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Forgiveness on the screen

Seeing as spring is more or less here, I decided to have a bit of a clear out of my film magazines.

Eleanor Margesson

Five years of back copies has taken up valuable space that is now needed for toys and baby clothes. As I flicked through the front covers, I was struck by the range of themes that the mainstream Hollywood films use to woo us into the cinemas: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Matrix may all use special effects and multi-release strategies to keep us interested but they also run with themes and ideas that transcend space or Middle Earth and connect with human everyday experience. Love, grief, self-doubt, heroism are all present in many blockbusters and often linking them all together is the theme of forgiveness. In order for relationships to continue in the midst of the immense stresses of the plotlines, forgiveness needs to be alive and well. Frodo and Sam need to forgive each other throughout their journey with the tricksy Gollum, Ron has to forgive Harry for his failures in friendship and so on.