February 20, 2004

Frodo Pushing Gollum??
inthelandofmordor

Let me first start off by saying that I have read the books and I also initially thought that Frodo pushed Gollum into the lava at the end of the movie. All of my friends who have read the books thought the same thing at first. However, my friends who have not read the books were never in any doubt as to what was really going on between the two. FRODO DID NOT PUSH GOLLUM! An easy mistake to make if you are watching the movies simply as a comparison study with the books(which I was the first time I saw them). The problem with viewing the films in this manner is that you're not really paying attention to what's happening, being so engrossed in the "changes". Frodo and Gollum were fighting for the ring when they both fell over the edge. Now before anyone gets upset at this startling revelation I don't think this has seriously altered Tolkien's vision of the ending, as Frodo was not only unable to relinquish the ring he was also so attached to it that he would risk his life to get it back. Hence the fall.

Finally on a similar vein, I recommend that everyone who has read the books go back to the theaters, forget about the books for a couple of hours, and watch the movie with eyes unclouded. Everyone has compared the book and the movie long enough, now watch it simply as a movie and enjoy it at least once.

Later we can all go back to nitpicking.