mumakil, and crumbling towers, Gandalf and Shadowfax's charge, and the harbor at the Havens, as well as all the costuming--all incredibly magnificent.

There's never a boring moment, but some of the cuts are choppy and sudden, and characters wind up in positions that are unexplained. However I'm sure most, if not all, those problems will be solved and improved upon in the EE, as was the case with the first two EE's. The music, of course is wonderful throughout, except in a couple points where I think it swells in a way that overwhelms the scene and makes it melodramatic.

The storylines that are most satisfyingly developed to me are those involving Pippin, Eowyn and Aragorn. Pippin and Boyd really get to shine in this movie with all the humor and pathos of his development--and its very canon. However, I like the way Eowyn's story falls short of canon. They leave out some motivations Eowyn has for fighting in the book that undercut her agency. I love Otto's Eowyn. And I don't miss the presentation of her courtship with Faramir. It's nice to see a strong, beautiful woman who isn't paired up with a man in the end. I've loved the concerns the film adaptation added to Aragorn's struggles in FotR that aren't straight from the book and they're well carried through to the end.

MAKING COMPASSION LOOK STUPID

My main problems with the film are the presentation of Sam and Frodo on many levels. The lembas stealing scene is a development out of the story addition in TTT, where the larger part of Frodo's attitudes toward Gollum are more shaped by identification with Gollum than pity and compassion for him. This development undercuts both Frodo's character and the story's focus on the importance of compassion. Tolkien makes explicit that there is nothing naive about Frodo's compassion for Gollum and he is totally aware of his probable treachery despite Frodo being weakened by the Ring. It's not only the films presentation of Frodo's blindness to Gollum, either through naive hope or addiction, but his coldness to Sam's tears that make him a character of less substance than Tolkien's. I don't believe this Frodo would have gotten this far without having already claimed the Ring. Character matters.

The changes in Sam's character make me less able to believe that this character could do what he is portrayed as doing. Sam repeatedly beats Gollum out of frustration and anger, not in defence of Frodo. Instead of a mamma lion fighting to protect they turn him into a pitbull. I don't believe someone who has so little control over his impulses to violence could have relinquished the Ring when Frodo asked for it. I know they added the violence for the sake of visual drama for storytelling in the cinematic medium, but in this case it is destroying character and is out of place. This is very different than the violence portrayed on the battlefield.We live in a violent world. We don't need interpersonal violence normalized like this by having exemplary characters engage in it.

SAME SEX RELATIONSHIPS AND THE LACK OF A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

The worst moment of conflict between Sam and Frodo in the book is when Frodo calls Sam a thief. Frodo's behavior is clearly protrayed as a result of the Ring's influence. It happens quickly and when he returns to himself, he apologizes to Sam. Only the Ring comes between Frodo and Sam, not Gollum. I know increasing the three-way conflict is more dramatic, but it undermines the quality of the bond of trust between Frodo and Sam. You can add in all the tender moment scenes you want, but if you undermine the trust, the relationship is lessened. When Frodo realized Gollum has betrayed him and calls for Sam for the first time after leaving him in tears, the strength of the relationship, whether you see them as lovers or platonic friends, is made into a joke.

There's many moments when Sam could have mentioned his desire to marry Rosie, like even canonical moments. Why have this declaration right before Frodo and Sam share the most loving embrace, but to make the moment heteronormatively "safe" and undercut its tenderness. They follow this moment with a long black-out, as if to say, "imagine queer-sex here and have your slashy kinks" right after making sure we know Sam will do the straight thing if he had a choice. I'll have to develop this point further because it's really complicated, but this presentation, together with the lack of mention that Sam will sail, really doesn't make the picture feel queer positive to anyone who cares about the love in same-sex relationships, rather than protraying them for illicit sexual thrills. The way Tolkien leaves Sam's marriage to Rosie and Frodo and Sam's relationship is much more open--PJ, Walsh, and Boyen's Rotk closes down the possibilities.

OTHER CHARACTER GRIPES

Merry's story is a bit chopped (I know the EE will restore some of it), but Monaghan does great with what he is given. I hope the EE will give back some of Denethor's motivations that will make him more than a simple villainous mad person. While I like Arwen getting the chance to take Glorfindel's place in FotR and be Luthien-like, I particularly disliked what was done with Arwen's storyline in RotK. That her choice was decided by her future role as a child bearer and not her coming to grips with her own mortality, displays an even more conservative attitude toward women's agency than Tolkien evoked.

I warned you this would be a very mixed review. OK, I will develop many of these points further in an entry sometime after my friends Down Under have a shot at a viewing, but feel free to respond to this if you'd like to give me more to think about before I expand this review. What say you?