Blog Set 9: Lord of the Rings, Ever After and Poe, Oh My!

Tolkien: One Ring

Think back to the earlier years in your life. They were carefree, with out doubt of being hurt or worse. The concept of fear and world realities did not exist. You knew the neighbors down the street, you could walk home without worry. Playing in the fields till dusk with fiends and watching fireflies dance on the light summer winds was an accepted norm. Doesn't this invoke your earliest childhood memory's? For me, such experiences occurred, and yes, I enjoyed playing with my friends outside in the fields past sunsets, watching fireflies and hearing the unique sounds from frogs & cicadas playing their dusk-songs. 

The Shire also evokes similar memories, too. In The Lord of The Rings, by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the "recovery" aspect that he so elegantly captures is our minds warmth-memories of our collective childhood innocence. He brings us in by reminding us of our once-a-upon-a-time fantasy utopia. The emotions arise when we meet Bilbo Baggins in his golden year age of 111 years old. His character might remind us of our grandparents and how they spoiled us durning our early years. Tolkien brings us to this cherished and happy Shire as a springboard to the dark, evil and emotionally challenging concepts that lay ahead of the reader. That childhood memories are just that, a place & time that through experiencing life, we move on from. 

Another element to "recovery" is the friendship. During the Shire plot set-up, Gandalf starts pairing unlikely hero's for their request to destroy the ring. Friendship is a very important socialization trait that is vital to human happiness and mental wellbeing. It reminds us that friendships can help during the best and worst of times. We cherish them, like the Shire, deep in our hearts and souls. Acquaintances might come and go throughout our lives, but friends can stay for a lifetime. Tolkien knew this universal appeal and drew upon it to build a suspenseful plot of danger and testing of friendship bonds. 

Watching this film always brings up another feeling, too, escapisms. The emotions and thoughts that drive toward mentally running inward from present day realities. It's a brief escape for me and it allows me a sorta reset-process for my mind to this totally different world that Tolkien has conjured. Let's face it, this world sucks right now. Poverty is still noticeable, even down Davie Road. Faith in our government is shaky, like questioning the captain at the helm of a ship; "so where did you learn to sail again?" Cancer and other forms of diseases are killing our bodies and the environment is tittering on the brink of collapse. Families are being torn apart by substance abuse or even worse, infidelity. The list can go on, and on, but in a nutshell the size of a planet, I say "we," are losing the very thought that keeps us going, "hope." I know I've lost mine. It's a bitter pill as a college student struggling to either finish this course, complete a degree program, and hopefully find a meaningful career that brings fulfillment and it can be rather hard swallow without a drink of fantasy every now and then to lighten the emotion of hope. Easing the grip of reality that wraps its dirty hands daily around our throats. For me, this film and novel series are an enjoyable journey away from my world and into another that shines with hope and a foreseeable positive outcome. The escape is how we interrupt the art of the story and the outlandish; that one ring will rule them all, a fellowship of friends and battling against all odds towards success. It's beautiful. For the mind, just to get away. 

As my last part of my rant regarding Tolkien's work, "consolation" for me is achieving that feeling that "hope" can still be salvaged, resuscitated and re-packaged. The ring bearing group's genius is in the form of an empowering emotion from their audience. Similar to Peter Pan's Tinker Bell, the louder you clap your hands, the more likely she is to regain her strength and vitality. Towards the end, speaking on the overview of the entire trilogy, as the Eagles majestically swoop down and save Frodo and his friend, we are left with a sense of fulfillment. That light can be found, even when we are trapped in the darkest of places. Hope can be driven back into our lives. Isn't that what fantasy is all about? That we can recover and relate. The Shire and feelings of childhood goofiness and carefree days. That we can escape, through the work itself by surrounding our inner mind with thoughts of far off lands and magnificent tales of good v.s. evil, and that we can have some consolation. Fantasy is a reawakening of sorts for our mind and soul that reminds us even through the worst of times, there is hope. It might be small, but what, in our life experiences, hasn't started off small and grown into a redwood of a tale? The Lord of the Rings invokes all of these and so much more. It all depends on your perspective and how you digest the flood of possibilities that lay hidden in this timeless journey, that begins like all stories, with a Hobbit living in a Shire. 

Ever After: Oh Brother! 

First of all, I dislike the acting talents of Drew Barrymore. They aren't even really talents, but closely related survival skills necessary to barely keep a living from one movie to another. I believe her best and only work was done in the iconic movie, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. After her debut, she should have quit then shortly afterward and retired to a bar tending gig in Alaska, but I digress. 

Ever After is a movie adaptation from the classically old fairy tale Cinderella. It's either meant to be funny with realistic aspect from the original, or it just comes off as weak and cheesy.   The director took out the fantasy aspect of the story by removing the fairy god mother and the friendly animal companions. There is also not any singing which is what I loved about the Disney version from my childhood. In the end, sure she is rescued by the prince, but only after she rescues herself (yay for feminism) and lives happily Ever After with her new royal stature. I think the best part of the whole movie is when she doles out punishment to her stepmother and sisters. Don't we all wish we could do that to someone in our lives? That horrible boss. That awful ex who took you to the cleaners. 

The two tales are epic in their own right (cough LOTR is a million time better cough) each in their own way. One might possibly be realistic and the other one is a pure escape into the fantastical Middle Earth. I guess it's the audiences' call as to which is a better fantasy. 

The scope of fears that a child might interpret from the Cinderella fairy tale is loneliness, self confidence issues, and social stagnation. Different ages experience these fears at different levels of development. It's how a child conveys a presentation into their own realities of the world. The questions they ask their parents solidifies these fears into harsh realities. 

Yes, one can grow up being alone and not finding his or her Prince Charming or Princesses. Yes, one can develop a disposition that impedes self development from fully being  recognizing to his or her own limitless potential. And yes, one can live in fear that he or she will never do better than their parents, and that their children will never do better than them. All of these are real world possibilities that this fairy tale conjures up from the perspective of a child. All of this is manipulated into the premise of a well-organized plot with moral outcomes for one to take home. What a daunting form of entertainment. Especially for little girls, as if our society doesn't put enough pressure on them to dress a certain way or act like an airhead. 

In my opinion, a proverbial lifeboat should not be utilized as a saving grace in this story's fairy godmother. This only teaches an adolescent that through wishful thinking, that the unachievable will suddenly occur. Just like that. But we all know that self sacrifice, wealth, education, and a touch of luck are the real players in this universe. A child might grow up with this notion and only through failures, will they change their minds on those childhood fairy tale ending desires. I know, that when I have children, I will be paying special attention to what, if any television I show them. And Cinderella will probably be one that I will shelve indefinitely. 

Poe! Nevermore! 

Have we not felt sorrow for the loss of a loved one? Whether it be a girl that got away, a passing of a friend or family member, the sorrow we feel drowns out our perspective of reality to a certain degree. "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe vividly portrays this glimpse into sadness and madness. Nevermore. The feelings of helplessness, similar to watching a drowning man die from a sea shore, helpless, oh nevermore. To thy, I ask, have you not felt a feeling so gut turning, that it begs you to ask, why, why this feeling about Lenore? Either way, that was my lame attempt at replicating Poe. The poem is a little haunting, but merely a retrospective journey for me. I think about loved ones that have passed over and ex's that I wished never got away. The typical feelings of hope fleeting and despair washing over a once stunning mural of life, chalk drawn on a sidewalk for all those that don't know you to walk over, day after day. What an emotion oh, nevermore.