Episode 133 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003).

The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!

Chris and Alex conclude their journey through Middle-Earth with this episode on the third and final entry into Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy - The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003) - where they reflect on the stylistic influence and cultural legacy of the franchise since its culmination over twenty years ago. Listen as they discuss the role of vertical space in fantasy cinema and its contrast with the portrayal of New Zealand’s sprawling landscapes; Andy Serkis, motion-capture, and the narrative ambivalence of Gollum’s technological body; the use of digital VFX n the creation of masses and multitudes; how the film divides its drama between narrative and spectacle plotlines; and Return of the King’s aesthetic extravagance and what it means to experience a Hollywood epic.

**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**

**As featured on Feedspot’s 25 Best London Education Podcasts**

Suggested Readings

  • Allison, Tanine. 2011. “More than a Man in a Monkey Suit: Andy Serkis Motion Capture and Digital Realism.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 28, no. 4: 325–341.

  • Balsolm, Erika. 2021. “The Crowd is Dead, Long Live the Crowd!” Cinema Scope 85. Available here.

  • Bestor, Nicholas. 2016. “The Technologically Determined Decade: Robert Zemeckis, Andy Serkis, and the Promotion of Performance Capture.” animation: an interdisciplinary journal 11, no. 2 (July): 169–188.

  • Gunning, Tom. 2006. “Gollum and Golem: Special Effects and the Technology of Artificial Bodies,” in From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, edited by Murray Pomerance and Ernest Mathjis, 231–248. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi.

  • Sobchack, Vivian. 1990. ““Surge and Splendor“: A Phenomenology of the Hollywood Historical Epic.” Representations 29 (Winter): 24-49.

  • Whissel, Kristen. 2010. “The Digital Multitude,” Cinema Journal 49, no. 4 (Summer): 90–110.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantHOLLYWOOD, FRANCHISE, ADAPTATION, JOURNEYComment