It's the Professor's Eleventy-First Birthday, and I thought I'd repost one of my very first blog posts from last year on what the LotR's means to me. After work, I'll try and write something new!
Thursday, January 17, 2002 My Once and Future ObsessionPosted by Ith at January 3, 2003 07:55 AMI feeling inspired to join in the multi-blog LotR discussion that's been going on between some friends. But I'm afraid mine doesn't have any hunky pics -- sorry Ealasaid!
I read Tolkien for the first time when I was 16 and it changed my life. I can't think of any other book that has impacted my life the way LotR has. I got the first part from the school library and devoured it. Then I got my parents to take me to the mall so I could buy the next two. While my family went on a camping trip that weekend, I stayed home and read. I remember drawing the maps, runes, and Doors of Durin and taping them to my bedroom walls. I read the entire trilogy out loud to my mum when she was bedridden.
I would, in future, read them over every year, and the Silmarillion every few years. Still an obsession, but one that was softly simmering in the background of my life. Then came news of a movie, and this one was really happening. Not like so many of the animated efforts over the years, this one was going to be a real movie. The simmering started to bubble a little more. Who would they cast? Would it be a worthy offering to all the years and all the people who had adored the books?
I waited and cruised the web looking for information. The early reports were very promising -- but still, I was hesitant to embrace the project. We got closer and closer, the first trailer came out. Oh wow! I couldn't believe how much what I was seeing on the screen matched those visions in my mind's eye. I was thrilled, but still holding back; I'd wait till I saw the movie.
Then, that day arrived! Opening night tickets in hand, we waited in line with hundreds of others, all waiting for that moment. The first time I saw the Shire, and Bag End, I cried. I was surprised at how much emotion seeing those familiar scenes -- because they really were familiar -- evoked. Sitting there those three hours brought back to me that feeling I had when I first discovered Middle Earth in the pages of a book all those years ago.
I've been to see the film three times so far, and each time I get that little shiver. Granted, there are things in the movie that I will quibble with -- most especially the way Aragorn was changed. But even adding Arwen to replace Glorfindel can't extinguish that feeling, that magic. This movie was made with love; it's obvious in almost every scene. All the little touches that are there for those of us who've loved these books over the years. I definitely plan many more trips to the cinema and will await the August 2002 release of the DVD with anticipation!