|
David
O'Connor
Associate
Professor of Philosophy and Concurrent Associate Professor
of Classics
University
of Notre Dame
Personal
webpage
"Saints
and Heroes: J.R.R. Tolkien in Book and Movie"
Peter Jackson's
splendid movies of The Lord of the Rings will remain
the most influential interpretation of Tolkien for many years.
Yet the movie consistently reforms the novel's characters
to make them less like Catholic saints and more like Romantic
heroes or even American cowboys: Saint Benedict replaced by
Clint Eastwood. Frodo's scene with the Mirror of Galadriel
is a striking example of this change, and it also affects
Aragorn and Gandalf. But Jackson surprisingly retrieves Tolkien's
Catholic spirit where he departs farthest from the letter
of the novel, in the love story of the elf princess Arwen.
This lecture
is co-sponsored by
Residenza
Universitaria Alcantara, Collegio Universitario ARCES
Residenza Universitaria Segesta,
Collegio Universitario ARCES |
