IronParrot
04-13-2003, 05:02 AM
This is NOT a discussion of how the film relates to the book. This is an analysis of things that are strictly within the context of the film. If you want to talk about the book, go somewhere else.
This thread is my valiant attempt to create a thread where people can critically analyze the themes, motifs and symbols in the Peter Jackson film of The Lord of the Rings without once tying things into the book. It can be done, although it will be painfully incomplete until the final installment is released. Think of it as a refuge for people who are sick of "What's your favourite ___?" and "___ wasn't in the book" and (God forbid) "Legolas is hot", and want to discuss the film as an independent entity.
I'm going to kick off the discussion with something that I think really deserves to be mentioned: the cinematographic progression throughout the movie. I particularly mean this in terms of colour timing, which (as one can discern from the DVD interviews) was a process to which Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie really devoted themselves.
Colour symbolism seems to play a huge part in the movie. As we all know, the theme of nature and technology that is present in Tolkien's - BZZZT! sorry, I broke my own rules. As I was saying, one of the major visual motifs throughout the film is the destruction of nature to make way for industrialization. You can see this directly incorporated into Saruman ordering Orcs to rip down the trees, and how the lush green landscape of Isengard when Gandalf arrives is vastly transformed into flaming chasms of forgery that glow a bright orange.
Green = trees = nature; orange = fire = industry. The Shire and Isengard in the beginning of FOTR: very green, very lush and colourful. But as the film progresses, vegetation everywhere gradually becomes more and more faded. Amon Hen has plenty of green grass, but it's not nearly as bright and shocking as that of the Shire; in fact, the DVD segment on colour correction shows Boromir's death as an example of where they faded the colours, toned down the contrast and generally made the environment slightly less appealing. By the time you get to the fields of Rohan, the grassland is very brown and yellow compared to the foothills of the Shire, as if it had the life sucked out of it: which, of course, is what Saruman is busy doing at that very moment. Even Ithilien, for all of its nature that is left intact, is slightly bled of its life as the allies of Mordor march across it.
At Helm's Deep, hardly any green is to be seen at all. By the time you reach the siege of Isengard, there is a sudden return to shocking green: the protected natural sanctity of inner Fangorn unfolds and extinguishes the flames. The visual palette springs to life once again.
There are some very fine visual touches to be found all over the place. For example, it was only in my most recent viewing of The Two Towers that I noticed the ominous flocks of crebain heralding the impending siege of Helm's Deep in the late afternoon before the battle. Also note how often, when we see to the Uruk-hai, there is a recurring shot of their heavy metal boots trampling something representative of nature. The Elven brooch comes to mind; after Pippin drops it, it is quickly trampled underfoot. There is also that shot in FOTR when the Fellowship is paddling down the Anduin, we cut to a log in the woods, and our first sign of the approaching Uruk-hai is a boot coming down on that log with a decisive clang.
What other observations have other people made about the film? Have you noticed certain patterns in the composition of various shots and sequences? Any other sort of visual symbolism that strikes you?
This thread is my valiant attempt to create a thread where people can critically analyze the themes, motifs and symbols in the Peter Jackson film of The Lord of the Rings without once tying things into the book. It can be done, although it will be painfully incomplete until the final installment is released. Think of it as a refuge for people who are sick of "What's your favourite ___?" and "___ wasn't in the book" and (God forbid) "Legolas is hot", and want to discuss the film as an independent entity.
I'm going to kick off the discussion with something that I think really deserves to be mentioned: the cinematographic progression throughout the movie. I particularly mean this in terms of colour timing, which (as one can discern from the DVD interviews) was a process to which Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie really devoted themselves.
Colour symbolism seems to play a huge part in the movie. As we all know, the theme of nature and technology that is present in Tolkien's - BZZZT! sorry, I broke my own rules. As I was saying, one of the major visual motifs throughout the film is the destruction of nature to make way for industrialization. You can see this directly incorporated into Saruman ordering Orcs to rip down the trees, and how the lush green landscape of Isengard when Gandalf arrives is vastly transformed into flaming chasms of forgery that glow a bright orange.
Green = trees = nature; orange = fire = industry. The Shire and Isengard in the beginning of FOTR: very green, very lush and colourful. But as the film progresses, vegetation everywhere gradually becomes more and more faded. Amon Hen has plenty of green grass, but it's not nearly as bright and shocking as that of the Shire; in fact, the DVD segment on colour correction shows Boromir's death as an example of where they faded the colours, toned down the contrast and generally made the environment slightly less appealing. By the time you get to the fields of Rohan, the grassland is very brown and yellow compared to the foothills of the Shire, as if it had the life sucked out of it: which, of course, is what Saruman is busy doing at that very moment. Even Ithilien, for all of its nature that is left intact, is slightly bled of its life as the allies of Mordor march across it.
At Helm's Deep, hardly any green is to be seen at all. By the time you reach the siege of Isengard, there is a sudden return to shocking green: the protected natural sanctity of inner Fangorn unfolds and extinguishes the flames. The visual palette springs to life once again.
There are some very fine visual touches to be found all over the place. For example, it was only in my most recent viewing of The Two Towers that I noticed the ominous flocks of crebain heralding the impending siege of Helm's Deep in the late afternoon before the battle. Also note how often, when we see to the Uruk-hai, there is a recurring shot of their heavy metal boots trampling something representative of nature. The Elven brooch comes to mind; after Pippin drops it, it is quickly trampled underfoot. There is also that shot in FOTR when the Fellowship is paddling down the Anduin, we cut to a log in the woods, and our first sign of the approaching Uruk-hai is a boot coming down on that log with a decisive clang.
What other observations have other people made about the film? Have you noticed certain patterns in the composition of various shots and sequences? Any other sort of visual symbolism that strikes you?