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Lord of the Rings
Feb. 28th, 2010 01:37 pmSo Zcc and I have just made our way through the three LotR films again. There was a fair bit of mocking, I'm afraid, making fun of the boys' adventure, Legolas's 'stand and deliver' lines. And once again enjoying the best actor of the films, the scenery.
But the things which most moved me were: the hall of the Rohirrim, Medusel - I want a house that looks like that, with the beautiful banners waving down wooden walls; the speeches which riffed on the Old English - Theoden's at the tomb of his son, and before he rides to war at various places; the battle for Gondor and the bravery of the hobbits (for some reason - possibly Jackson's silly meddling with the story - Helm's Deep is not so special); Eowyn's killing of the Witch King; and sorrows at passing of friends. For some reason, I teared up at a number of places, including the final scene where Frodo goes West - which I have previously been unmoved by. See above under PJ's meddling.
But the thing that I came away thinking about was the book, elements in it which I had not seriously considered before, though the words which started thoughts ring in my brain from previous study. "I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me." The echo in these words of men who went to war, and come back forever changed - unable to fit in to the very thing they were fighting for. I now want to go back through the book and look for other things like that. I want a chance to teach LotR, the heroic sides, the use of Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic tales, AND the more modern influences on it - World War II and the effect on soliders.
Much chance I'll have of that, unless I can persuade the HoD to run the paper again - and given that the Old English paper is no longer listed on the website of the English Department, I wonder what the chances of Tolkien being taught again are?
But the things which most moved me were: the hall of the Rohirrim, Medusel - I want a house that looks like that, with the beautiful banners waving down wooden walls; the speeches which riffed on the Old English - Theoden's at the tomb of his son, and before he rides to war at various places; the battle for Gondor and the bravery of the hobbits (for some reason - possibly Jackson's silly meddling with the story - Helm's Deep is not so special); Eowyn's killing of the Witch King; and sorrows at passing of friends. For some reason, I teared up at a number of places, including the final scene where Frodo goes West - which I have previously been unmoved by. See above under PJ's meddling.
But the thing that I came away thinking about was the book, elements in it which I had not seriously considered before, though the words which started thoughts ring in my brain from previous study. "I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me." The echo in these words of men who went to war, and come back forever changed - unable to fit in to the very thing they were fighting for. I now want to go back through the book and look for other things like that. I want a chance to teach LotR, the heroic sides, the use of Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic tales, AND the more modern influences on it - World War II and the effect on soliders.
Much chance I'll have of that, unless I can persuade the HoD to run the paper again - and given that the Old English paper is no longer listed on the website of the English Department, I wonder what the chances of Tolkien being taught again are?
