I talk a lot when it comes to Tolkien
Aug. 30th, 2011 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyAs of this year, I've been a Lord of the Rings fan for 20 years. I don't know exactly when ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coastal_spirit read the trilogy to me, but I know I was in third grade, which would have been in 1991. She probably read The Hobbit to me sometime before that. It's hard for me to fathom the idea of having done anything for 20 years (except maybe go to school) let alone be consistently interested in something. If I had to pick, I would say that LotR is my most lasting fandom. I've had others more intense - Sherlock Holmes, I'm looking at you - but even Holmes and Utena haven't had the kind of staying power LotR has. For some reason, I always come back to it, and my love and squee doesn't seem ever to falter or wane like it does for other fandoms.
I'm not sure why this is. I've honestly read books that are better written (although I think that's true of everything; there's always something better in some aspects). I have this undying love for the characters in spite of their sometimes minimal development, and the plotline is certainly epic, but I can't say it would hold my interest in any other context. Nostalgia is certainly a factor. I remember clearly how devastated I was when Gandalf died: my mother read it to me one morning when I got into bed with her after my dad got up, and afterward in the bath (I was still little enough that I didn't take showers yet) I remember just staring at the back of the tub in shock, numb. When we used to go to our camp up in Maine, I would play in the woods and pretend I was a descendant of Arwen and Aragorn. I wonder now if I would find the scary parts of the trilogy - the Barrow-downs, the Ringwraiths, Shelob - nearly as frightening if they hadn't been the very foundation my childhood fears were built on. I'll never know; all I know is that they do still scare me, but now it's a delicious sort of fright.
I think, just as much as the characters and the nostalgia, it's the world that keeps bringing me back. I've never read a fantasy realm so perfectly realized, with such vivid geography and this rich, all-pervasive history. I've been reading The Silmarillion again (my second attempt - I didn't get far the first time) and it's written in such a different tone; it's absolutely a mythology and not a close-up story. There's just so much background that shapes the world and lives of the characters in the trilogy, background that most of them don't even know about but which still effects them, and it's amazing how much you can see of it once you know what to look for.
I wanted to draw a scene, a tiny snippet of graphic novel, to commemorate my 20 years loving these books. I've got three-ish panels drawn, but my creative mojo has fled and I'm not sure where it's gone. I'm also curiously unperturbed by this, which is unusual. Hopefully I can finish it before the end of the year XD
Last night I cleaned the living room and watched/listened to the cast commentary of The Return of the King (the commentaries are great for having on while you're doing chores). To save your f'lists any more stretching I've put my observations under a cut, but they're probably more amusing than the above ^^;;
That cut text is a quote from Bernard Hill, who played Theoden. He was narrating Theoden's inner monologue during the dramatic, windblown scene when the Rohirrim were gathering to march off to war in Gondor. I <3 Bernard Hill. He's such a smartass XD And Theoden is so dignified that it's doubly hilarious to hear his actor say "What. The eff. Is THAT." when the oliphaunts appear with the Haradrim army, thundering toward the poor little scraggly Rohirrim. He also made up this whole backstory and culture for the people who maintain the signal fires between Gondor and Rohan, how they pass down the matchboxes within their families and pledge keep the beacons dry. He's one of the best parts of the commentaries.
The movies are so time-consuming that I can never decide whether I want to watch them straight up or with the commentaries on. And I've never listened to a commentary that wasn't the cast members, even though there are three other full commentary tracks in RotK alone. The commentaries lighten it up, though, which has many advantages alongside being good tidying background noise, because otherwise (especially in RotK) everything is very dire indeed (and requires lots of concentration).
They clearly had some of the cast members watch it together, which is delightful. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are obviously watching it together, because they play off each other and dissolve into giggles and are generally hysterical to listen to. Elijah Wood and Sean Astin are together too, although they are MUCH MORE SRS. They say one or two silly things, but it's clear that while Billy and Dom are heckling and occasionally commenting on how awesome a particular actor/scene was, Elijah and Sean are trying to describe the experience, their feelings, the background about how they approached the shoot, etc. They were both very "This is a work of great gravitas and impact!" while Billy and Dom were more "And during one take when I tried to hand Gandalf the palantir, I actually handed him a horse poo."
I think those two pairs were the only ones who were recording together, although I suspect the cast got to listen to each other's commentary while they were watching, because they did cue each other occasionally. Andy Serkis might have been with Elijah and Sean, but I think probably not. He is HILARIOUS, by the way, as well as informative. He kept switching between the Gollum/Smeagol voices, and Gollum is such a snarky little bastard. It's delightful.
I wish Viggo Mortensen had been part of the commentary, because I would've loved to hear from him. Everyone seems to idolize him as commitment personified, and I bet he'd also be really funny, considering some of the things he got up to (kissing Billy Boyd to "encourage" Sam and Rosie at their wedding, for example). Orlando Bloom was funny and cute, and it was cool to hear from somebody who was so new to film acting. He was very appreciative and appropriately awe-filled, I felt. He, and the other actors too, were all very frank about their cluelessness at some points *laughs* In the scene where Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn come out of the Paths of the Dead to see the coast of Gondor burning and corsair ships attacking, Aragorn looks absolutely gutted and Legolas, with more of an elf-like "Well damn" expression, is comforting him with manly shoulder rubs, and Orlando's voiceover is telling us "I had no idea what was going on here. Pete told us there were ships and burning villages and I was just like 'Okay, sure, right.' I had no clue what I was looking at." XD Similarly, when they were approaching the battle at the gates of Mordor, Ian McKellen said "And I was thinking 'What part is this? Where are we going? Is this before or after Minas Tirith?'"
It was cool, because the commentary is the first time the actors get to see the extended edition, and they were all excited when certain scenes got put back in. I wish we had the opportunity to listen to one actor's entire commentary, since I'm guessing each person (or group) did a whole commentary and then they were all spliced together. We didn't get to hear a ton from Ian McKellen, for example, or from John Rhys-Davis (although what we did hear from him was priceless XD Gimli FTW). I rather like Miranda Otto's performance of Eowyn better after hearing her commentary. The whole Eowyn-Aragorn one-sided romance makes me headdesk a little, so I'm glad this movie was mostly taken up with IAmNoMan!Eowyn. I'd have liked to hear more from Karl Urban, too; out of all of the actors, and I think every one of them did a fantastic job, Karl Urban's Eomer was the closest to the character in my head. It's uncanny. Most of the commentary was pretty amusing, and it was all interesting. Now I just have to go watch the others again! :D
coastal_spirit read the trilogy to me, but I know I was in third grade, which would have been in 1991. She probably read The Hobbit to me sometime before that. It's hard for me to fathom the idea of having done anything for 20 years (except maybe go to school) let alone be consistently interested in something. If I had to pick, I would say that LotR is my most lasting fandom. I've had others more intense - Sherlock Holmes, I'm looking at you - but even Holmes and Utena haven't had the kind of staying power LotR has. For some reason, I always come back to it, and my love and squee doesn't seem ever to falter or wane like it does for other fandoms.I'm not sure why this is. I've honestly read books that are better written (although I think that's true of everything; there's always something better in some aspects). I have this undying love for the characters in spite of their sometimes minimal development, and the plotline is certainly epic, but I can't say it would hold my interest in any other context. Nostalgia is certainly a factor. I remember clearly how devastated I was when Gandalf died: my mother read it to me one morning when I got into bed with her after my dad got up, and afterward in the bath (I was still little enough that I didn't take showers yet) I remember just staring at the back of the tub in shock, numb. When we used to go to our camp up in Maine, I would play in the woods and pretend I was a descendant of Arwen and Aragorn. I wonder now if I would find the scary parts of the trilogy - the Barrow-downs, the Ringwraiths, Shelob - nearly as frightening if they hadn't been the very foundation my childhood fears were built on. I'll never know; all I know is that they do still scare me, but now it's a delicious sort of fright.
I think, just as much as the characters and the nostalgia, it's the world that keeps bringing me back. I've never read a fantasy realm so perfectly realized, with such vivid geography and this rich, all-pervasive history. I've been reading The Silmarillion again (my second attempt - I didn't get far the first time) and it's written in such a different tone; it's absolutely a mythology and not a close-up story. There's just so much background that shapes the world and lives of the characters in the trilogy, background that most of them don't even know about but which still effects them, and it's amazing how much you can see of it once you know what to look for.
I wanted to draw a scene, a tiny snippet of graphic novel, to commemorate my 20 years loving these books. I've got three-ish panels drawn, but my creative mojo has fled and I'm not sure where it's gone. I'm also curiously unperturbed by this, which is unusual. Hopefully I can finish it before the end of the year XD
Last night I cleaned the living room and watched/listened to the cast commentary of The Return of the King (the commentaries are great for having on while you're doing chores). To save your f'lists any more stretching I've put my observations under a cut, but they're probably more amusing than the above ^^;;
That cut text is a quote from Bernard Hill, who played Theoden. He was narrating Theoden's inner monologue during the dramatic, windblown scene when the Rohirrim were gathering to march off to war in Gondor. I <3 Bernard Hill. He's such a smartass XD And Theoden is so dignified that it's doubly hilarious to hear his actor say "What. The eff. Is THAT." when the oliphaunts appear with the Haradrim army, thundering toward the poor little scraggly Rohirrim. He also made up this whole backstory and culture for the people who maintain the signal fires between Gondor and Rohan, how they pass down the matchboxes within their families and pledge keep the beacons dry. He's one of the best parts of the commentaries.
The movies are so time-consuming that I can never decide whether I want to watch them straight up or with the commentaries on. And I've never listened to a commentary that wasn't the cast members, even though there are three other full commentary tracks in RotK alone. The commentaries lighten it up, though, which has many advantages alongside being good tidying background noise, because otherwise (especially in RotK) everything is very dire indeed (and requires lots of concentration).
They clearly had some of the cast members watch it together, which is delightful. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are obviously watching it together, because they play off each other and dissolve into giggles and are generally hysterical to listen to. Elijah Wood and Sean Astin are together too, although they are MUCH MORE SRS. They say one or two silly things, but it's clear that while Billy and Dom are heckling and occasionally commenting on how awesome a particular actor/scene was, Elijah and Sean are trying to describe the experience, their feelings, the background about how they approached the shoot, etc. They were both very "This is a work of great gravitas and impact!" while Billy and Dom were more "And during one take when I tried to hand Gandalf the palantir, I actually handed him a horse poo."
I think those two pairs were the only ones who were recording together, although I suspect the cast got to listen to each other's commentary while they were watching, because they did cue each other occasionally. Andy Serkis might have been with Elijah and Sean, but I think probably not. He is HILARIOUS, by the way, as well as informative. He kept switching between the Gollum/Smeagol voices, and Gollum is such a snarky little bastard. It's delightful.
I wish Viggo Mortensen had been part of the commentary, because I would've loved to hear from him. Everyone seems to idolize him as commitment personified, and I bet he'd also be really funny, considering some of the things he got up to (kissing Billy Boyd to "encourage" Sam and Rosie at their wedding, for example). Orlando Bloom was funny and cute, and it was cool to hear from somebody who was so new to film acting. He was very appreciative and appropriately awe-filled, I felt. He, and the other actors too, were all very frank about their cluelessness at some points *laughs* In the scene where Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn come out of the Paths of the Dead to see the coast of Gondor burning and corsair ships attacking, Aragorn looks absolutely gutted and Legolas, with more of an elf-like "Well damn" expression, is comforting him with manly shoulder rubs, and Orlando's voiceover is telling us "I had no idea what was going on here. Pete told us there were ships and burning villages and I was just like 'Okay, sure, right.' I had no clue what I was looking at." XD Similarly, when they were approaching the battle at the gates of Mordor, Ian McKellen said "And I was thinking 'What part is this? Where are we going? Is this before or after Minas Tirith?'"
It was cool, because the commentary is the first time the actors get to see the extended edition, and they were all excited when certain scenes got put back in. I wish we had the opportunity to listen to one actor's entire commentary, since I'm guessing each person (or group) did a whole commentary and then they were all spliced together. We didn't get to hear a ton from Ian McKellen, for example, or from John Rhys-Davis (although what we did hear from him was priceless XD Gimli FTW). I rather like Miranda Otto's performance of Eowyn better after hearing her commentary. The whole Eowyn-Aragorn one-sided romance makes me headdesk a little, so I'm glad this movie was mostly taken up with IAmNoMan!Eowyn. I'd have liked to hear more from Karl Urban, too; out of all of the actors, and I think every one of them did a fantastic job, Karl Urban's Eomer was the closest to the character in my head. It's uncanny. Most of the commentary was pretty amusing, and it was all interesting. Now I just have to go watch the others again! :D
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Date: 2011-08-31 03:11 am (UTC)The only way I made it through The Silmarillion was to realize it was a text book of Middle Earth history, not a novel/anthology.
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Date: 2011-08-31 11:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, The Silmarillion is very lofty in tone. It's enjoyable to read, but (to me) only from an information-intake perspective. The language doesn't move me.
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Date: 2011-08-31 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 03:23 pm (UTC)I wonder now if I would find the scary parts of the trilogy - the Barrow-downs, the Ringwraiths, Shelob - nearly as frightening if they hadn't been the very foundation my childhood fears were built on. I'll never know; all I know is that they do still scare me, but now it's a delicious sort of fright.
I hope I wasn't a bad mother for traumatizing you with some of the unpleasant/scary aspects of the story at such a young age. -_-;; I was almost as freaked out as you were, but, from an adult point of view, I think I viewed them with that delicious sort of fright that you speak of and didn't realize that they bothered you quite so much. I do think we discussed them at length. *snuggles* Poor little Elaby in the bathtub. I do remember that so well! Of course, Gandalf's "death" was traumatizing to me as well, so I shared your feelings, but, again, from an adult POV, and not from a child's.
When we used to go to our camp up in Maine, I would play in the woods and pretend I was a descendant of Arwen and Aragorn.
I never knew this (!), but I think it's extremely charming, and totally indicative of what type of a child you were. *snuggles again*
*wants to watch the movies again, this time with commentary* Actually, I think I did watch at least one with the commentary, but not the whole thing.
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Date: 2011-09-01 10:43 pm (UTC)I never knew this (!)
I think I probably thought it was silly and didn't mention it ^^;;
Actually, I think I did watch at least one with the commentary, but not the whole thing.
They're all SO worth it! But, as I said, time-consuming like whoa. We should have a marathon :D