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Journey
into the movies pt2 – Releasing your
Inner Hobbit
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back |
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Have
you seen the film? ... Tell us what you think
here |
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In
the second of our trilogy of pieces about
Lord of the Rings by resident film buff Phil
Hoyle, we take a look into the fiery eye of
that ultimate evil, Sauron.
Let’s take some time to look
at Frodo’s journey through the movies
and make some comparisons to our lives and
the challenges we face.
Before we set out, I must say that the comparisons
I make are in no way meant to be THE interpretation
of these films, nor am I suggesting that the
film makers or JRR Tolkien, the author of
the original books, had these interpretations
in mind when they created the films/books.
It’s simply using the movies to think
about one aspect of our lives, as I see it
– it’s the beauty of art –
we can all look at it and see many different
meanings, truths and lessons.
Anyway, on a technical point, throughout the
articles I’ll be quoting scenes from
the Extended Cut editions of the Movies. This
is so you can look back and see what I mean
and maybe even journey as a group, discussing
the questions I’ll raise whilst watching
the Movie. Let’s set out ... |
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The
Big Evil. - (The Fellowship of the
Ring, disc 1 track 10 ‘the shadow of
the past’ 36:31 – 38:04)
In this Scene, Gandalf
outlines to Frodo the problem set before them:
The greatest evil in the world survives because
of the existence of the magic ring that Frodo
has been given by his uncle Bilbo.
In the Lord of the Rings, the title character
and driving force is Sauron (he is, after
all, the Lord of the Rings). It’s funny
really, as he’s never really seen except
in flashback, he’s represented as a
large fiery eye and his only physical presence
is the form of this simple, gold ring. What’s
more he’s the most evil character in
the film: So why is he so central?
I think the reason is that evil is the central
issue in the world. You can’t get round
it. It’s on the news; it’s in
our attitudes. The taint of evil violently
scars this beautiful world and puts muddy
footprints all over the beige shag pile of
our souls. We all know it, too. Whenever you’re
chatting with people about life, faith and
God, it always comes up, doesn’t it?
– Yeah, but what about evil? How can
God allow it? Why doesn’t he do something
about it?
Of course, we can talk about how in his grace
God allows us free choice (and therefore the
freedom to screw up) and the fact that, ultimately,
God has done something about evil by sending
his son to live and die in an evil world,
thereby solving the equation of evil; writing
a new ending to the story of destruction and,
moreover, giving us the mission to build whilst
evil burns right here and now. |
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Do you think we use the word ‘evil’
too readily; is it too strong a word? |
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What things would you describe as
‘evil’ in the world? |
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In Frodo’s story, evil is represented
by something very simple and small.
Can you identify with the idea that
great evil can lie in seemingly small
things? |
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Think about the evil that you see
in your day-to-day life. Maybe jot down
some things that you’ve been praying
about or things you and your friends
struggle with, perhaps something on
the news has particularly spoken to
you… Then read on… |
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The
Decision - (The Fellowship of the
Ring, disc 1 Track 27 ‘The council
of Elrond’ 1:37.23 – 1:39.45)
In this scene Frodo
decides to take the ring to Mount Doom to
destroy it. It’s a dangerous journey,
and he’s not sure what it will involve,
but he’ll do it anyway.
In this scene Frodo takes responsibility
for the evil in his world. He’s at
a meeting with lots of powerful, distinguished
people, yet he stands up in the middle of
them and takes the burden on him.
As I said in the last section, as well as
coming himself to sort out evil, Jesus commissions
us to build his kingdom right here and now.
In terms of the Lord Of The Rings, we could
say we’re challenged to ‘pick
up the ring’ and say ‘we’ll
take it’. It’s a huge responsibility,
we don’t know where the road will
go, nor what dangers we might face, but
it is the challenge that God sets before
us – |
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Look at the list of the situations
and issues you jotted down on you r’evil’
paper(!) – in those situations
can you say ‘I’ll take it,
it’s my responsibility.”?
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What can we do about these problems? |
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What might you need to help you? |
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| Next time we’ll
look at the things that might help us in our
journey to combat evil in our world ... |
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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