Lord of the Rings

SPOILER ALERT:  If you do not want to read about what happens in Lord of the Rings or How To Train Your Dragon, read no further!

After finals ended, my study break group embarked upon a Lord of the Rings marathon.  Somehow, I got blessed enough to have a group of friends who are also nerds and possess more Lord of the Rings knowledge than I do (I'm no LOTR expert).  And who like to talk through movies.  So we sprawled over my couches and floor, spread chips and chocolate throughout the room, and drank copious amounts of tea for the duration of three extended version films (11ish hours, over 2 days).

In addition to enjoying the movies themselves, I enjoyed watching people watch the movies.  Especially the guys, who picked up on different parts than the ladies did.  The epic battles, glittering swords, embattled heroes moments.  For the last 3/4 of the final film, I started asking myself, "What is it that makes these movies so powerful?"

I came up with three answers -- three things these movies show that our society lacks and longs for.  Actually, the movies don't just show these three things.  They are the driving themes of the films.  These three themes: Objectivism, Virtue, and Intimacy.

Objectivism:  For the most part, watching LOTR, we don't wonder who's the good guy and who's the bad guy.  Sauron is evil.  His army of Orcs is evil.  The ring is evil.  (Shelly pointed out that it presents metaphysical problems if it has a will... but that's a different discussion.)  The quest to destroy it is good.  The fellowship is good.  Sure, some of the characters are complicated and have to make difficult, heart-wrenching decisions.  But it is a story of Good versus Evil.

At one point, as an army of Orcs marched against the united peoples of Middle Earth, I found myself thinking about How To Train Your Dragon.  Percy and I saw it over the summer and he pointed out the irony of the message of tolerance (the dragons aren't evil -- they are misunderstood) in light of the ultimate climax of the movie (destroy the truly Evil Monster).  What is the message to take home there?  We find no such confusion in LOTR.  And it's a relief to find an evil we are allowed to name and to fight, especially in the midst of the confusing relativism that plagues our world.

Virtue:  In an age of relativism, we often seek and praise values.  Where values guide one person's behavior, virtues provide guiding light for everyone.  When we can sort Good from Evil, we discover that some people act in accordance with good.  Some do not.  Some, like Saruman who desired power of his own, act out of evil motives.  Others act out of weakness.  Some characters -- the main characters (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, and Legolas to start with, along with many others) and a host of minor characters -- exhibit a conviction toward good, in spite of hardship.  Whether for the greater good of society or the personal good of a friend, these people ignore themselves and act heroically.

I found myself riveted by Sam's unquenchable loyalty, even after Frodo rejects him.  By Pippin's determination to save Faramir from his father.  By basically everything about the character of Aragorn.  By the way each powerful character stood against temptation and turned down the chance to take the Ring.  By the ways that characters, again and again, proved themselves loyal, selfless, honest, courageous, virtuous.

Intimacy:  Partway into the third movie, I mentioned aloud something I had noticed in the previous one that was still going on:  There was so much face-touching!  Everyone was touching everyone else's face.  It actually made me uncomfortable, because the people who were touching each other's faces were not close enough to be doing that.  The face-touching was the physical dimension of the theme of intimacy that fueled the film.

Most of the intimacy was not romantic.  Indeed, the Aragorn/Arwen story formed only a side tangent.  Instead, the intimacy was between friends, families, companions, and comrades.  Sam and Frodo exemplify this the best, although Merry and Pippin were the ones who nearly made me cry when, for the first time, they were separated.  Our society tends to view romance as the only locus for intimacy.  Tolkien reminds us that love runs deep and pure in other places.

These three forces are especially poignant considering that the books were written during WWII, when Good and Evil were clashing in Europe.  But I think they are things that we yearn for today as well.