E DUCATION
Peter Jackson, Tolkien and the transcendental truths of
‘The Lord of the Rings’ BY AARON LAMBERT Writer from Denver
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wenty years ago, Peter Jackson wowed moviegoers around the world with his adaptation of the first installment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy, “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Aside from animated versions, there had been no real attempt to bring Tolkien’s masterpiece to the big screen before Jackson took it on, and his trilogy has since etched itself into the upper pantheon of film. Even now, 20 years later, the films are just as moving and sweeping as they were when they were first released, a masterful marriage of incredible special effects and powerful storytelling. Indeed, Tolkien himself likely couldn’t have envisioned better film adaptations of his life’s work, nor could he have foreseen the massive cultural impact his stories would have and continue to have nearly 70 years after they were first published. The best storytellers are able to both capture and captivate their audience, thrusting them into another world and allowing them a brief respite from reality. However, any good story worth telling also draws upon reality and offers lessons and themes that can be carried into real life. Then there are stories like “The Lord of the Rings,” which completely transcend everything that a story can or ought to and become timeless
tools of transcendental truth. They tap into the richest depths of human imagination and convey a message that would be insufficiently conveyed were it attempted in any other form. Reading “The Lord of the Rings” 70 years later, or even watching the movies 20 years after the fact, it’s evident that Tolkien captured themes that are universal to the human condition: the eternal struggle between good and evil, the growth that comes from hardships and adversity, and the necessity of companionship with friends and family, among many others. Over the course of the epic journey to destroy the One Ring, many characters and subplots are introduced, but the brilliance of Tolkien’s craft lies in his uncanny ability to weave all of these moving parts together in a virtuosic display of irresistible storytelling that never strays from these core themes. Of course, another major reason for Tolkien’s impact and the enduring power of “The Lord of the Rings” is because Tolkien was also intimately familiar with the story of his own salvation. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and a man of deep faith. His faith animated his life’s work, and one need not look very hard to find the direct parallels between “The Lord of the Rings” and Tolkien’s deeply
JANUARY 2022 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
