A sad experience

[Quempel]

Strangely enough I can understand. When the movies first came out on DVD I watched them many times, to the point I could say the lines. And the movies lost their magic. Then I stopped watching them, for a good long time. I hardly ever watch them anymore, but when I do I still have some of the magic, but some of it is gone.

However, I ended up reading The Two Towers this weekend, purely by mistake, I picked up the book to find a qoute in the Helms Deep chapter and ended up reading the entire book. And I was once again swept into the magic that is Middle Earth. My first thought was I should watch the movies again, after reading the books.

I don't know maybe it's just me, and I am not knocking the movies, but the books seem to inspire magic and wonderment in my own imagination and the movies seem to bring the magic and wonderment to a bit of life, but not to the full extent as the books.

[mormegil]

Agreed! I, the other day, found myself watching a clip of FotR that I instead of bringing back the magical first experience, I was critical and found flaws instead. The situation was the one where Arwen is confronting the Nazgul at the river. I remember being awestruck the first time(s) I watched it and thinkg how wonderful it was. Seeing the water take horse shape and override the Nazgul thus preserving Frodo from their evil grasp. This time I noticed how relatively small the river was and that by the time the Nazgul noticed the rushing water they would have had plenty of time to get safely to one side or the other of the river but instead they decided to run downstream.

I'm not sure the years will bring it back though. I love Star Wars and was an avid fan as a child. I still enjoy it and my 4 and 2 year old are getting into it...the classic mind you...but as I watch it with them I don't feel the same as I used to.

Have I lost that innocence and excitement that once encapsulated me entirely or have I dedicated that to other newer pursuits? What was once magical and mystical is only a fond walk through nostalgia. I can still find that in books, but I fear it has been lost on the screen for me.

[Sir Kohran]

I know what you mean. They're often on Channel 4 and yet I don't watch them simply because there's no longer any point. I've seen them to the point where there's nothing more to see. Every line, every fight scene, every camera shot...I can predict them all. There are times when I almost wish I hadn't read the books (blasphemy ) just so that I could still enjoy the movies just as movies, and not start thinking about stuff in the book, what PJ 'should' have done, etc. Perhaps if we ever see a different extended edition with new scenes and modified sequences I might feel more inclined to watch them.

[Sauron the White]

People...go through their lives in a sort of coarse comfort, like petted animals, without ever realizing that they are probably thinking other people's thoughts, living by other people's standards, wearing practically what one may call other people's second-hand clothes, and never being themselves for a single moment.

...Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. -

Oscar Wilde

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I'm actually just waiting for the right moment to watch FOTR again. I've been re-reading the book, and it's got me in a Middle-earthy mood. It's just hard to find the time to watch a 3-hour movie, or even to read a few chapters in a day. :P

STW, what do you mean by that Wilde quote? It's very disillusioned for my tastes. I don't see anything wrong with hoping FOTR will be magical when you watch it again. Nor do I see anything wrong with looking for comfort or catharsis or whatever in a movie. After all, the way I see it, the LOTR movies show a kind of truth and integrity rarely found these days...and because of this, they inspire the same kind of truth in the audience. It's possible to live the opposite kind of life to what Wilde is talking about, and to still want the LOTR movies to be the same. I'm doing it.

I've been trying to say something here in response to the original topic, but I had a hard time with it, I think because it lies too close to the person I am for me to objectively define it...but here goes with a rather weak attempt...

I think that the trick is to see that you're not exactly the same anymore...but the movie is going to be exactly the same. But that that's allright, and it shouldn't have to be anything different than it is in that moment. Instead of trying to see it through old eyes, watch it through the new ones. I think that the dissatisfaction happens when you try to reconcile what you know it SHOULD be with what it is.

Or perhaps it has to do with knowing what it was in you that made you wonder at the FOTR movie...and then reviving it and holding onto it, or never letting go of it in the first place.

*sigh* It's not coming together for me. Perhaps someone will get my drift.

[Sauron the White]

Azaelia ... I do not think that the term "groupthink" was present in the days of Oscar Wilde but he described it just the same. You describe the quote as too disillusioned for your taste. There is no doubt that Wilde cuts to the quick without all the frills and lace and often appears cynical or curt. But in his curtness is wisdom and insight.

[alatar]

First, there's no going back...

That said, for those of you with different experiences when you've rewatched the movies, are you controlling for environmental variables? When you first saw them, were you at the cineplex with a bunch of friends, on a date, or, like me and the Mrs., spending a few rare hours without having to watch the kids? Did you get dressed up, have a soda, go out afterwards and discuss it ad nauseam? And then, when you've rewatched them, was it late night on your 12" computer monitor while you were hungry and studying?

Before passing judgment, run the correct control experiment, and see if the rewatching is truly what has changed.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Azaelia of Willowbottom

I think that the trick is to see that you're not exactly the same anymore...but the movie is going to be exactly the same. But that that's allright, and it shouldn't have to be anything different than it is in that moment. Instead of trying to see it through old eyes, watch it through the new ones. I think that the dissatisfaction happens when you try to reconcile what you know it SHOULD be with what it is.

I think I understand what you're saying. And I think that when you watch the movies, because they're always the same and they already are "made", whereas the books are in you're mind, they seem different.

I would say that because you're always changing, things appear different and you perceive things differently and focus on different things. With the book, because it allows you to form your own pictures, how you see Middle-Earth may shift, maybe so subtly that you can't realise it, but you see different things and read it slightly differently. The good thing about books is that because you as the reader are actively reading and imagining the story, it fits your imagination the way you want it to fit.

In the movies, however, it is not your imagination, but Peter Jackson's. It never changes. This means that even when your views shift slightly, you can't change the focus of the movie, as it is always identical. This is why I think that when you watch it, it can appear different.


That is my general outsider-view on the situation, because I saw the movies first, which means that my original ideas of the characters (except for Gollum- I had read the Hobbit before) were modelled on the movie characters.

So for me, the movies are a sort-of alternate Middle-Earth. If I just look at them separately, they are good, and I find that I can ignore most of the faults (though a few are just horrible, like the Gandalf vs. WK scene, which I would have hated even if I hadn't read the book first, and the Frodo - Flying Nazgul scene, to name a few).

They still do have some of the magic of the first time, but obviously, as I think Lalwendë meant, a little goes every time you watch it. But the music and the scenery does carry you (well at least me) into it. As alatar said, the setting, and your feelings towards it (For example, excitement when it first came out) are also quite important.


Also, remember: The movies were much better than any other LOTR movies ever made, and we often take that for granted.

[Mithalwen]

I think they are films that have to be seen in the cinema. I quite enjoyed them there when the visuals and music washing over. Seeing them on a very small screen over the past few Saturdays they haven't really held my attention. Some good moments I went and cooked and did washing up rather than watch the battle scenes. The costumes are still good and some of the performances but the CGI hasn't aged well and the scaling is really bad at times.

I can't understand why the listing claims there are too many goodbyes though since all but the grey havens were eliminated.