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This idea of 'growth' through a film has become an obsession for many filmmakers and studios, often to the detriment of movies where it isn't an apt element...
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Yes! Thank you! Bravo! Well done! I concur! Lauds and acclamations!
I tried to make this point several weeks ago in a thread about Faramir but, sadly, no one wanted to play with me.
The obsession with "arc" totally denies the idea that there are other kinds of stories in the world--and it's one of the areas where I think PJ made his worst mistakes. Aragorn, Faramir, Frodo, Theoden--these are not characters in a romantic comedy who need two hours to figure out what they really want. But in each case, PJ inserted a story line to make them do just that.
In the books, it seems to me, Frodo's growth is subtle and often symbolic: he is continually given gifts throughout the story (the Ring, for one, then being named an Elf-Friend, then Sting and the mithril coat, then the Light of Earendil), and he's also injured or attacked continually, and each time he comes through an injury or is given another gift, it shows his growth. In the movies, these things happen but their significance is diminished by Frodo's constant appearance after Weathertop (I think I"m agreeing with Rimbaud again here) as a head-lolling, pale-faced Ring vehicle.