Hi … to anyone in the universe who might be reading this.
There should be a degree in Middle Earth
It is no secret to anyone who knows myself, or my family that we are Middle Earth OBSESSED. Obsessed is putting it lightly. I really do think, if there was the option to take a degree in all things middle earth I would do it! There’s so much about that world I love. It may seem surprising, that as a child who suffered from severe anxiety (which was easily triggered by things; such as death), would be so into a film, which consists of so much darkness and war.
However, the first thing that my parents told me, is that ‘the story is about Good over Evil’. It was about how no matter what, good wins. It emphasises self-strength, self-motivation, comradery and above all, what true friendship is about. There isn’t a main focus on a love story as such, or anything overtly sexual, that takes away the focus from the main message. A couple of very tame love story lines, but other than that, it is all about friendship and things that are good.
Why am I rambling on about this? Well, as much for my own pleasure, there is a purpose to this ramble …
The weekend just gone, Jess finally lost her Middle Earth Virginity! I couldn’t be prouder ahaha. Ever since I discovered she enjoyed Game Of Thrones, I felt so sure she would enjoy The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, as she explained she had NEVER seen ANY of them (She also disclosed that she hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars movies or Fast and Furious movies, but that’s a whole other heartbreak I can’t let myself go into just yet!). I had rang her up after a night we had both babysat and asked ‘how was your evening working?’ she replied ‘Yeah it was alright. Watched a couple of movies. Watched a bit of Lord Of The Rings, but only for a bit and I don’t know which one it was’ … EVERYTHING with that statement was wrong. Lol sounding like Luke Skywalker there … for any Last Jedi fans 😉 I rang Izaak up and told him what she had said … he just groaned the whole time hahaha. I WAS GOING TO RECTIFY THE SITUATION! … yep just quoted 50 shades I’m film geeking that much. It made no sense that I had a best friend that had NEVER seen something my whole family are crazy over.
So, as Thomassen’s do best, my parents and I decided to give her a proper middle earth introduction. It took very little convincing on both my family’s end and Jess’s. Movie day + food = SOLD. Ma and I had an in depth conversation about which order we should get her to watch them. Either the order of which the movies came out (LOTR 2001,2002,2003, Hobbit 2012,2013,2014) or the order of the actual story/books (The Hobbit, then LOTR). We decided for the second. The Hobbit although full of action, adventure and complexities, we thought it was a lighter start in comparison to LOTR. Both movies start at the exact same position, however the Hobbit goes back 60 years and LOTR goes forward. As amazing as it was, as someone who got to watch The Hobbit, after LOTR and gain such thrills / goosebumps and excitement from the references in the newer trilogy – You can still get the same feeling vice versa … that whole paragraph was geeking at it’s finest.
We put out a nice selection of grub to tuck into: popcorn, cookies, tapas, cheeseboard, crackers, dips, veg for dipping, nibbly things like potato chips, sausage rolls (for Jess and Dad), choccies, drinks and Pizza & oven chips later on, as this was going to be an ALL DAY event. Actually now I think about it, we didn’t really spend all day doing it. Jess came at 2pm and we finished around 10pm, so that wasn’t too long! Bearing in mind we weren’t watching the extended editions. Anyway, we all got cosy, shut the curtains and upped the surround sound volume – oh yeah! Pulling out all the stops. She hadn’t realised that the Hobbit was a trilogy, which I found hysterical, but I also worried, as I wondered if she would be put off having to watch 6 movies.
Well … what a treat it was to witness her experiencing that trilogy for the first time! She laughed, she cried. Her comments throughout had me cracking up. Oh and when she first saw Gollum her face was priceless. She knew of him and knew that he was in LOTR, but I hadn’t told her that he would have a role in the Hobbit as well. Once we had watched the first movie, I put in the second – it felt like it had gone by so quickly and I knew we could last for another one. Before I knew it, we had finished the second one and JESS was telling me to put on the third! I hadn’t even prepared myself to watch the third, as I thought there would have been a good chance we wouldn’t even make it to that. Nope. FULL STEAM AHEAD with this chick. I was a mess from crying in that film, but it was so fab. Then as the film concluded, I explained that that was how / where LOTR starts. She was so happy and excited she was like ‘I CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH THEM!’. Ma had stuck it out for the whole thing too and we were well and truly middle earth satisfied for the weekend. Jess then pulled out her phone to look at her calendar/diary and said ‘Right … Next Saturday LOTR?’. My heart was jumping with excitement, but a part of me was thinking Oh gosh, we’re in for an emotionally draining weekend! So this weekend – we’re watching LOTR!
The way I can best describe it, is that, the emotions of everything I feel in The Hobbit trilogy, I feel in just the first LOTR movie! For those who have watched it, will know why. There’s far more complexities and darkness lingering in the LOTR. There’s WAY more story lines in my opinion too, so you become emotionally invested in all of those. I always try to watch the first one without crying, but I don’t. I just sob lol. The second one has always been a fav of mine, just because I think there are so many iconic, comical moments and it doesn’t feel so heavy in comparison to the others. It was the movie that Izaak use to play ON REPEAT when we were younger too, so I think I find that one easiest to watch. I can proudly and UNSHAMEFULLY quote most of the film hahaha. The third is just the mother of all emotions. You can’t help it. It’s the final movie and the final to all that middle earth-ness that we get (film wise … YET! PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER ONE PETER JACKSON!!!).
I honestly don’t know how much we’ll get through this Saturday. Depends if Jess wants to watch a lot of them, or just one. Bearing in mind we only have the extended editions of those movies too, so it will take much longer! However, that is something I am more than willing to commit to haha. Just might have sore eyes by the end.
I am so so so happy to have another friend to share this with and I shockingly found out that Gaz hasn’t watched ANY of them either OR STAR WARS!!! How did this slip under my radar!?! So there will be many moviethons taking place over the next few months.
Being Rhiannon
Being Rhiannon 