The Lord of the Rings (english)

    

                         A thirteen months' quest : annus horribilis

Thanks to its visual inventiveness, Peter Jackson's movie has been usually regarded as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 2000s. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to focus on it, for at least four reasons : 

1) any critical analysis is likely to ruin the "magic" which it is built on, and on which its success depends in part,

2) the movie is based upon a strong literary basis which first vehicles the ideas of J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the original book, which we do not have to talk about), 

3) P. Jackson turns this narrative material into a myth which carries his own concerns,

4) P. Jackson is not S. Spielberg, his baby seems to escape his conscious control sometimes, giving birth to a stange creature reflecting the contradictions of several distinct wills (Tolkien/Jackson) without being able to solve any of them. 

We will not spend time on the movie's historical (medieval/fantasy) context nor on its narrative progress : a group of different characters join their forces so as to make an evil ring (which could possibly lead the world to its own ruin) disappear.

Reading such a plot at a basic level only provides, at best, confirmation of a chivalric code stirring quite outdated moral virtues (mutual respect, brotherhood courage, hope, toughness and, we'll see how important it is- chastity). It also reminds us of traumatic memories from History, when democracies allied against dictatorship were rescued but in-extremis (the book "The Lord of the Rings" was published just ten years after WW 2). 

Let's take an apparently banal scene to help measuring the interpretative challenges ahead : at the begining of the film, the wizard Gandalf and Bilbo the Hobbit smoke their pipe altogether, shortly before a Hobbit ceremony.

Bilbo produces a very successful ring of smoke. Gandalf, who prides himself to do better, blows a splendid ship of smoke sailing through the night. 

A first level of interpretation suggests that :

   - the ring of smoke symbolizes the Ring that Bilbo secretly hides in his pocket, 

   - the ship of smoke anticipates the real ship that will carry Bilbo to the unkown - his death- in the final scene of "The return of the King" .

A second level of interpretation reminds us that Gandalf and Bilbo share a common (hi)story (the one Peter Jackson's following trilogy - "the Hobbit" - laboriously tries to tell us) as well as a great complicity which does not need any word to be expressed.  When adults are together, sex is a very common, even if not unequivocal, topic. Bilbo, whose 111th birthday is celebrated, boasts of still being green and healthy, suggesting that he has lost none of his physical, therefore sexual ability, an ability which Gandalf admires. As a consequence, the magician is eager to show his challenger that he is provided with an equal and even greater sexual ability.

By the way, it is quite disturbing to admit that  The Lord of the Rings is overwhelmed by males (men, elves, dwarves, various creatures) or, in other words, that it is almost completely devoid of women. It is therefore tempting to explore the trail of a ring taken in its most common sense, that is to say as a marital union (marriage). Indeed, we know nothing about Frodo's parents, about Lord Elrond of Rivendell's wife, about King Theoden of Rohan's wife, about Denethor of Gondor's one. We know nothing about Gimli's or Legolas' wifes either (if there is any to be found out), etc. In fact, and this is quite unique and extraordinary, absolutely none of the characters in this film seems to be married. The story takes care to erase any trace of union with a woman.

If the ring symbolizes marriage, then for the Tolkien/Jackson couple, marriage is undoubtedly evil.

The different occurences of the circular shape clearly suggets it : this is the natural formation of the orks all around the community members in the mines of Moria (film 1), and once more during the final battle at the gate of Mordor (film 3), this is the shape of the ruins over the Mont-Weathertop where Frodo is wounded, this is the shape of the Elven fountain in which Frodo discovers with horror the future of pein and slavery promised to the Hobbits if the ring is not destroyed. 

 

 

Then it's impossible not to recognize that the one that embodies evil, Sauron, is also the only one to have and to be able to exhibit the attributes of both a male and a female :

   - his finger wearing the ring in the general introduction,

   - the tower of Barad-Dur topped by an eye whose shape evokes an incredible giant vulva. 

In this context (marriage considered as Evil), it becomes natural that Sauron has the qualities of both types (re)united and that he uses them to terrorize the creatures he intends to submit because they try to resist him by their celibacy. 

Anyhow, this interpretation suffers from several flaws :

   - how to understand the circle formed by the members of the different communities reunited in Elrond's Rivendell to decide what to do with the ring ?

   - how to explain that, after the victory, Aragorn quickly celebrates his union with the elf Arwen ?

   - how to consider the final wedding of Sam Gamgee and the Hobbit waitress Rosie ? 

Let's go back to the scene with the smokers.

The ship of smoke blown by Gandalf doesn't only sail through the night, it also sails through Bilbo's circle of smoke, suggesting an explicit sexual act.  If it would be reckless to conclude that these two characters have, or have had in the past physical relations, but it forces us to rethink the entire movie, at least. 

Because, in the world of chivalry created by Tolkien and revisited by Jackson, women do not appear as potential companions. The few ones who escape this general ostracism by the importance given them by the story are only three :

   - the elf Galadriel, a witch doted with feared powers,

   - the elf Arwen, an inaccessible icon, a noble lady from the Middle Ages whom Aragorn loves in a strictly platonic and friendly way, 

   - King of Rohan's niece Eowin, whose feminine nature is contradicted by is willingness to enter the fight disguised as a man.

In other words, in The Lord of the Rings, a male character who intends to relieve his natural impulses has but one alternative : to hope to conquer the heart of a noble lady, like a knight of old times (but there is no guarantee it will be enough to satisfy his desires, unless in a legal framework and so as to ensure offspring, like Aragorn and Arwen), or to to succumb to the obvious temptation of a homosexual relationship. 

Tolkien/Jackson warn us that there is no other choice. 

Now, it becomes necessary to look at the case of the main hero of the story : Frodo Baggins.
In many ways, Tolkien/Jackson suggest that Hobbits are, because of their size, their way of life, their bonhomie, their naivety, nothing but chidren. By the way, when they want to make fun at them, don't other people call them semi-men ?  

If Frodo proves to be a mature and reasonable boy, if Sam appears like an excellent companion, Merry and Pippin are known for their pranks. The initiatory journey that will lead Frodo from the verdant hills of the Shire to the emaciated reliefs of Mordor is the opportunity to lead all these characters from childhood to adulthood and therefore to determine their sexual preference. 

By the way, it is necessary to note the important role played by Gandalf in this quest.

The magician soon establishes himself as a a benevolent and credible alternative father : he is the one into the arms of whom Frodo throws himself at the begining of the film, he is the one who offers his advice, the one who guides and persuades the community. He is the holder of the History of the County (he has access the the archives) he has got a long wooden cane (a phallic object) which confers him magical powers and, on occasion, he gets angry and rages against scamps (he draws Pippin and Merrys' ears and forces them to do the disches). Disappearing in the mines of Moria, Gandalf deprives the Hobbits of the light that illuminated their path, letting them plunge into the dark forces of evil (where night dominates everything).

During this long journey, the physical integrity of Frodo will be jeopardized five times.
He will suffer from :
- 3 penetrating wounds (2 successful ones : the king's sword-sorcerer Angmar on Weathertop, the poisoned sting of the spider Arachne, an a failed one : the spear of a troll in the cavern of Moria, which could have "pierced a boar" dwarf Gimli says),

   - an attempt to ingest him (the giant octopus at the entrance of Moria, whose round mouth is rimmed with teeth),

   - an amputation (the index bearing the ring, severed by the teeth of Gollum on Mount Doom). 

Among theses different tests, the first one and the last one will be critical. 

Any penetration (and there are many in the film : penetration of the community into the mines of Moria, penetration of the skeleton into the well, penetration of the Uruk-hai into the fortification of Helm's Deep), paves the way to the manifestation of evil and must be interpreted as a sexual act. When suffered by the victim, it is legitimate to compare it to a symbolic rape.

The rape suffered by Frodo will affect his libido and his future sexual preferences (the ambiguous caresses he regulary gives to Sam during his trials leave no doubt on this point). Because if Frodo is continuously coveted, this is not only because he has the ring, but because this ring is a very different attribute of Man. 

 

In this perspective, the finger of Sauron in the prologue of the trilogy should be reinterpreted.

Sauron does not wear a male attribute (the finger) and a female attribute (the ring), but rather two attributes of the same sex. And this is precisely why, homophobic considerations aside, it is evil. And that is why, castrated by the sword of Isildur, he loses all his powers. 

Frodo himself is quickly confronted with the alternative mentioned above and must face the facts : his is not a ring bearer but an anus bearer (in french, the etymology of the two words are very close "anneau/anus"). And this anus is either an object of desire for some creatures, either an object of defiance for himself. 

Taken this hypothesis for truth, the film reaches its true dimension. 

The Evil multiplies phallic objects (tower of Sauron, Saruman tower, tower of Cirith Ungol, the slimy arms of the octopus, the long neck of the Nazgul) and threatens the people of Middle-Earth (another axis which converges to the center) by a surrounding strategy shaped like an circle, that is to say an anus (see all evil circular formations already noted). 

In this context, Peter Jackson transforms the simple initiatory journey of Frodo into an unprecedented epic, a wonderful way of  renunciation requiring exceptionnal strength of mind. For, since he has been injured, Frodo has understood the nature of the evil in himself. Like a renunciating monk of the Middle Ages, he decides to sublimate his homosexuality and, suffering differents ordeals, puts himself at the service of a chivalrous upper cause : a sublime chastity thought to be an example to the world (remember that union with a woman is not seen as a possible emergency exit).

Moreover, we must not misinterpret Sauron's willing. Despite the countless battles included in the trilogy, Sauron doesn't intend to impose his domination to the world by force. His rule will impose itself if the ring is not destroyed. Which way ? 

The filthy creatures issued from the underground or Orthanc (magician Saruman's home) can give clear idea of it. This is at the foot of the tower (the phallus), inside the underground of it (the balls), that Saruman gives birth to spontaneous generations of unisex monsters. What threatens the world is not the ring itself, but the prospect of a world in which the relationship between creatures of the same sex would lead to a natural and inevitable extinction of all other species. 

 Therefore, to destroy the ring/anus means to escape the fate of a world where homosexuality would not only be the norm, nor even a duty, but a full and absolute servitude. 

Despite his fierce determination and the nobility of his fellings, Frodo won't finally escape the temptation which harasses him. Note that the ring gives, when put on one's finger, a strange power of invisibility. In other words, when completed, the homosexual act immediately plunges its author into hiding (others can not / should not see it). It is a taboo. It gives a strong sens of guilt (vulvar eye of Sauron). 

At the end of his journey, Frodo succumbs, puts the ring on and decides to keep it. Facing this potential disastrous threat for the world, Tolkien choses the only radical solution : castration. 

The ring is not simply removed by Gollum, but torn out by teeth from the index bearing it, recalling the fate of Saint Origen, one of the Fathers of the Catholic Church, the rigidity of principle and moral of whom had driven him to auto-castrate to avoid any temptation.

The future of (Saint) Frodon the eunuch is written in advance : he will become a monk-copyist to tell his adventures. 

To Frodo's castration replies the Nazgul's castration in the final battle at Minas Tirith. The ambiguity here is at its peak. To destroy the Witch-King, a blade (phallus) is inserted into the oval black (anus) of his face by a woman, Eowin, disguised as a man. 

For Tolkien, people (men) gathered altogether constantly face the evil of a mutual attraction leading to a dead end (this is the circle of the different communities in Rivendell).
Successfully overcome this evil requires honesty and renunciation. Giving it up exposes the mind to the horror of a schizophrenic and hopeless struggle which will alternate delivery phases and libidinous excitement : this is the case of Gollum. 

But as soon as the ring/anus is destroyed and the world set free from its dilemma (homosexuality/chastity), love is able to come back (a courteous  love for Aragorn, a carnal love for the Hobbits having reached adulthood). 

Sam Gamgee, although a punctual ring bearer who never had the temptation to put it on, can legitimately claim Rosies's hand and reveal the perspectives of the new world to come : an abundant maternity (this is the ultimate and splendid scene selected by Jackson to complete his trilogy). The children of Sam and Rosie get out the round belly of the little house in the County reminding us of the round belly containing our latent Humanity  in the last scene of Quest for Fire by Jean-jacques Annaud.
(Well, in french, "Annaud" means "ring" !…quite disturbing, isn't it ?)

The Lord of the Ring is based upon a strong moral imperative embodied by Frodo, and whose echo comes from a rigorist past one would have thought over. Nevertheless, it has found, quite inexplicably, a sympathetic ear among our contemporaries.