journey

The Hobbit Essay Mansoor Naqshbandi

The hero in any journey learns many lessons through the people he meets, and their response to the events. Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit” directed by Peter Jackson is no different. He is required to overcome many obstacles in his journey, and by doing so, he learns a valuable lesson. Bravery, thinking creatively, courage and the sense of belonging, these lessons is communicated to audience throughout the film by using thoughtful film techniques such as camera angles, shots, facial expressions of the actors and the music. When these techniques are used simultaneously can communicate the relative importance of the film.
The first lesson Bilbo learns is that his strongest and most powerful weapon is his brain. His intelligence along with his ability to stall enemies and talk his way out of tough situations, proved useful to the group. In the scene in which Bilbo learns this valuable lesson is when the encounter the Trolls. Bilbo stalling the Trolls to wait for Gandalf to break the rock in half, so the sunlight would hit the Trolls. It expresses that Bilbo is very creative in thinking of ways to stall and escape in crucial situations. The audience is told this by the way the actor expresses the emotion when being put in decisive situations. The low pitched notes create suspense in the scene to keep the audience expecting more to come. All these techniques are used in the scene of the Trolls to tell the audience that Bilbo, being the hero, is a smart and quick-witted hero.
Throughout the film, courage becomes the most important and valuable lesson Bilbo learns. The courage gives Bilbo the extra push to continue his journey and retrieve the gold. In the scene in which Bilbo fights the pale Orc to save Thorin Oakensheild, shows his natural spontaneous courage. This action demonstrates that the events Bilbo experiences will bring forth the virtues of a hero. It is communicated to the audience by framing Bilbo to one side of the shot; this shows a high level of uncertainty and lack of control of the situation. Along with the camera angles the music creates a atmosphere for the viewer. The triumphed music excites the audience. These techniques along with the dialogue help us understand the story and the emotions behind the characters.
The encounter with Gollum, Bilbo finds himself using his quick-wittedness and intelligence to manipulate Gollum into leading Bilbo to the exit of the cave. Gollum can be a very nasty creature but on the other hand can be very friendly and helpful. Gollum kept switching back and forth between the two personalities. Bilbo uses his intelligence to keep Gollum on his friendlier side by playing a riddle game with him. Bilbo had to use his past knowledge of riddles to win the game or else he would be “eaten whole”. Bilbo obviously wins this as he is the hero of the movie and regroups with his team. This scene shows that Bilbo is an extremely smart hobbit. This is expressed to the audience by using medium to long shots to show both Bilbo and Gollum in the same shot. Whilst with Gollum, the music converts to a much more contented style of music, to show the friendlier side of Gollum. This clearly shows that there is a friendly and nasty side to Gollum, along with Bilbo’s intelligence.
All of these techniques add up to our understanding of the lessons Bilbo learns throughout his journey. Courage, intelligence and quick-wittedness is all proved to the audience by those techniques.