TY - JOUR
T1 - Ocularcentrism, horror and The Lord of the Rings films
AU - Peirse, Alison
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The majority of the analyses of The Lord of the Rings films centre on extratextual dimensions: the political economy of film production, of audiences and fandom, and the impact of technology on envisaging the series. Instead, this article explores the aesthetic qualities of the films, focusing on the visualization of the chapter ‘Lothlórien’ from Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, and ‘The passage of the marshes’ and ‘Shelob’s lair’ from The Two Towers. In making The Lord of the Rings, Director Peter Jackson engages with the cinematic possibilities of vision and images of the eye; he then borrows spectatorial conceits from the horror film in order to relate the ocularcentric to the vulnerability of the individual body of Frodo Baggins. In visualizing the trilogy, an obsession is born, not only with the image of the eye, but also with the horror of being watched and of watching.
AB - The majority of the analyses of The Lord of the Rings films centre on extratextual dimensions: the political economy of film production, of audiences and fandom, and the impact of technology on envisaging the series. Instead, this article explores the aesthetic qualities of the films, focusing on the visualization of the chapter ‘Lothlórien’ from Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, and ‘The passage of the marshes’ and ‘Shelob’s lair’ from The Two Towers. In making The Lord of the Rings, Director Peter Jackson engages with the cinematic possibilities of vision and images of the eye; he then borrows spectatorial conceits from the horror film in order to relate the ocularcentric to the vulnerability of the individual body of Frodo Baggins. In visualizing the trilogy, an obsession is born, not only with the image of the eye, but also with the horror of being watched and of watching.
KW - Peter Jackson
KW - The Lord of the Rings
KW - horror
KW - ocularcentrism
KW - spectatorship
KW - vision
U2 - 10.1386/jafp.5.1.41_1
DO - 10.1386/jafp.5.1.41_1
M3 - Article
VL - 5
SP - 41
EP - 50
JO - Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance
JF - Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance
SN - 1753-6421
IS - 1
ER -