[HPFGU-OTChatter] LOTR movie resonates (was Rowling resonates)

[Terry James]

>From: "annemehr" <annemehr at yahoo.com>
  For myself, I have found the books to be an
>antidote to bitterness and feelings of futility, just at a time when
>I needed that.  I just can't figure out *why*.  Sometimes I read
>parts of them just to get "cheered up," and other times I worry
>about whether somebody's going to die or not.  There are other books
>that deal with someone carrying on and trying to do what's right in
>the face of obstacles, but they don't have the same effect on me.
>

>
>Just one last thought: I wonder if there is anyone reading this who
>doesn't react this way to JKR's books, but to other books instead?
>What books would they be?
>
>Annemehr

I have a very strong response to books, but no other books have affected me 
on the
level that you and Dan seem to be talking about.  As much as the HP books 
have warped my
worldview, I'm not even sure they're on that level. (Heresy!  Terry ducks as 
enraged HPfans throw dungbombs at her.)

However, the first Lord of the Rings movie, "The Fellowship of the Ring", 
did so.  I had previously read the books, and had trouble staying awake over 
them.  I've read them since, and enjoyed them much more, and I love 
them--but something about that first movie was a defining moment in my life.

Maybe it was the timing, coming so close after 9/11; maybe it spoke to the 
basic urge of humanity--usually stifled in adulthood--to have heroes, 
somehow to even be the hero; I don't know.  I do know that I returned to the 
theater many times (obsessively--will not say how many)  to recapture the 
feeling I walked out with every time: that I could stand up against evil, 
that I could do what was necessary, that I could stand by my friends 
regardless of what happened; that in some way, I was Frodo, and Sam, and 
Aragorn (but not Arwen; hate Arwen; with zillions of axe-wielding orcs in 
that movie, not one could manage to slice off her head?)


The second movie was wonderful, but not quite on that level, as it was just 
(to me) an interlude between the beginning and the end, and on its own did 
not accomplish much.  I expect the third one to have pretty much the same 
effect as the first.

I get all kinds of spiritual messages and content and uplifting things out 
of it, but some Tolkien fans get very snarkish about this, so we'll leave 
that alone.

Is this completely pathetic, to have such a strong response to a movie?  Oh 
well.

Terry LJ (who speaks in parentheses entirely too much)

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