There is an article on Tolkien's faith and catholicism posted at TORn, and here is a clip from the end of it. I include it because it explains Philippa Boyens' interpretation of that final smile from Frodo which so haunts and mystifies me. Apparently Boyens and Walsh are coming at this from two different angles, which I suppose isn't suprising, but Boyens has an explaination for that final smile. Comparing her take to what I find in TOlkien's letters, I find her take quite accurate. <P>SPOILER WARNING, of course. <P>Here is Boyens' explaination. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> <BR>“One of the things Tolkien understood, because he was a [Christian] humanist,” Boyens noted, “is that we all fail, and we have the ability within us to fail. Faith requires us to believe in a higher power. Gandalf very early on in the book says, ‘The ring came to Bilbo and in that moment something else was at work.’ Not the [ring’s] designer, the maker, this evil power, but some other power was at work. So it’s whether you believe in that or not, whether you choose to believe in that or not.” <P>In order to underscore her point, she referred to a key plot point. (Warning: If you don’t know how the story ends, you might want to skip the last paragraph.) <P>“Frodo dragged himself to that point and failed. And another power intervened,” Boyens said. Then, referring to the end of Frodo’s life in Middle Earth, Boyen added, “He ultimately surrenders to that power at the end of this movie, which is one of the most beautiful moments in the movie.” <BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>The entire article can be found <A HREF="http://www.ncregister.com/current/NCRWEB/lead1.htm" TARGET=_blank>here</A>.<p>[ 12:18 PM December 20, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
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12-20-2003, 10:22 AM
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