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December 17, 2003
My Contribution
...to the Return of the King frenzy, in which I have little interest, except in regard to the issue of the question of a filmmaker's fidelity to the intentions of the author of the original source. In other words, it's been widely reported that Jackson and others connected with the films have explicitly disassociated themselves from Tolkien's Catholic sensibilities in LOTR. (It's an issue we've faced before with modern adaptations of works like The End of the Affair, and will hash over in the future in relation to, if the rumors are correct Brideshead Revisited). It's an interesting question, and one that Joseph Pearce in NRO.
In asking the question which serves as the title to this article I knew that I would have to play devil's advocate. Perhaps I have played it badly. Perhaps Tolkien's shade will point its accusing finger at me, muttering in reproach at my own presumption: Get thee behind me Sauron. Perhaps. I am, however, sticking to my guns. Would Tolkien have given Peter Jackson's movies the thumbs-up? No, I believe that he wouldn't. Should he? Yes, I believe that he should. But then who am I to question the great man?
And several other related articles on the site, as well as all over the place, as well.
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Because I am a huge nerd, I know the following: Tolkien's Catholicism is taken up in several of the special features on the DVD extended editions of the first two films. Ian McKellan doesn't get Tolkien's Catholicism, but then again, Tolkien never meant it to be explicit in the story. "This is not allegory!" was his mantra. Read all about it in the 12/19 Commonweal.
Posted by: Grant Gallicho at Dec 17, 2003 12:58:35 PM
Read the NRO piece. Much to agree with, though I don't get that Jackson turned Galadriel into a "disturbed and disturbing witch." That one electrifying scene with Frodo shows her self-knowledge of the witch (speaking loosely) she could become, if she possessed the Ring, but instead she concludes, "I will remain Galadriel, and diminish." So in my mind she's a sad and occasionally distubring non-witch.
Agreed on Faramir--to my mind, maybe the only fundamental violation of character, and a lost opportunity given the lesson of contrast between Faramir and Boromir.
Posted by: Christopher Rake at Dec 17, 2003 2:24:35 PM
Like, wow, from the actor who played Gimli (who sadly is used more for comic relief than may have been absolutely necessary): Point being, he really does get it:
I'm burying my career so substantially in these interviews that it's painful. But I think that there are some questions that demand honest answers. I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me... What is unconscionable is that too many of your fellow journalists do not understand how precarious Western civilization is and what a jewel it is.
How did we get the sort of real democracy, how did we get the level of tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you around this table, and yet you will take it and you will think about it and you’ll say no you're wrong because of this and this and this. And I'll listen and I'll say, "Well, actually, maybe I am wrong because of this and this."
[He points at a female reporter and adopts an authoritarian voice, to play a militant-Islam character:] ‘You should not be in this room. Because your husband or your father is not here to guide you. You could only be here in this room with these strange men for immoral purposes.'
I mean ... the abolition of slavery comes from Western democracy. True Democracy comes from our Greco-Judeo-Christian-Western experience. If we lose these things, then this is a catastrophe for the world.
Jeffrey Overstreet via Andrew Sullivan.
Posted by: Christopher Rake at Dec 17, 2003 2:40:11 PM
Can anyone tell me where Peter Jackson has explicitly repudiated the Catholicism of LOTR?
I've not heard him say anything of the sort.
Posted by: Frank Banecker at Dec 17, 2003 3:08:19 PM
From "http://www.churchofthemasses.blogspot.com":
"At the junket for the Return of the King, one of the writers asked Jackson how much interest he had in fleshing out the Christian themes in the story, Jackson replied, 'Not an ounce.' "
I think the Catholicism is there in spite of the actors and the director. It is as if they all have a distorted view of Catholicism; Catholicism must be all about judgementalism, reactionism, intrusion, anti-semitism, etc. - all the things you would pick up from the mass media. They don't see those things in LOTR, so they conclude that the books aren't Catholic, they are environmentalist. So, instead of making some distorted image of what they believe to be Catholic themes, they instead aimed for something pure, timeless, vibrant, and good. And, in spite of themselves, they blunder into making a movie that retains the Catholic overtones of the original, if only because they went unrecognized.
Imagine a group of hollywood types, with all their misconceptions about the church, searching for those misconceptions within LOTR, and enhancing them. The last thing we need is for someone who knows little of Catholicism, and has even less respect for it, to try to make a movie that consciously fleshes out their misconceptions. We would end up with a movie where the dwarves symbolize the jews, and bear the burden of the Elves' prejudices, where the lack of female characters symbolizes the churches hatred of women, etc.
Posted by: Keith R at Dec 17, 2003 5:46:27 PM
My impression is that they’re aware of Tolkien’s Catholic faith underlying the story and that by respecting the story to the extent they do, they preserve some Catholic elements. Since they do not currently share that faith, it would indeed be unwise on their part to make a conscious effort to “flesh out” those faith elements.
My recollection is that they expressed this awareness better in the commentary for FOTR. Since then, however, they and much of the cast have been trying to distance themselves from anything smacking of Christianity or moral absolutes.
As for the "Galadriel is Mary" idea, remember that Tolkien disdained allegory and embraced applicability. Galadriel is a Marian figure in some ways, but not all (she's Arwen's grandmother, for one thing).
MINOR SPOILER ALERT
There's a bit of a Marian aspect to an appearance of Galadriel in ROTK.
Posted by: Gray Eminence at Dec 17, 2003 6:13:35 PM
I would say that Elbereth or Varda the Queen of the Stars is as much or more a Marian figure as Galadriel. The references to her in the book, including a hymm to her, are the closest that Tolkien gets to explicity describimg religion in LotR.
The hymm in Sindarin:
A Elbereth Gilthoniel,
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!
Tolkien's own translation:
O! Elbereth who lit the stars,
from glittering crystal slanting falls with light like jewels
from heaven on high the glory of the starry host.
To lands remote I have looked afar,
and now to thee, Fanuilos,
bright spirit clothed in ever-white,
I here will sing beyond the Sea,
beyond the wide and sundering Sea."
Then there was Sam's invocation of Elbereth in Cirith Ungol:
A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le nallon
sí di-nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fanuilos!
O Elbereth Starkindler from heaven gazing-afar, to thee I cry now in the shadow of death.
O look towards me, Everwhite.
Hmmm . . . sounds familiar, that.
(Texts and translations from Ardalambion)
Posted by: Claude Muncey at Dec 17, 2003 9:00:29 PM
Beautfiul, Claude, chills.
Posted by: Christopher Rake at Dec 17, 2003 10:16:26 PM
I think the Catholicism is there in spite of the actors and the director. It is as if they all have a distorted view of Catholicism; Catholicism must be all about judgementalism, reactionism, intrusion, anti-semitism, etc. - all the things you would pick up from the mass media. They don't see those things in LOTR, so they conclude that the books aren't Catholic, they are environmentalist.
That's wonderfully put and a true insight.
Posted by: Christopher Rake at Dec 17, 2003 10:18:18 PM
I believe that Tolkien saw Galadriel more as a Mary Magdalene figure. In one of his letters he describes her as a "penitent."
As for the lack of Catholic themes in the movie; there were no overt Catholic or Christian themes in the novel, deliberately so, as Tolkien was writing about what he conceived of as a pre-Christian world. Of course his faith informed the plot and characters and underlying mythos, and echoed in some of the details -- for instance, the idea of the humble doing what the great could not is a very Christian idea, one which has by the way become so much a part of Western culture that most people can ignore its origins. I could go on and on about this... stop me now!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at Dec 18, 2003 6:12:34 AM
As for the "electrifying scene" of Galadriel's transformation in FOTR, that's straight from the book -- many lines verbatim. You can't fault Jackson for that.
Posted by: Jonathan at Dec 18, 2003 8:32:04 AM
http://www.decentfilms.com/commentary/faithandfantasy.html
Posted by: Registered Independent Joel at Dec 18, 2003 10:36:27 AM
Thanks to all who answered my question. Gray Eminence and Andrea Harris perfectly echo my sentiments about the movie. In fact, please go on and on Andrea!
And, needless to say, I can't wait to see it!
Posted by: Frank Banecker at Dec 18, 2003 1:52:12 PM
Galadriel would have been penitent about leaving Valinor, although my impression is that while she was prominent in that migration, she was not one of the central agitators and that Tolkien did not associate any other fault with her.
Elbereth is certainly a stronger Marian figure and the parallels with Marian anthems can be amazing.
Posted by: Gray Eminence at Dec 18, 2003 2:46:15 PM
Tolkien was a kind of environmentalist! Doubtless it was connected to his Catholicism. But Jackson's saying that he didn't have an ounce of interest in "fleshing out" the Christian elements of the book proves nothing. Why? Neither did Tolkien. He didn't want anything religious to be "fleshed out" in the book. He didn't want the book to contain explicitly religious elements. That question is a strange one. What does it mean to "flesh out" the Christian elements? They are there already. And they made it to the films. That much is obvious.
Posted by: Grant Gallicho at Dec 19, 2003 11:03:02 AM
It seems to me that in some instances--intentionally or otherwise--the movie exhibits *greater* Catholic sensibilities than the book.
My example: Theoden's death scene. In the book, this is portrayed in a classically pagan manner, and there are elements of that in the movie's presentation as well. But when Eowyn is tending him, and he looks at her and says, "My body is broken...you must let me go", does this not evoke Christ's own sacrifice, and his words to the Magdalene ("noli me tangere") in the Garden (John 20:17)?
Posted by: David Hecht at Dec 20, 2003 9:44:22 AM
