Retuuuuurn of the Kiiiiiiing

[jere7my]

One of K.'s future students invited us to a viewing of the extended edition of Return of the King in the Classics dorm, complete with pizza and moist cake. ("Mooooist," as one fellow put it. Which, when written like that, looks like someone who worships cows. Although I suppose we have those, spelled "Hindus". But I digress.)

They continue to be nigh-indistinguishable from SWIL and Swatties generally; I had an extended conversation with a pocketwatched fellow named Toby about what fraction Maia Arwen was, exactly, and sighed over the willowy slip of a girl who started out in a shiny top with fine black mesh instead of a back and changed into a belly-baring powder-blue tank top. I scored one solid laugh from the room: after the first disc ended, knuckle-bitingly, with Grond being brought to bear, I said, "Unfortunately, we only have disc 1. Disc 2 will arrive in four to six weeks." After the movie, two students clamored to be admitted into K.'s already overpopulated class, which I think made K. pretty happy.

The movie itself was wonderful, though not as vivid an improvement as The Two Towers EE. I think the additions served Denethor and Faramir best; they were both made more comprehensible and sympathetic. The only unnecessary addition, in my eyes, was the drinking contest, but I suppose the fluttering Orlando fangirls appreciated it. The half-hour of endings, while fine in the theater, were a bit harder to bear after four hours of movie; they made me happy all over again that PJ eliminated the Scouring. And now I have license to watch the documentaries and ogle the production art and listen to the commentaries, which should keep me occupied for the next four years or so.

Comments

[elwenlinuiel.livejournal.com]

but the Scouring of the Shire is the whole point of the book! I understand why PJ left it out of the movie, as it is an almost independant episode, and therefore easy to chop off, but it's terribly important. It's importance, in a nutshell: That you *can't* go on an adventure and come back to find home safe and unchanged. Ask me about this sometime when I can go on at great length (because I will. it's one of my favorite parts of the book).

[superbacana.livejournal.com]

Another important part of the message is that world war affects everyone, even the isolationists.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Well, it's important, but not "the whole point." *grin* There are a lot of strong themes in Tolkien, and Jackson fit many of them in, but that one would've taken just too much time to do properly. That said, he did work the theme in in a different way; there's a moment in the Green Dragon, after all their pining for it, when Merry and Pippin look at each other and realize they don't belong there anymore. And, of course, Frodo still had to leave the Shire, because he didn't save it for himself. Both of those speak to the "You can't go home again" theme the Scouring addressed at greater length.

[superbacana.livejournal.com]

Classics dorm? What's that? Do they have toga parties?

Maybe Mooists are a cross-breed of Hindus and Maoists.

It sounds like you guys are endearing yourself to the students nicely.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Classics dorm? What's that? Do they have toga parties?

They might have toga parties; I should ask. But at Oberlin, there are dorms (or floors of dorms) for people who share the same interests: German dorm, Hebrew dorm, Classics dorm, Sci-Fi dorm. There was even a Pinewoods dorm, though I don't know if it still exists.

[andele.livejournal.com]

A Pinewoods dorm? Cooliosity!

Speaking of which, are there actual applications for 2005 floating around yet? The (Pinewoods) website just has generic contact info, and the (Boston Branch) website has no mention, as far as I can tell.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Don't think so; we haven't gotten ours in the mail yet. They usually don't come until Feb. or March, IIRC.

[miraling.livejournal.com]

the couple from Oberlin who were in Cuddle Party facilitation training with me were very familiar in that "these are Swattie-type people" way that made me go to Swat in the first place. Uh, if that made sense. That is to say, Swat folks were always the right sort of folks for me, and these folks were that king of folks. I'm just making this confusion worse. Maybe you get the idea anyway.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

The absence of the Scouring was acceptable in EE because of the added material resolving Saruman's plotline; sure, it happened much later and in a different place in the book, but having Wormtongue turn on him at Orthanc fit Peter Jackson's telling and tied up what was a huge loose end in the theatrical release. I do miss the Scouring, but there was no way for it to fit into that movie. Alas.

[megan-powell.livejournal.com]

But you can have the Scouring without showing it...at least, without showing too much; we know what battles look like. Five minutes set up as the returning adventurers meet up with oppressed hobbits, strut their stuff rallying the troops--about the time that was spent on cutsey homecoming footage, and it would even have been easy to work in Saruman and Wormtongue at a distance. Pan over the ravaged Shire, rest the camera on some burned out husk as the hobbits charge past. Cut to a year (or whatever) later, with the husk repaired and the Shire starting to look beautiful again. In the background maybe a celebratory play to commemorate the victory, perhaps a re-enactment of Saruman's death.

Special Features

[ultranurd.livejournal.com]

I burned through the appendices over winter break. They are very good, and as always, impress upon me the sheer scale of the undertaking. The biographical one on Tolkien himself is also very interesting.

What's the secret video on this disc?

Re: Special Features

[wayman.livejournal.com]

It involves Dom with an outrrrageous Cherman accent and Elijah laughing hysterically while trying to retain his composure in very, very peculiar circumstances.... Highly worth watching! Definitely the best Easter Egg ever.

[chlomar.livejournal.com]

Since I went to Oberlin and now hang out almost exclusively with Swatties, I feel that I should comment on this post. I don't really know what to say except that there are similarities and differences between the two. Yeah.
BTW, the dorms or sections of dorms dedicated to specific things is only 1.5 yrs old at Oberlin. We just had language dorms, African-Heritage house, TW house, and co-ops. The classics dorm, PW dorm, etc. are new.

~Chloe