The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Trailer
Guys, there is a trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and it is absolutely amazing! And it is so for multiple reasons. This is the Deathly Hallows Part for the Tolkien fans in the sense that this is probably the last film set in Middle-Earth that we will get. As such, this trailer strikes the perfect balance between nostalgia and sadness. This is just going to be a quick rambling post, so don't expect to much of it. Take a look below before I explain:
By using the song Edge of Night, sung by Peregrin Took in The Return of the King film, Jackson quite consciously throws us back to that movie and how it ended. This post may become spoilerific from here on, so be warned!
As we all know, Rotk ended happily in the sense that evil was defeated and good ruled. As such it was the perfect happy ending to the terror in which Middle-Earth found itself at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. Now, in The Hobbit we have quite the opposite. The world was good, Bilbo had nothing to worry about and Sauron was defeated. By comparing these two trilogies against each other so clearly, Jackson reminds us that the ending of The Battle of the Five Armies can only be bad because we have to get to a Middle-Earth in which Sauron is back and almost none of the characters who form our current companionship survive.
As such, the glimpses of the different armies fighting each other, of Thorin and Bard fighting, of Gandalf and Galadriel opposing the Necormancer, are all there to remind us that after this film a time is coming in which these different groups will be more divided than ever. There is a reason a Fellowship is needed, because after this everything breaks apart. We see a similar thing happening with the Original and the Prequel Trilogy in Star Wars. The Original trilogy had the benefit of a happy ending, away from Empire and the Rule oft he Sith. The prequel Trilogy on the other hand had to end up with the Empire.
Now, this all sounds very doom and gloom-ish but that is because Jackson has perfectly understood the use of the Fantasy genre. Fantasy reflects modern and human thoughts and feelings by raising them up to a fantastical level. The Battle of Five Armies shows how the current political and economical situation pits people against each other. I guess the only positive thing we can take away from this is that although we might have to face a time of darkness, there will be a Fellowship afterwards and a happy ending.
By using the song Edge of Night, sung by Peregrin Took in The Return of the King film, Jackson quite consciously throws us back to that movie and how it ended. This post may become spoilerific from here on, so be warned!
As we all know, Rotk ended happily in the sense that evil was defeated and good ruled. As such it was the perfect happy ending to the terror in which Middle-Earth found itself at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. Now, in The Hobbit we have quite the opposite. The world was good, Bilbo had nothing to worry about and Sauron was defeated. By comparing these two trilogies against each other so clearly, Jackson reminds us that the ending of The Battle of the Five Armies can only be bad because we have to get to a Middle-Earth in which Sauron is back and almost none of the characters who form our current companionship survive.
As such, the glimpses of the different armies fighting each other, of Thorin and Bard fighting, of Gandalf and Galadriel opposing the Necormancer, are all there to remind us that after this film a time is coming in which these different groups will be more divided than ever. There is a reason a Fellowship is needed, because after this everything breaks apart. We see a similar thing happening with the Original and the Prequel Trilogy in Star Wars. The Original trilogy had the benefit of a happy ending, away from Empire and the Rule oft he Sith. The prequel Trilogy on the other hand had to end up with the Empire.
Now, this all sounds very doom and gloom-ish but that is because Jackson has perfectly understood the use of the Fantasy genre. Fantasy reflects modern and human thoughts and feelings by raising them up to a fantastical level. The Battle of Five Armies shows how the current political and economical situation pits people against each other. I guess the only positive thing we can take away from this is that although we might have to face a time of darkness, there will be a Fellowship afterwards and a happy ending.
That's an interesting take of Jacksons intentions. But then, there are people pitted against each other in each and every era for this or that reason. I've never thought about it, since I focus more on which things from the books he changed that he didn't have to - though that, I guess, is also a reflection of our time. I do like the films, despite his changes, he does a great job with them. I can't wait for December!
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