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cairistionaThe struggle has been real, folks. Up until now, Dink hasn't shown much interest in LOTR. Indeed, she usually falls asleep after the Shire stuff at the beginning of FOTR. *sob* However... last night we couldn't decide what movie to watch and since she was wasting too much time waffling, I said, "I haven't seen LOTR in ages; we're watching it."
And she actually enjoyed it. My heart. And boy, did I enjoy her reactions and commentary. I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages--I wish I had recorded it, to be honest, especially when at the end of disk 1 (we were watching the EE's, naturally), I asked her if she still understood the gist of it all (she'd had me pause to explain things a few times, especially regarding Saruman and his name's similarity to Sauron--"What the heck, Tolkien, you couldn't have made the names sound MORE ALIKE???" after which she started calling Saruman "Sharing is Caring-mon" with a Jamaican accent. *dies*). She replied with a five minute long summation that included comparing the Ring to a horcrux (and hastily explaining that Tolkien had it BEFORE JK Rowling and "boy, she really took a lot of ideas from Tolkien, didn't she"), announcing that Aragorn is bae (which is the latest teen slang for "a really hot guy who I wouldn't mind at all becoming my One True Love") and, the one that sent us into a giggle fit that lasted five minutes, "And then finally Frodo said (and she holds up three fingers and yells), "I am Frodo and I volunteer as tribute!!" (If you haven't seen The Hunger Games, I'm sorry... that joke will be lost on you and I can only tell you to go watch that movie and see if that doesn't fit exactly perfectly).
And we both agreed at the end of the movie, when Aragorn knelt before Frodo and said, "I would have gone with you to the end", in our heads we were also hearing Cap and Bucky and their, "I'm with you to the end of the line." More giggling. But most of all I was gratified that she finally sees that Viggo as Aragorn is handsome and wonderful. At one point, she commented, "Wow, he's really rocking the greasy hair" and at another, "he really does have nice eyes", and throughout his on-screen moments, "He's gooooooood." Then the kicker was when, after he sits mournfully singing The Lay of Leithian, she added thoughtfully, "I may have to go sit on the basement steps and stare up at your poster* for a while, Mom."
And she wasn't saying it ironically.
Poor ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
suzll, she's off this weekend in the Wilds playing camp counselor but she'll have a regular storm of texts waiting her about this from last night as I live-texted Dink's reactions. SORRY NOT SORRY, MY FRIEND! :DD
At least last night she said that today we'll watch TTT (we'll see if she still does today). Then she started adding up all the hours of all the movie series we enjoy (LOTR, The Hobbit, Marvel, Star Trek, PoTC, Spiderman, Batman, The Hunger Games, the list seems endless), with a vague plan toward watching them all in a weekend... and quickly determined there's not enough hours in a weekend.
She finally knows my pain. :DDDD
A couple of insights for me from my umpteenth watching of it: I had never really noticed how silent the birds got when the hobbits hopped off the road and hid under the tree roots as the Black Rider approached. *shivery* And... I have a solid head canon now on Aragorn and that pesky stealing-of-Boromir's-vambraces. The death scene was a breakthrough for both Boromir and Aragorn's character arcs. Boromir, of course, disavowed his whole "Gondor has no kind, Gondor needs no king" stance, and Aragorn (movie-verse) finally fully takes up the mantle of his kingly destiny. And we all know and have sobbed over Boromir's signature last words, "My brother, my captain, my King..." So... my head canon that will not be shaken is that Aragorn took the vambraces because they were the smallest items that had the White Tree insignia... items that he felt wouldn't be desecrating the dead/dishonoring Boromir, and yet marked that moment when he finally quit fighting his calling in life. Funny how it took me 37,000 viewings for that to really click as "Oh, yes, that's exactly it" and thus drive off the pesky, "Jeez, what's he doing, robbing the dead??" little niggling whisper in the back of my head that always bugged me about that whole scene. I'm sure I'm the last movie fan to have figured that out and no doubt there's a thousand fics already saying that, and who knows, maybe something is said in the commentaries that I never caught because I've only watched the extras about 3 times total over the years, but yeah... I'm finally up to speed.
Now I wonder what I might discover new when I watch TTT.
_________
*(For those of you relatively new to my LJ, since 2009 I have a double-sided ROTK movie poster hanging, complete in theater-marquee lightbox hubby built, on the wall above the basement stairs. See post here.)
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Date: 2014-08-31 12:50 pm (UTC)I nearly burst into tears when she said about sitting on the basement steps. Oh my oh my. Yesss. Now she knows.
Superb posters. Just wonderful. Hubby is a gem! and the placement is perfect for the ROTK poster. Sometimes one needs a basement step to sit on.
It NEVER occurred to me that Aragorn was 'stealing' the Vambraces. I just accepted that he took them for love, for honouring, for - Boromir's grace.
(And I LOVE it when he's always wearing them. I goes all gooey!)
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Date: 2014-08-31 01:03 pm (UTC)Hubs did *such* an amazing job with both those posters (the Hidalgo one hangs in the family room... we tried Aragorn in the family room, but those eyes were too doggone intimidating to have looking at us all the time! LOL)
It was just a little detail that always gave me a bit of pinprick of... not exactly out-of-characterness, nor real unease, but just... confusion, because I never could really sort out the why of it. It never stopped me enjoying the moment nor enjoying how they look on him, but it was just that .001% of the scene that I didn't have a good grip on that bugged me. Now it doesn't. :)
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Date: 2014-08-31 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-01 08:51 pm (UTC)Now that's a theory I've never heard put forth. Interesting. It would be something he could take that wouldn't weigh him down as Boromir's shield or sword would have.
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Date: 2014-08-31 05:42 pm (UTC)But oh my... to do that with the Posters... Aragorn looking DEEEEEEP into one... one can let one's thoughts be understood and found acceptable.
Hidalgo I LOVE... the whole thing. Viggo and horses, the desert.. the space - and grace from that awful circus. The challenge, the pride and egoism. The graciousness and traditions of Omar Sharif... he was soooo - Arabic. The mysticism of the near-collapse... and that bloody fabulous ride... saddleless and that HORSE!!!! racing its heart out (yes, I know they used three or four paints, but still!)
Viggo never disappoints in his films. He's broken my heart so many times with loving him and his talents. (then mends it again!)
Going to watch 'Witness' tonight. Vig's first big film. Harrison Ford looks about thirty!!!
So glad Dinks is in favour now! teehee. Tis all good stoof! Hugs!
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:52 pm (UTC)Hope you enjoyed "Witness"... baby Viggo! LOL
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Date: 2014-09-02 07:42 am (UTC)And the film was good... seen it quite a few times now, but there's such a lot to 'see' in it. Putting up the barn... and using dowelling to fix the beams) ... and the sit-down meal after.. It certainly was a different (and nicer, more normal) life than Harrison Ford had come from. It was also very relaxing and pleasant - no hairy naked grunting sex scenes for a change!!!!! just a bit of good kissing.
I'm wearing my Hidalgo out!!! teehee.
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Date: 2014-09-03 02:06 pm (UTC)Thank goodness he has re-emerged as the genetic freak of nature that he is and still looks good enough and young enough to play any sort of hero he wants (now if he only WOULD play another true-blue hero... *sigh*)
And I also figured out the tee-shirt... it's a band that his ex-wife produces: http://skatingpolly.com/about
I gotta say, after checking out their stuff, my musical tastes and his... don't really coincide. LOL
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Date: 2014-09-04 07:29 am (UTC)The beautiful Viggo is Back. minus that godawful beard... it needed trimming back hard! BUT now we have the shiny dimpled chin axe edge cheekbones back. And that shy smile and underneath.....
OUR HERO!!!!!
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Date: 2014-08-31 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-31 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-31 01:55 pm (UTC)What a breakthrough! I enjoyed your post very much. Please let us know if you notice anything new in TTT and ROTK.
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Date: 2014-08-31 02:06 pm (UTC)(*a crisis brought on by the fact that Marvel movies have a propensity for casting hunky lead actors named Chris: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt... and Hannah also includes Chris Pine when it comes to Existential Chris-es.)
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Date: 2014-08-31 03:18 pm (UTC)LOL And still you loved him :D And now Dinks too, oh my!
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:53 pm (UTC)Yep, because it was all the other stuff that was spot on that made me love him. It just took a while to figure out how to interpret the vambraces in a way that fit the image in my head. :)
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Date: 2014-08-31 04:12 pm (UTC)Yep. Frodo was tribute!
I hope she enjoys the rest of the movies. Even if she doesn't watch them now, sooner or later she'll want to know how they turn out!
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:55 pm (UTC)She really slayed me with that one. :)
We've made it through TTT. We'll see if we can watch ROTK tonight... we had a busier day than expected so it may have to wait until the weekend.
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Date: 2014-08-31 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-01 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-31 09:23 pm (UTC)And yes, it was an erie moment when Frodo feels the Black Riders and Nature seems to be holding it's breath.
I love your Eureka! moment with the vambraces. :)
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:56 pm (UTC)Some parents worry about making their kids into doctors and lawyers; me, I just want her to fangirl over Aragorn. LOL
It's the only thing I can think of that really does fit the scene and his character... and that fits my own own ideas of the import of the moment.
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Date: 2014-08-31 11:18 pm (UTC)At least yours is with Tokien; Mum and I did it to Mothra and Godzilla. *laughs*
"My brother..." TNT had the trilogy on Saturday; I only watched Fellowship as 3 hour movie with 60 minutes of commercials is DANGIT~ not happening! I still had tears welling up in my eyes and I hate that! Makes it impossible to see the final scenes!
*sigh*
I went off after that and helped Elwiniel up a few notches in her levels; she's doing much better as an Elf Lore-Master. LOL
Catch ya later!
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:58 pm (UTC)I *hate* those commercials. I usually only record the movies when they're on TNT so I can skip around and watch my favorite scenes.
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Date: 2014-09-01 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-01 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-01 03:13 am (UTC)That is too, too funny, though. I hope the watching of TTT goes as well!
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Date: 2014-09-01 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-02 02:02 am (UTC)It sounds like watching FOTR with Dink is about the same level of laughs I get watching it with my brother. He complains all the time about Frodo's eyes (he dislikes EW's large eyes for some reason) and of course, Legolas "skateboarding" in Helm's Deep is his favorite scene!
You must keep up apprised of Dink's Aragorn fangirl status. We need a second you to write us fanfic, lol!
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Date: 2014-09-03 02:11 pm (UTC)Okay, this will probably result in half my flist defriending me, but... I kinda am with your brother on that point?? His eyes *are* pretty, but sometimes they just look sort of scary. I guess in some ways it's the horror films he's done that influence me a little, because sometimes they just creep me out! LOL
Yeaaahhh... don't hold your breath on that score. LOL
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Date: 2014-09-03 08:08 am (UTC)"My brother, my captain, my King..."
She didn't mention Dead Poets Society and "O Captain! My Captain!"?
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Date: 2014-09-03 02:17 pm (UTC)No... but I don't think she's seen it yet. I know she's read the poem when she studied Walt Whitman in school, but if she made a connection between those scenes, she didn't say. It does remind me of the poem (though not the Robin Williams movie, sorry; I loved the poem way before that movie ever came out), but that poem for me ties in so strongly with my admiration of Lincoln, and the line Boromir says is so tied to M-e, that I don't usually make any sort of connection with them other than one in passing, if that makes sense.
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Date: 2014-09-19 11:55 pm (UTC)And boy, did I enjoy her reactions and commentary
Hehe, I can imagine! :o) I'm always having so much fun watching my nieces when they love the small bits and glimpses of The Hobbit I can already show them...
that Tolkien had it BEFORE JK Rowling and "boy, she really took a lot of ideas from Tolkien, didn't she"
*ggg* Well spotted, Dink! :o)
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Date: 2014-09-22 03:14 pm (UTC)No problem! I know exactly how it is to fall behind on LJ. I keep thinking I need to just STOP POSTING because it takes me so long to reply to comments, but then new things happen that I have a hopeless compulsion to share and, well, you know how it is. The hurrier I go, the behinder I get, as my dear uncle used to say.
It's great fun. I just wish she was more of a Tolkien fan, but her interests lie elsewhere.
I was quite pleased with her observation!