Better Late Than Never

I was ashamed that, in all my 25 years, I'd never read The Lord of the Rings. So, late this summer, I picked it up. I just closed the book today, and now I'll be under a cloud of depression for a long while, as one always is at the end of something very, very good. After such an amazing story I find that I can't just put the book down and go on. I want to think about it and talk about it, and know what others think and say about it. I now also have a sense of perspective with which to critique both book and movie; here are my weak attempts...

It goes without saying that the intricate history of Middle Earth-- from the dates, the reciting of poems and songs--made the story absolutely come alive...made it become not just a wonderful epoch, but the telling of a great time in history--as though it all truly had happened and existed. I ruined myself by seeing the movie first. I hadn't realized that all I'd seen was only a highlight of the story. There is much than I could go into that I learned reading the book, but three things in particular stood out to me that were much greater in the book.

First, Galadriel was, in the book, portrayed to be as kind, warm, and sympathetic as she was beautiful--not the friend's psychic network mind reader we saw in Peter Jackson's rendition. In the book, she became terrible and fearful, but only when Frodo had actually handed her the ring and said, "take it." After she "passed the test," she became herself again--there was no weirdness or hint of evil after that. It made more sense that her usual nature was gentle and good. I had been confused as to why the entire fellowship was completely enamoured of her--I'd thought her creepy and imbalanced.

Next, I thought Tolkien's Faramir won highly over the movie character. If Faramir had been tempted to take the Ring when it was in his grasp, it was not shown in the book. He was a much stronger, nobler man, and all the more worthy of respect than what I'd seen--he could have been done much better. In the movie we saw a Faramir only slightly stronger than his good-hearted but weak brother, Boromir. I think that was a tragic mistake. Faramir did nothing but defend the hobbits from evil, and he did so with completely pure motives. Knowing the power of the Ring over men, that he dared not even look at it, showed great strength. My favorite scene was between Denethor and him, when Steward was about to send son on a suicide mission. Faramir's tenderness towards his father at that point showed a great humility, and in humilty, great strength, I think.

The last thing that really stuck out to me came at the very end of the story. I now understand why long time readers of the book were so angry when Peter Jackson left out the Scouring of the Shire. What an amazing ending! Here the hobbits showed their true heroism. They'd had no choice but to fight to defend Frodo and the good of Middle Earth, but that they chose to defend their homes and their keep after they'd returned from so many battles showed qualities and bravery in them that the Quest, as great as it was, never could have.

I'm criticising the movie much in praise of the book. To be fair, I should say that there were a few things that Peter Jackson's movie did very well. Boromir was one--the temptation he suffered and the battle between good and evil that raged inside him I thought was excellently captured on screen. You see his guilt and fear, how tortured he was within himself, so clearly, when he broke down before Galadriel as she gazed at him.

The onscreen battles were also incredible. I thought Helm's Deep was a complete stroke of genius. I have not read many battle scenes in my life, but I realize that because in a book every movement and action requires words to push the plot forward, it's only possible to pay attention to one thing at a time. Thus the battles in books seem thick and tedious and slow. The menace of the Orcs, the sheer magnitude of the two forces against one another, and the defeat of evil in that battle make it, in my opinion, the greatest battle yet on the screen.

I realize it's not really fair to compare a movie with a book. I'm juvenile in these conclusions, I know. I've only read the book once. My sister, a reader of The Lord of the Rings many times over, I think would not agree with me on a lot of points. She was absolutely disgusted as we walked out of the theater at the end of The Return of the King. I think, though, that everyone interprets a book uniquely and differently, and those who liked the book and the movie tended to interpret the book more Peter Jackson's way than those who liked the book but not the movie.

Anyway, I've simpered myself into a hole. If I don't talk about this story, though, I know I'll get more depressed. I don't think any other story has had this sort of effect on me--here I am obsessively thinking about it and wishing I hadn't finished the book so quickly, and wishing that there was a way Frodo could stay with Sam but knowing that would ruin the end. All I can do is look forward to the next time I read it.