December 31, 2002

No Scouring of the Shire? I Think I'm Going to Cry
Adam

I must say that I'm very dissappointed to read that the scouring of the Shire is going to be absent from the movies.
This, more than anything, is going to be my biggest dissapointment of the movie if it is not present.
On one hand, I can understand. One could argue that it's anti-climactic, that it ends on an odd pacing note. I'll admit that it surprised me when I was reading the books.
But that's also why it's one of my favorite parts of the entire series. Why? Several reasons.
First, I think that the battle at the end shows the transformation of Merry and Pippin (as well as same and Frodo) from bumbling idiots to the seasoned warriors that they have become. They have grown so powerful that in the end, Saruman himself is a pushover.
Second, I think that the surprise would be a fantastic way to end the movie. Imagine the movie-goers. They think the story is done. They're expecting to go home soon, they start packing up their coats. And as the hobbits reach the crest of the hill, they are greeted by the smoking ruin that Saruman has made it. Imagine the profanities of shock and joy that would rock the theater as they realize "It ain't over yet."
Finally, it think that if Jackson leaves the Shire pristine, then he has missed a very important message of Tolkien that I, as a pacifist, think is very important. There is no place that is completely immune from the effects of war. While a necessary evil, it can even invade and even destroy the home that we hold dear.
It's too late to change them now, and Jackson wouldn't care what a two-bit nobody from the Midwest has to say anyway, but I really wish that things could have been difference.
Some of you may leave the Return of the King elated and overjoyed, but if the Scouring isn't there, I for one will leave the theater feeling like the keystone was missing from what would otherwise have been a grand and epic archway into the depths of Tolkien's world.