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The Hobbit trailer
Dec. 21st, 2011 12:31 amThe Hobbit trailer is up. Yes, *gollum*, we likes it.
I actually more than liked it. I was touched to the point of tears and angry by what I think of as theodicy by any other name. In Tolkien's legendarium there is this idea that there is a God of the cosmos, and a resulting sense of purpose in at least some of the character's purposes. It's one of the more interesting parts of the canon, IMO. It's also one of the strands of canon that affects me most strongly, because this is an issue I care deeply about, personally and philosophically.
You get a whiff of that in the trailer (though it's not the Valar but some other situation I won't go into - spoilers and all). But there is a true sense of Bilbo being thrust out the door and being carried away by the Road, to paraphrase the Professor. And being who I am, with both my heightened awareness of religion and theism in all its forms and also of the suffering in the world, that's an aspect of Ardaverse that's always touched me deeply. How do you justify, for example, the Valar destroying the whole Numenorean civilization to avoid men setting foot on Valinor? Or for that matter, the Valar's earlier refusal to deal with Morgoth so that Feanor had to go running off into the wilds to avenge his father's death? (Whatever you think of what came after.) Or again, how do you justify Gandalf letting Frodo handle the Ring? Or, to take us out of Middle-earth, how do we deal with a God who would let humans develop anthrax and the a-bomb, so that one person's choice could have such incredibly far-reaching ramifications? Bilbo seems out of his depths, as did Frodo before (or rather after, I guess) him, and it always strikes me as fundamentally and radically unfair.
Other things to love: the sets (*drools*). the dark undertone in the Ian Holmes scene. The sense that this is fairy-tale in the truest sense, and history rather than children's story-hour. Gollum. The dwarves singing (which honestly moved me in a patriotic way more than actual national anthems do). Gollum again, and Gandalf, and Bilbo. The whole topic of adventuring.
Frankly, if that beat at 1:30 is building on the Appendix concept I think it is, that might be worth the ticket price just there.
Btw, now's as good a time as any to say a word about spoilers. I don't mind them myself, so I don't avoid them. I also don't even consider them spoilerish per se, if you'd know about them from reading the book. I tend to put details of the movie you wouldn't know from reading the books under an lj-cut, including how specific parts of the book are framed or interpreted. But I can't promise to be perfect, and what might seem like a spoiler to you may not strike me as such. So if you really want to avoid all spoilers (especially book-spoilers) you should probably exercise caution when reading fannish posts this upcoming year.
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Originally posted at LJ; please comment there.
I actually more than liked it. I was touched to the point of tears and angry by what I think of as theodicy by any other name. In Tolkien's legendarium there is this idea that there is a God of the cosmos, and a resulting sense of purpose in at least some of the character's purposes. It's one of the more interesting parts of the canon, IMO. It's also one of the strands of canon that affects me most strongly, because this is an issue I care deeply about, personally and philosophically.
You get a whiff of that in the trailer (though it's not the Valar but some other situation I won't go into - spoilers and all). But there is a true sense of Bilbo being thrust out the door and being carried away by the Road, to paraphrase the Professor. And being who I am, with both my heightened awareness of religion and theism in all its forms and also of the suffering in the world, that's an aspect of Ardaverse that's always touched me deeply. How do you justify, for example, the Valar destroying the whole Numenorean civilization to avoid men setting foot on Valinor? Or for that matter, the Valar's earlier refusal to deal with Morgoth so that Feanor had to go running off into the wilds to avenge his father's death? (Whatever you think of what came after.) Or again, how do you justify Gandalf letting Frodo handle the Ring? Or, to take us out of Middle-earth, how do we deal with a God who would let humans develop anthrax and the a-bomb, so that one person's choice could have such incredibly far-reaching ramifications? Bilbo seems out of his depths, as did Frodo before (or rather after, I guess) him, and it always strikes me as fundamentally and radically unfair.
Other things to love: the sets (*drools*). the dark undertone in the Ian Holmes scene. The sense that this is fairy-tale in the truest sense, and history rather than children's story-hour. Gollum. The dwarves singing (which honestly moved me in a patriotic way more than actual national anthems do). Gollum again, and Gandalf, and Bilbo. The whole topic of adventuring.
Frankly, if that beat at 1:30 is building on the Appendix concept I think it is, that might be worth the ticket price just there.
Btw, now's as good a time as any to say a word about spoilers. I don't mind them myself, so I don't avoid them. I also don't even consider them spoilerish per se, if you'd know about them from reading the book. I tend to put details of the movie you wouldn't know from reading the books under an lj-cut, including how specific parts of the book are framed or interpreted. But I can't promise to be perfect, and what might seem like a spoiler to you may not strike me as such. So if you really want to avoid all spoilers (especially book-spoilers) you should probably exercise caution when reading fannish posts this upcoming year.
*********************************
Originally posted at LJ; please comment there.
