Marisa GallelliHolding a wooden staff in his right hand, a man with a brown cloth draped over his shoulders desperately calls out for his journey mate, “Frodo! Frodo!” His screams echo across a flat plot of asphalt, catching only the attention of a young couple that skipped a night class to catch the debut of “The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.”
A staple in American popular culture, the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy draws a diverse fan base. Finding a lost sorcerer at Cabrini College is not likely, but finding fans of this multi-billion dollar series is.
“The Lord of the Rings rocks!” Ryan Dixon, a senior, said. Dixon plans on seeing the last of the three movies the day it comes out, in his usual attire. But Dixon does not think that the costumed fanatics are over-reacting. “I think it’s warranted. The books were a big thing before the movies, but the audience has grown because of the movies, and some of my friends read the books after seeing the movies.”
Contrary to Dixon, Paul Archambault, a junior, said, “People get too crazy.” Archambault said the hysteria surrounding the movies does not affect his viewing of the movies because “they kind of take you to a dream-like world.” Archambault has not read J.R.R. Tolkein’s books, but he has seen the first two movies and plans on seeing the third.
Senior Karl Heiss has read the books and has seen the first two movies. “I like the movies better. They bring better light to the story, but people get a little too crazy when they dress up for the movies,” Heiss said. “They’re great movies and books, but people just take it a little too far.”
Though widely successful, the hype surrounding the trilogy has its critics. Sarah Madden, a junior, said, “There is too much hype around them.” According to Madden, she has no desire to see the movies or read the books and thinks all the buzz is “definitely overrated.”
Amy Warnalis, a sophomore, said, “I think it’s stupid. Why someone would dress up like the people in the movies is beyond me.” Concerning the books, Warnalis said, “I wouldn’t bother to read the books because they are so boring and I would lose interest too fast.”
Deep with fanatics and fans alike, the characters on hand for “Return of the King,” set to open on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003, promises to be an adventure.
Posted to the web by Marisa Gallelli
