Cinematic Frodo: Victim of Downsizing?

[Lyta_Underhill]

We can say that EVERY character was downsized. Think of a film that was adapted pretty much word for word (HP1) and see how boring it could have been if the same was done for lotr.

Good point, Essex! However, I liked HP1 and was not bored at all! Strangely enough, when I recently rented and re-watched Return of the King, I was not as put off by the contrived Frodo leaves Sam sequence and saw through to the cinematic devices sufficiently that it seemed merely a blip (although I keep yelling "Stupid Hobbit!" at Frodo as he's falling into web after web and outright telling Gollum he's got to destroy the Ring. What was he thinking? Anyway, I understand that every character must suffer some from this short-shrifting in a reduction of an epic tale to 9-10 hours of film; I guess the big problem for many filmgoers was that the soul of all the characters could not be believably shown in the short time allotted. (I still think they could have allowed senseless Frodo to raise his head at the Ford of Bruinen and at least shout at the Ringwraiths a bit, though!)

He shakes like a leaf, he can't stop trying to put the ring on, his will is easily bent to that of the wraiths, and even when he's well and happy, he looks like a little boy off to camp.

He seems this way in the beginning, but I also remember our book Frodo being rather frightened and showing it more at the beginning of the journey. He was downright frantic near Weathertop, before the Ringwraiths even got there! I thought the addition of scenes in Lorien and on the Anduin showed very well the growing distance between Frodo and the others and foreshadowed even more completely the fact that Frodo understood he had to leave and his mental preparations for such an event.

As for his will bending to that of the Ringwraiths, I suppose this impression arises from the unfortunate "battlements of Osgiliath" scene, which did, in my opinion, weaken movie-Frodo a bit. But, as we enter the Eastern lands in Return of the King, I see a more determined, bleak Frodo, actually more underplayed than previously (or else Sam went over the top and made Frodo look more subdued). As I re-watched ROTK, I found Sam to be almost a cartoon hero, with the background music swelling to his every daring deed, while Frodo entered another world right next to him. Particularly in the "grasping at shadows" and "wheel of fire" sequence when Sam carries Frodo up Mount Doom, I did not see this young, frightened boy hobbit that everyone speaks of, but a hobbit transformed into something that is groping through an unseen world, that personified Sam's worries in the book about what he would do once they reached their destination.

There were lots of horror movie conventions in this one, but I can forgive that, as I understand it was done to heighten the tension of the scenes. I laughed at Legolas as he let go an arrow at the Dead, when in fact, he wasn't frightened at all of them and spoke of them as "mere shades of Men" in the book. I have already spoken of the convention of separating Frodo and Sam at Shelob's Lair elsewhere, I believe. Such conventions were widespread and understandable, but it is to Jackson's credit that he did not go overboard with them and turn LOTR into a ghoulfest.

I'm sure I have more to say, but I can't think of it right now! My apologies; I have been too long away from this thread!

Cheers!
Lyta