"I'm glad to be with you..."

I did, in fact, notice the change, and thought Frodo (or Jackson-Walsh-Boyens) was going for a deliberate acknowledgement of Sam as a partner, without whom they wouldn't have succeeded.

Also, maybe I blinked, but the confrontation on the street in Minas Tirith of Shadowfax, bearing Gandalf and Pippin, skidding to a halt before the grounded, wing-bated Nazgul scene from the trailers wasn't in the movie, was it?

Nope, and neither was the Aragorn and Legolas scene, where Leggy has his hand on Aragorn's shoulder and holding his bow in that suggestive manner (although the shot of Aragorn falling to his knees is still in the new TV ad).

I just got done watching a good 15-minute (or so) long behind the scenes documentary. (Quicktime required.) Some good clips, and the actors mostly have interesting stuff to say.

So I didn't miss that! Thanks, Kathy-- I thought I'd blinked. Was the Sam cradling notdead!Frodo scene slightly different in the movie, too? I didn't notice spider-web in the poster.

Am-Chau, that poster isn't notdead!Frodo in Cirith Ungol -- it's reallytired!Frodo as they climb up Mount Doom/

Heh. I was driving to Chicago last night, and one of the roadside stands had a letter burned out. So what was left was 4-foot-high, red neon letters saying FIRE ORKS. Took me aback, I can tell you.

Oh! Thanks, ita. Heavens, I'm stupid today. Or was when I looked at the poster.

That scene for me reminded me so much of the poster that I was tense until it finally reached the right angle.

It was *so* close. So much so that I thought "oh, I've just misrembered the poster." And got sucked up in the story and didn't notice the moment it reached the right angle.

Evil DH leaned over when Frodo, Sam and Gollum reached Minas Morgul and Frodo started to walk toward the gargoyles, and whispered, "Okay. So. She's a dog." And when Sam reached Kirith Ungol and hestitated, apparently intimidated by its forbidding look, "This could be cozy. A plant and an uplight..."

Having just watched all three movies, Weathertop was never mentioned until Gandalf's line in ROTK.

I have some internal consistency issues with things Gandalf can do at one point and then doesn't do afterwards, even tho they'd be handy.

The round scar is supposed to be from the spear. Like a kevlar vest, I suspect the mithril prevented the spear from penetrating but dug into his skin quite a bit. Although it would've been nice for Frodo to have a bruise when recovering in Rivendell, but that might've impugned Elvish healing. It was so sad to see poor scarred Frodo, tho.

Back on the gender roles in Tolkein thing (dang it I wish I had internet at work)...Nutty spoke for me in a lot of ways, but although I did say that female spiders are the agressive ones, I think looking at Ungoliant is telling. Ungoliant was not created by Morgoth; she was there before him, and almost blotted out the world with her poison. In almost every culture, the pre-Apollonian ancient evils are represented by the feminine. Ungoliant and her kind have always existed and will always exist in the dark places of the world. That these places are often dank and cave-like makes it clear that they are the cthonian feminine. Tolkein had to have been building on this - it's too deeply-rooted, esp. in the European psyche.

Not to drag Paglia into it too much, because unlike Paglia I actually think feminine power comes not from being Apollonian but from being more protean. When the "strong female" criticism is broached, it's almost always people wanting to see a woman behaving in the masculine way, being a hero the way men are, not being strong in feminine ways. That the chtonian is considered "evil" is a whole other topic, because of course it often is the antithesis of progress or scientific thinking. But you need both sides.

Nutty also pointed out how often Frodo gets impaled...the Nazgul blade on Weathertop, the troll spear, some spoilery examples. To me, Frodo has always suffered a bit of gender slippage. The guy's a doll. Like Jesus, Frodo has to be male because it's the males who go out into the world and go on quests and enact change. But really, Frodo's not a male. He never fights, he doesn't attack anybody (except of course Gollum, when Frodo's gone completely mad. Frodo doesn't even attack Shelob, but hacks at the webbing.); he's a lifelong bachelor, not a sexual masculine persona as are Sam or Aragorn. Frodo's success is based on feminine qualities, like endurance and mercy, and on the very feminine tactic of creating a supportive group around him, rather than standing on his own.

So having posited Frodo as at least asexual, and quite possibly feminine, Shelob slips a bit to the masculine herself. She does impale Frodo, and cover him in sticky white stuff (okay, now I'm just riffing on Freudian interpretation...but the impaling stands). However, she is a cthonian evil, and she and Frodo are both too feminine, too much on the same side, to kill each other. It has to be Sam, the straight arrow, the rational male, to drive her off.

Back to looking a pictures of pretty hobbits and elves.