Featuring Matt Anderson and Ben De Bono
In this episode, Ben and Matt once again revisit Lord of the Rings and give their top 5 messianic moments for Sam and Frodo
Standard Podcast
Episode 25: Top 5 Sam & Frodo Messianic Moments
July 17, 2011- Categories: Countdowns,
- Podcast
Ben,
You asked Matt if he saw the original “The Thing” and state the original was the 1985 John Carpenter Movie. However, John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is a remake of the 1951 Sci Fi movie”The Thing from Another World”.
Good catch! I’d forgotten about that one. So I guess the new movie is the third iteration of The Thing
I really enjoyed this episode, guys! What a great topic for discussion. By the way, I don’t think Matt was so far off the mark to consider Sam’s wading in the water a “Jesus-y” moment. Doesn’t Jesus wade into the Jordan in order to fulfill all righteousness (per Matthew’s account) just as Sam splashes into the river because following Frodo is simply what he must do? Maybe not “walking on the water,” and maybe not a perfect comparison; but, in literature, immersions in water generally need to receive attention, because they are often (not always, but often) types of baptism.
I think you guys glossed over Frodo’s failure at Mount Doom a little quickly, though. Tolkien makes it absolutely clear that Frodo fails. “But I do not choose now to do what I have come to do,” he says. Frodo chooses, in other words, to do his own will, no matter the destructive consequences. “Man falls” again. Gollum becomes the unwitting instrument of the world’s salvation. Frodo is heroic and, yes, messianic in lots of ways, but his failure at Mount Doom is not one of them.
No disrespect intended to David Yates, but my favorite “Harry Potter” film director has got to be Alfonso Cuaron. I realize he only directed one of the movies, “Prisoner of Azkaban,” but what a movie it is! Definitely my favorite of the series. Cuaron was given room to add his own dark and quirky sensibility to Harry’s world, remaining faithful to the plot of the book while embellishing and deepening it (that incredible Knight Bus sequence springs to mind); and I think, with its intense focus on the father-son relationship (biological [James], adoptive [Sirius], surrogate [Lupin]), it’s the movie with the most heart excepting “Deathly Hallows Part 2.”
Don’t you think Commissioner Gordon always knows, in every iteration of the “Batman” mythos, who Bruce Wayne really is? (Except maybe in the old Adam West show.) I mean, the guy is Gotham City’s top cop and a former detective himself. I bet the revelation that he knows Wayne’s secret identity.
I am not even going to touch your “Superman sucks” comment at the moment… Suffice it to say, I disagree. Strongly.
Just my two (or more) quatloos. Again, nice episode!