Help Please!

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by SPM

Is that right, Mister U?

Sorry, Sauce -- I was trying to temper what came out as a perhaps overly-philosophical (not to say blowhard) post with a little humor. Very little, as it seems.

Originally Posted by SPM

As it is, one of the only consistent points of criticism that I have heard from (non-Tolkien fan) film critics of RotK (and, by implication, the trilogy) is that it took too long to end.

I don't think it would be impossible to structure the films in a way that includes the Scouring -- though I agree you're right in this case that given some fundamental adaptation choices made by Jackson, it wouldn't have worked in his films. His take is far too action-oriented (*note that I'm not judging here his choice to take this path or the constraints which may have required it) and not much interested in the psychology of Frodo, which I think drives the Scouring, climaxing with his mercy towards Saruman. It's kind of interesting to imagine what the films would have to be like to include a Scouring sequence that would leave audiences satisified.

The reason the ending seems long to most people, I think, is that the story Jackson tells is basically over after the destruction of the Ring -- and especially after the crowning of Aragorn, who in a way takes over the narrative in the last film and becomes the central character. There's no story -- plotwise or thematically -- driving the return to the Shire, so audiences get restless waiting for the credits to roll.

Originally Posted by Fordim

For my money, an interesting thing to see in a research paper on this topic is how, perhaps, the movie attempts to address the thematic and conclusive aspect of the Scouring without showing it. I mean, they cut the scouring from the narrative but did they entirely remove that sense of having returned to a changed home?

Interesting idea, though I think that what is shown is not a changed home, but changed hobbits. I think this is emphasized in the bookend shot of the old hobbit who squinted suspiciously at Gandalf early in FotR, then squints suspiciously at Frodo & Co in their finery on their return.

All those significant looks to each other around the table say to me, "The Shire hasn't changed -- we preserved the Shire -- but we are different." This is further emphasized by another bookend bit with Sam. Sam, formerly too shy to approach Rosie in FotR, now sets down his mug and strides confidently towards the bar. The next shot, IIRC, is of their wedding. The sequence is all about matured and tempered heroes returning home.