I am an English Education major. I’m guessing that you can gather from that information that I love to read, which is part of my reason for taking this class. The first time that I was exposed to the Lord of the Rings was a couple of years ago when a few friends of mine who are obsessed with the books and movies sat me down on three separate days and had me watch the three extended versions of the movies. They were horrified when I had told them that I knew nothing of the movies or books. I remember that when I watched the movies, I was overwhelmed by the amount of names and places, and the length, but I was also amazed and entranced by them. I wanted to watch all of them on the same day because I itched to know what happened in the next movies. I thought that Frodo was a weak, flaky character and was given too much credit for what he did. Most of the time when the camera focused on Elijah Wood (Frodo) doing something stupid or rash (which soon became inevitable throughout the movies), I just laughed.
Anyway, I asked for the extended versions for Christmas this past year, and watched them with my brother, which was exciting getting him to share in the wonder of them with me. This summer I first read the books (which I had been planning on reading anyways), and am now in the middle of “The Hobbit” and was surprised by how much of the storyline was omitted when the books were done in cimatic form, but also was impressed by how much important information was included, and also the incredible cinematography and the choice of actors, etc.
In this class, I would love to discuss some of the major themes in the books, including the nature of evil, and also the portrayal of certain characters in the movies as compared with their portrayal in the books.
I do confess to being a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, and am proud of it! I was first introduced to these books when the first one came out while I was in fourth grade, and I remember my fourth grade teacher reading it to us and in fifth grade my teacher doing a similar activity. I recall arguing about the pronunication of Hermione’s name. I feel proud that I was involved before the whole “Harry Potter craze” was introduced and it became “popular.” I have many fond memories of reading the Harry Potter series, and have read them all numerous times. The night that the seventh book came out, my friend Elizabeth had a Harry Potter-themed party at her house and we all dressed up as characters. I was Ron Weasley, one of my favories, and pinned my hair up and sprayed it orange, and wore a maroon sweater and my dad’s jeans. When I walked into her house, her mom mistook me for a boy. We all went to Barnes and Nobles to get our reserved copy, and I spent that entire weekend reading it, even giving up a trip to Canada with my family because I didn’t want anyone ruining the ending for me. For the fifth movie, my friends and I also went to the midnight showing, which was extremely exciting. I feel like my generation, and especially my age level has grown up with these books, especially since the characters were the same age as us. I am thrilled that I was a part of the Harry Potter world and one of those crazy people who gets together with friends to play Quidditch. (We really did, just a watered-down version that does not include brooms).
I immediately noticed, especially while reading the Lord of the Rings books, the overlapping of these books and Harry Potter. I wondered whether J. K. Rowling “borrowed” anything from these books, as there were many points when I exclaimed to myself, “Wow! Definite Harry Potter deja vu right here!” Gandalf was like an alternate reality Dumbledore, or vice versa. I think that my fascination with both the Harry Potter books and the Lord of the Rings definitely stems from the fact that I am an avid reader, and one who enjoys these specific kinds of epic fantasy novels. Kelsey Till August 28, 2008, at 08:00 PM
