In the year 2001, something was going to happen that had long been thought impossible: a live action Lord of the Rings movie was going to be released. The Lord of the Rings was a novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1954, when it became an instant classic, eventually becoming the second best-selling novel ever. It has inspired generations of readers with it’s heroic characters and immortal telling of an epic struggle between good and the ultimate evil. Despite the incredible amount of fans, the book was always thought to be impossible to bring to the big screen in live action due to the scale and fantastical nature of the novel. After securing the rights and funds for a trilogy of films, director Peter Jackson set about trying to prove the common sentiment wrong by creating what has been labeled as the “most ambitious film series” ever. Before his masterpiece could come to theaters, however, he had to ensure that it would be a financial success, so the theatrical trailer for the first of his three films, The Fellowship of the Ring, had to be able to convey the feel of one of the most beloved stories in modern history.
Many readers (myself included) interpret The Lord of the Rings as teaching that no matter how small or insignificant you are, all that is required for you change the world is courage and a little help from your friends. The trailer for Fellowship of the Ring would have to convey a similar interpretation or the book’s legions of fans would boycott (after seeing for themselves a few times) the films with all the vehemence that comes with diehard fandom. Even though fans of the book made up a large segment of the targeted audience of the movies, they wouldn’t be a real success without the general public attending, so the trailer would also have to be able to reach those who hadn’t read the book. Because of it’s broad audience, the trailer used a variety of rhetorical devices to express the importance of courage.