Two Frodos - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

piosenniel · 06-13-2002, 10:56 AM

mark12_30 - that was a wonderful clarifying point you made about treating the LOTR movies as great pieces of fan fic!

The movie version, to me, is a Frodo who is a tragic VICTIM of The Ring. Events conspire to make him a Ringbearer and he is well on his way to becoming the shell-shocked person who leaves the Shire at the end of the story because he is overwhelmed by his wounds and seeks a safer place in which to find healing. He is not a well-rounded character in the movie, a person who has any reserves of character to draw on. He is always shown as having someone elso have to defend him. In fact, to me, he is a little comical - always ending up on his back in one way or another when the action gets tough!

This is not the Frodo I know from the books - still fun-loving and gentle, but far more mature in his outlook than the movie-Frodo. In the books, he seems to be stretched beyond the boundaries of his maturity, taken to a new level of understanding, become filled with an overflowing Light that puts his character's definition of himself beyond the confines of the Shire and even of Middle-earth.

I don't know that the movie-Frodo will be able to mature into any semblance of the more mature Tolkien Frodo.

I am grateful to PJ's version of Frodo for prompting me to think about the sort of person Tolkien's Frodo really was.

06-13-2002, 10:56 AM	#1
piosenniel Desultory Dwimmerlaik Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat..... Posts: 7,779	mark12_30 - that was a wonderful clarifying point you made about treating the LOTR movies as great pieces of fan fic! The movie version, to me, is a Frodo who is a tragic VICTIM of The Ring. Events conspire to make him a Ringbearer and he is well on his way to becoming the shell-shocked person who leaves the Shire at the end of the story because he is overwhelmed by his wounds and seeks a safer place in which to find healing. He is not a well-rounded character in the movie, a person who has any reserves of character to draw on. He is always shown as having someone elso have to defend him. In fact, to me, he is a little comical - always ending up on his back in one way or another when the action gets tough! This is not the Frodo I know from the books - still fun-loving and gentle, but far more mature in his outlook than the movie-Frodo. In the books, he seems to be stretched beyond the boundaries of his maturity, taken to a new level of understanding, become filled with an overflowing Light that puts his character's definition of himself beyond the confines of the Shire and even of Middle-earth. I don't know that the movie-Frodo will be able to mature into any semblance of the more mature Tolkien Frodo. I am grateful to PJ's version of Frodo for prompting me to think about the sort of person Tolkien's Frodo really was. __________________ Eldest, that’s what I am . . . I knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.