still alive, more or less; why Aragorn is (and isn't) sexy
Real life sucks. Especially in the winter when you cannot sail. I was going to rant about various things that have kept me in LJ exile, but now that I've written the above few sentences, I think that pretty much says it all, and the details would only be boring. But I'm back, and I missed you guys, much! It will take me a little while to get caught
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Re: Aragorn… Well, to me the movies were all about the hobbits, anyway. *g* So yeah, I'm one of those rare people who really doesn't have anything with Aragorn or Legolas or whoever. Just the hobbits. Might be because I'm only just reading TTT now… Though, the books are all about the hobbits to me, too. :-)
I do find Aragorn sexy on some level -- he's just not quite interesting enough to me. I actually like book!Aragorn much better than movie!Aragorn; perhaps because I know more about him now.
I do, however, deeply approve of Viggo's hair (among other details *g*), which appears to have inherited the worst aspects of both Snape's and Sirius's. Movie-Aragorn's hair is both greasy AND tangled, and somehow it manages to look both unwashed and wet simultaneously. As does the rest of him.
:: laughs :: This amuses me to no end. I hadn't even noticed, to be honest. *g* But, yeah, before his coronation, and especially in FotR, he has a lot in common with Snape. Not just the hair. Like Snape, he's a sort of spy who's good at not drawing attention to himself when he doesn't need it. But mostly, like Snape's character in HP, he's a complex character, full of contradictions and, really, loads of hurt/comfort possibilities. You can't quite figure him out -- he probably can't figure himself out, either. And he is, in a way, in an underdog-position. He's just a Ranger, known to almost no one, and with unappreciated talents. But once he becomes King, the equation becomes quite simple: Aragorn = King. That's it, no mystery, no complexity, no nice h/c possibilities. No more underdog. And there's nothing that turns me off quicker than a guy who's handsome and/or powerful and knows he is. And, like you say, there's no more motion in the story. His character can't grow anymore -- if anything, it's suddenly simplified.
Unless they really have the charisma to bring it off -- like Théoden, yeah. The thing about Théoden is, he may be a King, but he's still a very complex and stubborn character. He's got loads of charisma -- but no self-consciousness, it seems. He's powerful and commanding, without those vibes that say: "hey, look at me, I'm the King!" And like semielliptical, I found Théoden's speech much more moving than Aragorn's. Basically, Théoden's saying: "We're going to die here, people. But we're going to give them all a great big fuck you before we do." (Possibly, he's more eloquent than I am. *g* I just remember "It's a red day. And the sun will rise! Death! Death! Death!") He's pouring his heart, his soul, his very life into the fight, and he doesn't care about anything else. Aragorn, on the other hand, gives this pretty little speech that I couldn't even sum up after seeing the movie four times, because I always lose interest somewhere halfway. He's saying "we're not going to flee today, people. And we're not going to lose." Not so very interesting. Also, it greatly annoys me that his speech is entirely directed towards Men. Well, gee, thanks for Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli. Well, I suppose the "for Frodo" bit was quite enough for them, but… I don't know. There's something very elitist about that speech, while Théoden's speech, on the other hand, places them all on the same foot. Possibly, the "we're-fighting-a-losing-battle" thing also loses its charm after the third time. (Osgiliath, Minas Tirith, Mordor.)
Favourite characters in the movie, though: Pippin and Sam. Sean Astin may not be as sexy as Viggo Mortensen, but he did a wonderful job playing Sam, IMHO. And the Pippin/Denethor/Faramir/Orcs fighting scene? Oh so very favourite moment in the movie. Argh.
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