Re-reading Tolkien: Timeless

[fictualities]

Where I live, there's a particularly lovely time every autumn when the leaves have turned completely and just begun to fall. The world is full of color: golden leaves overhead, golden leaves underfoot. Possibly I'm about to make an embarrassing fannish confession that will exclude me from polite company forever, but in those few days I find

Comments

[anghara]

This was utterly beautiful, and I read it with complete absorption. It is a profound understanding of Galadriel and who and what she is. It serves to take the sting of the poiosnous CGI monster that she was turned into in the movies; of all the things that went awry in those films, this potent and willful misunderstanding of Galadriel and her meaning and signifnicance stands as the worst infraction to me...

Thank you for this post. I may go back and re-read Lord of the Rings now, just because of this, because you made me remember Lorien.

[jcberk]

On the other hand, there was one thing the movies got far more right than my head: the tinge of surprise in Galadriel's voice as she says "I pass the test". I had never imagined that, but it struck me as entirely right. Her test was sudden - and yet she had an answer, and it was the answer she had wanted to be able to give. That seems worthy of astonishment, even wonder.

[fictualities]

the tinge of surprise in Galadriel's voice as she says "I pass the test"

Oh, YES, I thought that was a fantastic line reading from Cate Blanchett. She made it clear that this had been a real temptation for the character, and that she honestly hadn't known until that moment whether she'd have the strength to resist the Ring. She managed to cram years of self-doubt into that single sentence -- I loved it.

[fictualities]

Yay! Any time I make someone consider re-reading, I've had a good day. :D

I'm really glad you liked the post! It was really hard this time to pin down what I love so much about these chapters. As for CGI Galadriel -- yeah, that didn't work for me, either. (On a Tolkien board I used to frequent, one that was on the whole very movie-friendly, we used to call this moment Nuclear!Galadriel.) I liked the CGI in a lot of the movie, but that particular moment wasn't my cuppa -- Cate Blanchett worked for me as Galadriel just by her acting, and I think she could have communicated the nature of Galadriel's interior struggle more effectively if she'd just been allowed to do her thing.

Have you seen the extended edition DVD? They completely re-edited the Lórien scenes, and made them much better, I thought; more of the dreamlike L&oactute;rien that I love. (The CGI Galadriel is still there, though, so if that really bugs you, you might want to stick to the book.)

[anna_wing]

Cate Blanchett worked for me as Galadriel just by her acting, and I think she could have communicated the nature of Galadriel's interior struggle more effectively if she'd just been allowed to do her thing.

Yes! Her straight line-reading - no distortion, no special effects - is actually recorded in the DVD extras and it is so much better than the actual film. She could have been truly terrifying. Just as Ian Holm would have been perfectly capable of suggesting Golloum-ness in that scene in Rivendell without the bloody SFX.

[fictualities]

Her straight line-reading - no distortion, no special effects - is actually recorded in the DVD extras

THANK YOU for telling me about this! I had no idea! (Am so bad about watching the DVD extras!) It's really great and proves your point -- with two such stellar actors as Cate Blanchett and Ian Holme, the SFX were just plain unnecessary.