The Wasteland Reviewer

Outside the Wasteland: The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

Film can mean so much more than just entertainment on a screen, right? Outside the Wasteland is my new avenue to express my thoughts on films that have truly made an impact on my life. This is not about how great the films are or even how much I love them. This is an expression of how these films have made a direct impact on my life including my love of film, my personality, my world view, and just an overall lasting impression that deeply affected me.  This is a doorway into The Wasteland Reviewer through the films that have shaped me.

The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

What is the time of year that will inevitably get people reflecting and thinking about their past, present, and future? Your birthday! A few days before this article is posted, I will have turned 34 years old. This is not a “special” one that gets a ton of attention. Certainly not like four years ago when I reached 30. But we all have our own approaches to handling such a day each year. Some folks don’t want to draw attention to it and would much rather let it go quietly. Others go gung-ho and make the whole around their birthday about themselves. I am somewhere in the middle. I spend a lot of time and energy focusing on other people whether it is in my line of work or in my personal life. But my birthday is my designated time of year where I make things a little bit about myself. I am a creature of habit and that means I enjoy celebrating my birthday each year in the same type of way. You might wonder what The Lord of the Rings has to do with my birthday, but these films have been such a big element of my birthday celebrations for years.

What do I do to celebrate my big day? Each year, I take one day off around my birthday (honestly, I take what I can get since taking off on my birthday is not always feasible). For that day, I wake up, feed the cats, then I watch my favorite movies nonstop until I go to sleep. I have put a lot of thought into my favorite films over the years and the very top of my list never really changes. That #1 spot has been occupied by the same trilogy for over 20 years…The Lord of the Rings. I see them as one singular film but to be more technical, my top three films are The Return of the King, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers in descending order. Usually, I pick one of them each year and start off my marathons with them. I was extra bold last year and just watched all three of them back-to-back-to-back. The other usual suspects are Mad Max: Fury Road, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ben-Hur, Shrek, Shrek 2, and plenty more. I ordered some of my favorite food as well. This is my day…that one day of the year where I just focus on me, what I want to do, and leave it at that. The Lord of the Rings has been such an important piece of this experience for years and will always be.

How do I celebrate my birthday with my friends? I have my monthly movie marathons with them anyway so the theme and day for the month of November are centered around my birthday. The theme of the marathon is “Shane’s Favorite Films” which means I list off all my favorite films (minus those which have been a part of our marathons before since we do not duplicate movies) and everyone votes on them. It just so happens that my first two birthday marathons included The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers respectively. My friends did not vote for The Return of the King last year, but we will be watching it the day this article is released. That just reinforces how consistently I celebrate my birthday with The Lord of the Rings. For those who cannot make the Saturday marathon, we will pick a film to see in theaters on Sunday that weekend as well (Wicked: For Good is going to be a great time with 12 of my closest friends). We have seen The Menu, The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbird & Snakes, and A Real Pain over the last three years. It is not secret how much film means to me that I center my whole birthday and all the celebratory shenanigans around them too.

But The Lord of the Rings means something to me, doesn’t it? Outside of being a fixture of my birthday celebrations, this trilogy acted as a catalyst for my love of film. Loving the same films as your favorites for over 20 years is quite the commitment (no one has accused me of not being able to commit, to be fair). This ranking hasn’t even come close to changing either. The closest it did come to that just might have been 10 years ago when Mad Max: Fury Road came out. But I am not sure The Lord of the Rings will ever be unseated. To say “never” would be unfair to other films because it would mean I will never give another film a fair shake of hitting me in such a specific and special way. But there is something truly special about The Lord of the Rings. Without a doubt, high fantasy is the most challenging genre to make work on film (especially in live action). You must find a way to efficiently get your audience to buy into a whole new fantasy world before you even get into any other element of the film. Peter Jackson achieved that. You must tell a great story with meaning. Jackson does that. The Lord of the Rings does every aspect of filmmaking impressively well. The music is the most dynamic and varied collection of compositions ever put to film. The ensemble cast is perfect from top to bottom. The effects are state-of-the-art with plenty of creative and inspired filmmaking all around it. Just maybe…no other film will capture the sense of wonder 10, 11, 12-year-old Shane experienced watching these films in a theater for the first time.

How deeply does The Lord of the Rings penetrate my life and experiences? One of the most common things that my brother sends me on a regular basis are memes from The Lord of the Rings. They are films that my brother loves too, and we can share that experience (which means a lot to me). The ultimate “Taking-A-Shane-Day” would be marathoning the Extend Editions of The Lord of the Rings. Some of my favorite video games I have ever played were based on The Lord of the Rings like The Return of the King, Battle for Middle Earth, and The Third Age. These films inspired me to read basically all J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing works centered on Middle Earth from The Hobbit to The Simirillion. There is a reason I play as dwarves every time I play Dungeon & Dragons…it is because Gimli has always been my favorite character and I want to play a character like him. There are probably countless other influences that these films have had on me that go beyond the realm of film and that is something special and not something that can easily be forgotten or surmounted. Every birthday, I will get a year old and also remember just how much I love The Lord of the Rings.