DIRECTOR'S CUT: Psychology of a Hero: FRODO BAGGINS
Does honor still have a place in society? How do you practice radical acceptance?
Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are diving into the psychology of a hero through Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They take a look at Frodo's honor and radical acceptance as he journeys to destroy the One Ring. Jonathan shares eight examples of Frodo and the psychology of honor. Alan shares many tidbits about the filmmaking craft of the trilogy and why he thinks they're probably the best films ever made. There's a lot of giddy, nerdy energy.
Comments (26)
I love these stories so much. Tolkien and CS Lewis were basically the Spielberg and George Lucas of their time, only after they learned their craft together, their great stories were influenced by trench warfare. I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series when I was 13, and devoured them. When I was 24 and dating my now-husband, we were at the theater waiting in line for a different movie months before, and I saw out of the corner of my eye a poster with nothing on it but a single gold ring. My heart stuttered, I ran over to it, then turned around and grabbed my husband's arm exclaiming, "YES! It IS the one ring! They're making it into a movie!" He looked at me like I'd grown two heads, I was so excited. He quickly changed his tune after he saw the films, and is now a big nerd too! 😄 I remember before they came out with each film, I told him he had to read the corresponding book (he'd never read them), so we had storytime at bedtime where we took turns reading to each other out loud. I did voices and everything. (I said I'm a big nerd.) Then, last year when I got him a big screen TV for Christmas, we baptized the TV with The Lord of the Rings movies. Had to be done. 😀
the moment, the MOMENT Alan said "Frodo is Great" my mind finished the phrase, LotR is a Hotel California of fandoms XD
The next one is Pippin?
I absolutely loved this! It makes me want a video on literally every character, especially Sam. I know Tolkein modeled Sam after soldiers he knew in WWI, but I still feel as though Tolkien's belief crept in especially with Peter from The Bible at least in terms of loyalty to a fault almost. Sam eagerly followed his friend without hesitation despite being just a gardener, see more of the world than just his hometown, and fought to protect Frodo's life despite going up against the spawn of Ungoliant. Peter immediately left his town as just an uneducated fisherman, traveled to different countries, would try to singlehandedly protect Jesus (even though Peter was stopped by him) against multiple trained soldiers despite having no education in combat and only a sword. I just love diving into Tolkien's writing because you see influences from his early life, his faith, and WWI and I love analyses about his works and any works of fiction because it gives us a new perspective to take away from. Great work guys!
Thank you for this episode. It was wonderful and made me appreciate Frodo even more. the LOTR movies are my husband's and I confort movies. We watch it regularly (and we cry every time). Any episode of cinema therapy about the lord of the episode will be loved ! (Do more!)
Love it! Listening to LOTR W/Andy Serkis now and so is my fiancé. This property has helped us through so many dark times and I send your Aragorn anti toxic masc. video to everyone I can (when relevant lol) I am going to be a selfish nerd and say PLEASE MAKE MORE LOTR VIDEOS!!
That's awesome! We probably will. We love LotR so much and there's a lot to talk about there.
Yes!! More Lord of the Rings! 😃❤️
I didn’t like Frodo at all when I first watched LOTR as a teenager but as I got older and rewatched LOTR many, many times, I started to respect and appreciate him more. Thanks for this episode! And I’m glad that Alan mentioned FIGWIT 😆 Please do more episodes on LOTR! Would love to see an episode on Denethor/Boromir/Faramir!
We’ve been planning a Denethor Family Therapy episode for awhile. Dunno when we’ll actually get to it, but it’ll be a GOOD one.
Everything is great in that Episode.
These movies are my movies. They are the first ones I will grab when I have a day off and I just want the sit back and relax for the whole day. My spirit soars as the Rohirrim charge across the Pelennor Fields and I am close to weeping at the Grey Havens. I grew up with these tales and every single time the final scene closes, all I can feel is sadness because I want them to keep going on, but they can't. I have never had an emotional experience like that with any other movie. "The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can."
This episode hit *hard*. I definitely hold myself to the standards of a hero in my day to day life. I fought against abuse and trauma and generally as an autistic, against social injustice as a whole. But I'm burnt out and having to honor myself right now and that's been difficult, so I really appreciate what you guys said about how it was important for Frodo to honor himself.
I can't tell you how glad I am that you came back to TLOTR and kind of reshot your very first episode on CT (Radical Acceptance & Dealing with Hardship in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING). THIS is so much better in my opinion, it feels way more natural than the scripted one. I mean we have Alan in it now 😁 I need his Nerdwisdom for the TLOTR episodes. Also the editors are killing it again XD so funny
PLEASE MORE LOTR!!!! I love this trilogy, Would love to see as many takes as you can on it! You started the YT channel on it.... please do multi round revisits!!!
We could probably talk about LOTR indefinitely! 😂 Any specific characters or topics you'd be most interested in?
In my darkest days, I lay on the couch and fall asleep to watching Lord of the Rings. When I can't sleep because too much is going on, I watch Lord of the Rings, and keeps me going. <3 Also, Jonathan, your voice impression of Frodo, is like TOO GOOD! Wow, I thought for a second it was a voice over, but it's not, just wow!
Just keep swimming.
I totally agree with Jono; the older I get, the more significant these movies become. I also agree with Alan regarding the Christian tones throughout the films. I can think of several "Bible Stories" that mirror various events in the movies. I'm particularly struck by two scenes: Galadriel picking Frodo up and Sam carrying Frodo to the top of the mountain. The first reminds me of the story of Elijah, who was so tired and terrified that he begged for death, and God told him to eat something and take a nap, which gave Him the strength to finish his assignment. The last reminds me of prayer and praying for others; I think prayer is a way for you to "carry" those who need help. As Sam said, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you." We may not be able to solve the problem for our friends/enemies, but we can ask God to help them when they're too tired/overwhelmed/distressed to ask for themselves.
Thanks for sharing those examples! Tolkien was quite adamant about LOTR not being a direct Christian allegory (meaning no character is supposed to be a direct stand-in for Christ), but that many of the characters exhibited different Christ-like attributes or other Biblical/Christian traits and plot points (e.g. Frodo carrying the burden of "sin" to save others, Gandalf's sacrifice and resurrection, Aragorn as king, etc.) Themes of forgiveness, redemption, healing, etc. are prevalent all throughout the stories. (Megan here - writer/producer - I was an English major in college and my senior capstone course was on the works of Tolkien and Lewis, looking at allegory along with influences from old and middle English texts. It's been quite a few years since I took that class, but a lot of it stuck with me!)
Ahhh, I LOVE vids on LOTR. Thanks for doing another one, definitely keep them coming ❤️💖💕
I know what I'm gonna go watch now (even though I had a marathon of them like last month, never too soon to rewatch some of your favorite movies)
It's always a good time to watch LOTR.
YES YES YES!! I love seeing episodes about my favorite films of all time! I actually did a visual analysis paper of The Fellowship of the Ring for my cinematography class. And OH BOY do they hold up well!!! One of my favorite bits of filmmaking is how whenever the Ring is on screen it is in the foreground and given more attention than the actors in the scene. And it is also the only gold in the scene. Such simple tricks that added so much!! And the more I hear about Frodo the more I appreciate him. But is he my favorite character? No that would be Aragorn and Sam. Don't ask me to pick between them. That's like picking a favorite child. And I also love them both for very different reasons. Also, actual conversation I had with my old boss (she loves these movies too) Me: Sam is so cute! I just want to pinch his cheeks! Aragorn is HOT. Her: YUP!!!
The close-ups on Jono are hysterical! Also, when Alan was crying, and asked how many shots it took to time the tear perfectly. 10/10
Frodo face!