Disability Is Natural Books and Media
The Gift of Fellowship
When The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie was released (the first in the trilogy), my husband and son wasted no time getting to the theater. Fifteen-year-old Benjamin was entranced by the battle scenes shown on the television ads. At the time, my seventeen-year-old daughter, Emily, and I weren’t too interested in the movie. I had read and enjoyed the book in high school, but the TV ads made it look like a “guy-movie,” so Emily and I stayed home.
Our two guys reported that it was, indeed, a fantastic movie, and Benj repeatedly said he wanted the family to see it together. Weeks passed, and the movie was no longer shown at the theater. So, when it came out on DVD, I rented it, we watched it together, and I promptly bought a copy. Emily and I couldn’t get enough of it, and the whole family eagerly awaited The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the second and third installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Author J.R.R. Tolkein’s saga is great literature, and on-screen, the incredible sets and believable performances make the fantasy real. Movies, like books, touch each person in a unique fashion. We each get something a little different from the experience. Benjamin, for example, loved the exciting adventures of Frodo, the ring-bearer; the scary characters; and the battle scenes, of course. Emily did not eagerly anticipate the fighting, but was enchanted by all the characters and their dedication to completing their quest to rid the world of the evil ring.
But there’s more. Each film in The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy has much to offer in how we think and feel about people who have disabilities and/or differences. Click here to continue.
Members of the Fellowship were very different from one another, and time after time, it was the differences among the individuals that were,
in fact, strengths!
Kathie Snow
DISABILITY IS NATURAL!
New Ways of Thinking and Revolutionary Common Sense