Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Join Maggie and Cam as they dive into Maggie's favorite movie of all time. We dig through all the structural / stylistic choices that make this a perfect adaptation of the book, even when it seems to diverge from the source material, including: tracking shots, color palettes, quick zooms, discordant types of humor, and Matthew McFayden's choice to play Darcy as a tragic supporting character trapped in the role of a leading man. Maggie also discusses her history with the book and the idea of "rewatchability" in classic stories.

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Can you go home again? Does "home" change or do you change? Tolkien meditates on these questions beautifully in this chapter, which feels like a throwback to early Fellowship. Geopolitics and class critiques come roaring back as Gandalf and our hobbits do the fascinating, boots-on-the-ground work of building and maintaining alliances. Also, Bill the Pony's fate is revealed at long last.

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End of the year, time for lists and rankings! Well, we thought it was stupid to rank and number and limit things by genre / medium. So instead, Cam and Maggie have prepared top five lists for the best works of art they discovered this year and then the best works of art that actually came out this year. Expect twists, shocks, surprises, and then don't be surprised when they completely agree on the #1 work of art made in 2021. Happy New Year!

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Listen to Cam's silly little Christmas fable, The Christmas Donkey: https://cameronfucile.bandcamp.com/track/the-christmas-donkey

Tolkien's 3rd LOTR epilogue evolves some metaphors and further develops his "cyclical" view of time and history. We see a wedding and a funeral. We see new mentors crowned and old ones cast aside. The "Old Man" trope returns and Aragorn's arc ends with the bittersweet resolution of Tolkien's fire / knowledge imagery. A magical illness hangs over the proceedings and an air of cobweb-laced decay looms large as we approach the Shire.

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Ho ho ho. Today we're covering one of Cam's stories, a silly and dark riff on Christmas classics called The Christmas Donkey.

Listen to the story here: https://cameronfucile.bandcamp.com/track/the-christmas-donkey

We start with a discussion about self-imposed creative limitations before Cam describes the specific challenges that face Christmas stories and his ridiculous production schedule for this project - from idea to finished product, he did all of it in one day (Christmas Eve 2020). We also discuss the innumerable difficulties / pitfalls of political comedy, the importance of "replay value" and original iconography in holiday classics, and why Bernie Sanders should be President right now. Maggie deduces that Santa isn't real.

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Join Cam and Maggie for their continued death march through Tolkien's dramaticized appendices - I mean, Tolkien's endless epilogues - uh, how about quickly tying up loose ends in an increasingly dreary parade of curtain calls - hmm, let's just call it the chapter where everyone finds love. We discuss the accelerated pacing of Éowyn and Faramir's courtship while trying to figure out what she truly wants out of life. Maggie cracks the case when she realizes that this chapter is a Sparknotes of Pride & Prejudice. Cam breaks down Aragorn and Faramir's complicated, mature relationship and Tolkien's nuanced negotiation of masculinity. We sing in unison, like the whos down in whoville, about the solution to every single problem in Middle-earth always being cooperation between diplomatic alliances. It's a fantastic, progressive message - but by golly, we're beating a dead horse at this point. At least that horse isn't Bill the Pony, who is still missing btw.

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Oh boy - a highly stylized, black and white Shakespeare adaptation from A24, that we got to see early, in IMAX? It's like our own personal bat signal was shot into the clouds. This adaptation is fantastic, and we've got the full breakdown for you in this episode. Denzel Washington gives a controversial, unorthodox performance that divides Cam and Maggie, but they are united in their love of for this version of the three witches. Maggie discusses the architecture and style of the production through an art history lens, and then Cam works through a textual analysis that reveals a major character change in this version. Let's just say that Joel Coen gave a minor character a huge promotion and made himself his own Littlefinger. We also discuss the film's strong statements on prophecy and a dozen perfect, quiet moments in between the verse that have been weaponized for fresh characterization and commentary.

Support this fantastic film: https://a24films.com/films/the-tragedy-of-macbeth

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"The hour of doom" comes to a close as our storylines finally merge back together for the first time since Fellowship. Frodo and Gandalf seem to be powering down now that their Quest is complete, and Cam argues that Gandalf the White has actually merged back together with Gandalf the Grey too. We work through his evidence for that theory and then, just as things get back on track, Maggie suggests that Sam is an eagle. Tolkien's cyclical storytelling also comes roaring back here as the day / night and light / fire / ash patterns re-emerge. We close out the episode by examining Strider's final evolution and the new transcendent mentor of Middle-earth.

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We're heading back into Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle-earth once again this week for some fascinating insights into JRRT's creative struggles with Book Five. Denethor's cruelty was carefully calculated at every turn, and Gandalf became more of an active player in the story in each successive draft. Cam also finds some precedent for his "eyeball" theory from last week, and we learn more about the magical visions that haunt Tolkien's heroes.

Then we work our way through some of your feedback, covering topics like the role of the artist, the difficult intersection of storytelling and theology, and the many forms that hope takes in Sam and Frodo's journey to Mount Doom. There's also a great bit about how scary and formidable Aragorn is, even to Sauron!

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We're finally here, at the "end of ends" – Sam and Frodo reach Mount Doom and destroy the One Ring, but is all as it seems? We sure don't think so. Theology comes roaring back in Tolkien's writing, but his hobbits have placed their faith in themselves and the quest, not a higher power. Similarly, as they accept the fact that the end of the quest will also probably be the end of their lives, they don't make any appeal to an afterlife or their own salvation. Then Gollum storms in like Milton's Lucifer in Paradise Lost, the fallen angel with more humanity and tragedy than any one character should be able to bear, and he pretty much ends the story! What does that mean for the magic / power hierarchies of Middle-earth? Cam also posits a theory about the will of the One Ring and suggests that in this pivotal moment it chooses its own master for the first time. We work together to find Gandalf in the symphony of Sauron's destruction, only to find evidence of both Gandalfs, which really just confuses the question. Finally, Cam thinks Sam's breaking through the narrative ceiling and seeing Tolkien's tricks again, but this time he might be seeing the secret to JRRT's writing and rising up to join him as a fellow storyteller.

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Instagram: @secondbreakfastpod

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