The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey excitement and Frodocentric natterings!

[lavendertook]

OK, has anybody seen frodosweetstuff? I haven't seen her around commenting for a few days, and I'm just afraid that she might have put on her ring of invisibility before seeing the below picture and may have thudded out cold somewhere when she saw it, and no one's tripped over her yet. ;-D



I had a lovely dinner with ancalime8301 this evening--I can attest that the Gandalf Gobbler sandwich at Denny's is excellent, especially with a side of spinach--the menus are very cute. But Thomas-Builds-the-Fire tells it better, of course. And yes, this was not one of the Denny's that John Metz owns, which I would not dine in. Anyway, Cali said she hadn't seen this beautiful Frodo With the Party RSVPs pic yet, so it was as good an excuse as any to post it. I'm not sure now if it's the one I got from a link to Tolkienanos from Tumbler or our dear aliensouldream. The pic posted was a red-phased and sepia-ed version of the original Rolling Stone Magazine pic, and it is a very pretty effect I like a lot, but I decided to up the blue and lower the red a bit in the pic to give it a more day light effect. Yes, ASD, it is very hard to stop playing with this pic! :-D The pic in the magazine has a much sharper focus with a candlelight tone to it.

I'm kind of psyched that we get to see an age appropriate Frodo for this movie, and he's looking as beautiful as ever. I don't mean to suggest that it's more correct than the fanon that supposes that hobbits at the 33 coming of age point are like a human 18 due to slower maturation, a fanon mostly developed to make sense of Frodolijah looking so young, I think. But that fanon never quite satisfies for me that his younger hobbit companions look older than he is.

So here's how my head fanon of the films is working now: Frodo looks age appropriate in The Hobbit because the tale is from Bilbo's point of view, and Bilbo sees Frodo as he is--a hobbit in his thirties when Bilbo is eleventy-one.

However, the LotR is from Frodo's point of view, and thus he has a younger self-image of himself, as I think most of us do. So with Frodo's telling of the tale, we see him as he sees himself: a younger hobbit than even his ring-slowed age would make him later. So now it all makes sense for me and I won't have any cognitive dissonance at seeing an older Frodo for the earlier parts of the tales. And I'm so psyched to see a Frodo (and Bingo) who looks so much closer to my textual head fanon image of the character. Such are the happy rationalizations of this Frodocentric, and still Bingocentric, fan. (-;

And I promised Cali more links of what's been fun to view the last couple of weeks:

The 8 minute fan compilation of all the previews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/the-hobbit-fan-trailer_n_2170938.html

The Piano Guys LotR Cover of pretty visuals with gorgeous piano/cello duo
http://youtu.be/FZNqs0YgWkM

The Silly Air New Zealand advertisement video with great-grandson Royd Tolkien in hobbit feet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBlRbrB_Gnc

Ian McKellan's fanfic of a Bilbo/Gandalf backstory, that I bet would delight the Cucumber-Free-Cookie-batch fans a lot (-;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/7985801/Sir-Ian-on-Gandalfs-return

PJs Production Video #9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqyzHwnEiY

And another pic from RSM I really like


Enjoy!

And one more thing: does Shore's Misty Mountains Cold theme remind anyone else of Jupiter from Holst's "The Planets"? I find you can hum (OK, as in, "I have hummed") the tune and gone right into humming Holst's with one smooth transition. There ya go. (-:

3 more weeks! :-D

Comments

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Lovely Frodo picture. I hadn't seen it before now. Thanks for sharing.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

isn't it? You're welcome--we're here to share the squee, right? (-:

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

*waves* Sorry, had the week from hell at work (1,5 days overtime because of a presentation) and then I managed to break my glasses (and I'm blind without them) so I'm not around much at the moment.

I did see that Frodo photo though and I'm still not happy AT ALL. What's with the heavy eyeliner and the general look of a recovering drug addict? *sighs* This is not what the Frodo of the same age from LOTR looks like. It looks like his older brother who's the black sheep of the family, not the pure, idealistic hobbit who decides to take the Ring to Mordor even though he doesn't know the way (and thinks he'll never return). :(

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Poor you! *snugs* I was just hoping to make you smile with the teasing.

What's with the heavy eyeliner and the general look of a recovering drug addict? *sighs*

Well, you know, the whole bunch of them were heavily into the Old Toby . . . ;-P Yeah, I agree the eye make-up is too heavy. It's not quite as bad in the printed pic in Rolling Stone, though, that this digital upload is from. But I think the make-up department, as opposed to the prosthetics, has always been the weak link in WETA's mithril chain of craftspersonship. I've always been bugged by the sun glass lines on Frodo's cheeks in many shots in LotR.

It looks like his older brother who's the black sheep of the family

Well, see, that's a good description of Bingo, who was first written as 39 instead of 33 in the earliest drafts, so no wonder I'm delighted with this pic--it must be of Bingo! ;-D

I'm sorry this pic isn't bringing you the squee, too. )-:

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

*hugs you*

Ha, when I think of him as Bingo, it does indeed work much better!

OMG, is that what they are???? Sun glass lines???? I saw those and never knew what they were and was wondering why there were there sometimes and weren't at other times. OMG LEARNED SOMETHING NEW TODAY!! *happy*

Well, at least the photo made someone happy!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

:-D

I'm sure that's what they are. You see them in the on-location shots only. I can't believe how they gave him the most face-time of anyone in the movies, and knowing with his light eyes that he would need to be sunglassed between shots, that they didn't have someone from make-up foundation over those lines or got the CGI department to photoshop them over later. With all the details they were so careful with in the films, and how lovingly they filmed him, you'd think they'd pay attention to a big camera-time detail like that. I always found that a weirdly large oversight, and sloppy work on something central that I think more than us fanatic Frodo fans would notice.

It did. *hugs*

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

I'll have to pay attention to that next time I watch the films. I did see them but never really knew what they were and was rather puzzled. You'd expect they would pay more attention to that indeed!

[romeny.livejournal.com]

I'm so thrilled that Frodo is in the movie at all (he really shouldn't be we know) that I'd live any image of him. Your explanation makes sense as Frodo is narrating as his older self.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

The story telling frame makes a lot of sense though--I hope they go back to it more than just at the beginning. It would have the effect that the book's intrusive narrator has. I just wish Bilbo was telling the tale to Sam as well as Frodo. (-:

Glad the explanation helps you, too. Rationalization can be our friend sometimes. (-;

[addie71.livejournal.com]

That is such a lovely picture of Frodo. :D

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

It is. *happy sigh* (-:

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

He is beautiful, that Frodo! It's interesting the whole age thing. I was wondering how they could even manage it so many years later, and it's really amazing that Elijah has aged so well. But there is aging and that's inevitable, and it is a little weird. I'll have to see how it looks on film before I make any judgments, but I like your theory of it being from Bilbo's POV!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

The more important part of the theory is that the LotR Frodo is Frodo's projected self-image of a younger than quest-time self. Rationalizations for the win and enhancement of viewing pleasure! :-D

[shirebound]

So here's how my head fanon of the films is working now: Frodo looks age appropriate in The Hobbit because the tale is from Bilbo's point of view, and Bilbo sees Frodo as he is--a hobbit in his thirties when Bilbo is eleventy-one.

That's ever so clever. :)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sweetie! I use my powers of rationalization for good. ;-D

[ancalime8301]

Thanks for all the links! That's some great stuff. :)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Enjoy, my friend! <3

[aliensouldream.livejournal.com]

What a great round up! So many gorgeous things happening. And I like that canon logic - works for me!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Squeeeee! :-D I just realized the teller's projected self-perception in the film narratives theory makes sense of why young Bilbo in The Hobbit looks different from the young Bilbo in the prologue in FotR as well. The young Bilbo in the prologue is Frodo's projection of what he thinks the young Bilbo, from before he was born, looks like. And of course, Frodo would be seeing young Bilbo as older than he was, while Bilbo is projecting his idealized younger self in his tale.

PJ needs to hire me to settle the continuity grumbles! (-;

[lovethosehobbit.livejournal.com]

It's amazing to me that in 10 years all that's changed about Elijah is that is sweet childhood puffiness of his face is gone. I do miss that, but he's still a stunner.