Rot of the Mind and Corruption of the
Soul
By : Randi Reader
For : Miss. Henderson
Due Date : May 16th, 2013
Table
of Contents
Abstract
- Page 3
Introduction
- Page 4
Body
· Dramatic
- Page 5
· Cinematic
- Page 7
· Literary
- Page 8
Conclusion
- Page 9
References
and citation - Page 10
Abstract
In my paper
'Rot of the Mind and Corruption of the Soul." I talk about the Dramatic,
Cinematic and Literary aspects of the film. Things like the make-up and the
costumes play a big role from the dramatic portion of the movie, because
without the make-up and costumes how could you tell good from evil? From the
cinematic position I used things like the camera angles and the CGI of Sméagol
to show how one can tell if the situation is serious or not. Which it almost
always is. As for the literary perspective I chose the Characters of Frodo and
Sméagol to be examined. As the way they act and talk play a big part into how
the movie play out. All of these elements play a big role in contributing to
the central theme of Rot and Corruption.
Introduction
In the movie
adaption of Lord of the Rings: Return of
the King, a book by J.R.R Tolkien the director Peter Jackson shows the
watcher that the central theme is Rot and Corruption. In the movie the make-up
designers make Sméagol, who seems to be most corrupted by the ring, as a
shrivelled up man who no longer looks human. The make-up designers also show
Frodo slowly becoming corrupted, and his mind is slowly beginning to rot and
the power of the ring takes over. When Frodo is being 'called' by the ring, the
camera zooms up either on his face, mostly the eyes, or the ring. In these
shots you can see Frodo with his eyes widened and his face concentrated on the
ring. Almost if the ring was his and that he was meant to keep it; not destroy
it. With Sméagol who is clearly addicted to the ring they CGI him to look
inhuman. But even with all the make-up and camera tricks, the movie wouldn't be
very good if the actors weren't. The
characters of Frodo and Sméagol are complex. One moment they are good and
helping in the quest to destroy the ring and the next they are both fighting
for the ring as if it was a life or death situation. It's like the ring is
controlling them and they can only resist it for so long. Their minds have been
corrupted so the ring is the one and only thing they desire.
`Body (Dramatic)
The make-up
designers, along with the costume designers had to spend extensive hours
working on the characters; getting them ready for filming. With the theme of
Rot and Corruption, they had to work hard to get the make-up and the costumes
to look right. The make-up shows infected burns on the side of Frodo's neck
where the necklace is holding the ring. The burning and rotting leaving
permanent marks and harming Frodo. Showing the rotting of Frodo as he is trying
to work on this Journey. Also they make his eyes really stand out when he is
talking about the ring as if to see the corruption in his eyes. As for Sméagol they have made him look pale,
teeth have all fallen out, little amounts of hair and a ripped and tattered
piece of cloth for clothing. Before Gollum had come in contact with the ring he
was a perfectly fine human. When he came in contact with the ring he
automatically got corrupted, at first just by killing his cousin Deagol; then
slowly the corruption went from his mind to his body. Other characters who
seemed to be corrupted were the Orcs, who had the same sort of face as a human,
except it was deformed and scary looking. When making the Orcs they had latex masks
the actors had to put on as well as extensive make-up to make them look more
real. Along with the suits of armour these creatures are made for one purpose;
to fight the people trying to destroy the ring. One of the most rotted characters in the movie
would be the Mouth of Sauron, when he talks and when he smiles his lips spit
open widely and his teeth are all decomposed. When the Mouth of Sauron is
telling the other members of the fellowship that "My master Sauron the
Great bids thee welcome." They are kind sounding words coming out of a
decomposing rotting mouth. He is also corrupted by Sauron thinking that he will
have a great life one the ring is in Sauron's hands. So in the watchers mind
you would think that they have been corrupted to follow Sauron they have been
fooled into believing that Sauron would let them rule in the "new
world" if he would have taken Middle Earth over and attained the ring.
Cinematic
The camera
angles on Frodo, mainly on his face when he is talking about the ring. When
with Sam and he mentions he can hold on to the ring for Frodo for a little
while so Frodo wouldn't have the burden of it. Frodo seems to have thought then
that all Sam wanted was the ring, and told Sam to leave, "I mean it Sam,
Go home!" The camera zooms in on Frodo and his eyes are wide and
ring-looking. As if looking into his soul and only seeing the ring. It's slowly
becoming him and taking over his life. The part of the movie where they are on
the cave and Frodo is about to throw the ring in the lava, he has a moment
where the ring is whispering to him. In the camera angle the ring is in front
of Frodo, as if he has more power than him. When he has decided to keep the ring
there is a close up on his face, where his eyes have turned cold, cuts on his
face, and chapped lips; Looking rotted. After he is free from the ring he looks
better and the close up on his face makes him look well and his face isn't
scared. He defeated the ring corrupting him, and in the end figured that was
his only purpose. As for Sméagol the way
the editors CGI Sméagol in makes him
look inhuman and almost monster looking. As if he has never been human. As they CGI in Sméagol they also CGI in his evil
second personality which is Gollum. When they are working them both together in
the scene they tend to use a lot of close-ups. As there is only one actor
acting for the both of them. In the end when Sméagol is attempting to kill
Frodo and obtain the ring they close up on his face seeing all the evil in his
eyes and the monster looking features of his face.
Literary
Frodo and
Sméagol are two characters who are complete opposites, yet they find themselves
in a similar situation. They are both addicted to the ring. Sméagol was drawn
to the ring and immediately obsessed with it. He tries to persuade his cousin
Deagol to give him the ring, "Give us that Deagol, my love." is what
Sméagol said when trying to obtain the ring from Deagol. When that didn't work
he resorted to killing him because he was so obsessed. As soon as the ring had
taken over his whole being turned into this human-like animal. Sméagol had a
little monologue for when he turned into Gollum, "We forgot the taste of
bread, we forgot the sound of trees, the softness of the wind, we even forgot
our own name. Mine." At the end of his monologue his eyes had turned round
as if it were the shape of the ring. Frodo on the other hand resisted the effect
the ring was having on him; until the end. When Frodo had to choose between
destroying the ring for Middle Earth and keeping it for his own selfish wants. Sam is begging Frodo to destroy the ring when
Frodo is totally taken over by the ring. "The ring is mine." Were
Frodo's last words before putting the ring on again and deciding to keep it.
That's when Sméagol comes back into the picture and fights Frodo for the ring.
Sméagol bites Frodo's finger off and takes the ring, and starts to dance
yelling "Yes! Yes! Yes! Precious!" Over and over again. Then Frodo
gets up and continues to fight Sméagol for the ring, and pushes him off the
cliff and into the lava. Sméagol is smiling the whole way down as if even as he
is dying the only thing that matters to him is the ring.
Conclusion
So once the Make-up has been done,
and the costumes have been put on, the characters are in place and they find
just the perfect camera angles; they start piecing together the central theme.
If it wasn't for the rotting of Frodo's neck, the way Sméagol dresses and
looks, how the Orcs are deformed, or how the Mouth of Sauron has spit black
decomposing lips, the theme of rot and corruption would be a little more
difficult to see. But with all the Cinematic, Dramatic and Literary elements of
the movie we can see a lot clearly the central theme is Rot and Corruption.
Everything from the make-up and clothes, to the landscape is rotted. And all
the characters who have ever came in contact with the ring have been corrupted
by it and had their minds taken over with the very thought of the ring. The
only decision left for the characters to make is if they want to spend their
lives being good, or evil.
References and Citation
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Jackson,
Peter , dir. Lord of the
Rings: Return of the King. Prod. Michael Lynne. New Line Cinema , 2003.
Film. 14 May 2013.
