[Lily Bracegirdle]

Meneltarmacil,<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> FARAMIR: I think at last we understand one another, Frodo Baggins.<BR>SOLDIER: You know the laws of our country, the laws of your father. If you let them go, your life will be forfeit.<BR>FARAMIR: Then it is forfeit. Release them. <P>Am I the only person who makes any sense of these lines? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Yes and no. It seems you feel that Movie-Faramir's willingness to give up his life excuses whatever lapses in behavior he had during his previous scenes. I don't think it does. <P>The problems I have with Movie-Faramir:<BR>1) Boromir tries to take the Ring, repents, and gives up his life to further the quest of the Ringbearer. Faramir takes Frodo (who he knows has the Ring), then repents and offers to give up his life to further the quest of the Ringbearer. The only real difference in the two situations is that Faramir's still alive at the end of it while Boromir isn't, and it's just due to luck rather than due to differences between the two brothers. <P>2) Actually, Boromir is the BETTER of the two brothers in the movies. Even when he tries to take the Ring, he treats Frodo as a <B>person</B>. Movie-Faramir treats Frodo like a <B>thing</B>: Frodo is just the box that holds the Ring. Viewing people as non-people is the first step toward justifying atrocities and is an act of evil. Book-Faramir treated everyone with respect, even Gollum.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> "Take this creature away, Anborn. Treat him gently, but watch him. ... Smeagol ... Leave us now, and take your fish!" <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>3) As Lord of Angmar and The Saucepan Man have pointed out, Movie-Faramir is irrational. He sees Frodo just about hand the Ring to the enemy, and this suddenly turns him into a self-sacrificing good guy. Why? It makes no sense. I don't care if it furthers the plot or not; it should make sense within the context of the story and it doesn't. <P>4) Movie-Faramir says to Frodo "at last we understand one another," which is patently untrue. Frodo understands <B>nothing</B> about Faramir, because Faramir hasn't told him anything, and Faramir understands nothing about Frodo because Faramir hasn't been <B>listening</B> either.<P>After seeing the ROTK preview, I'm convinced Pippin and Aragorn will look into the palantir, making the whole Osgiliath scene a bloody waste of film. Why would Sauron think Pippin has the Ring unless Pippin looks into the palantir? Also Aragorn says "he's gone unchallenged long enough" -- the "he" is unlikely to be anyone other than Sauron. (Aragorn: Actually, I was talking about that windbag of a healer in Minas Tirith. )<P>Sorry about the ranting.<P>For a good article on Tolkien and personhood, go to tORN:<P><A HREF="http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/081503_01.html" TARGET=_blank>Greenbooks: Power in the Name</A><P>I disagree with the author about Movie-Faramir (shall we just call him Movamir?) but the article is very good reading.<P>What do you think?<BR>-Lily