Ed Sheeran Blazes Back Onto the Scene With His New Song ‘I See Fire’
Let’s be fair, Ed Sheeran is best known for his profound lyrics and his beguiling ballads, not his croonings for fantasy films. For this reason, his contribution to the upcoming Peter Jackson movie, ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’, was unexpected and arguably controversial.
Peter Jackson announced on Facebook in early November that Ed Sheeran would be singing the closing credits song of the new Hobbit movie, ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. The song in question was placed on iTunes with the rest of the soundtrack; however, only that particular song was available to buy. The movie is the second of the series and, if the advert is anything to go by, will introduce Smaug the dragon, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Assumedly, this will depict the arrival of the characters to the Misty Mountain, where the dragon resides. In this sense, the name of Sheeran’s song, ‘I See Fire’, is very appropriate. However, is the style of the song suitable for a movie series like ‘The Hobbit’? This is something many people have been challenging.The song has inevitably been received positively, receiving over 14,000 ‘likes’ and over a million hits at the time of the writing of this article. Despite this, many people have been commenting negatively on the song, arguing that the song, a relatively mainstream song for a film series that has normally used more traditional music in its soundtracks, is inappropriate for a film of such an epic and overpoweringly-fantastical nature.
I can understand this attitude to a degree; ‘The Hobbit’ films are supposed to be a tribute to a literary masterpiece that has influenced the course of fantasy literature and has left many people awestruck and inspired. The majesty of Tolkien’s creation sets a standard that the films must attempt to meet. The classical influences on the original book have seeped into the soundtracks of the previous films (including the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series) in some form or another. So, in this respect, Sheeran’s song is a defiance of what we’ve grown to associate with these films. After a movie like ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’, people are going to be left sitting in the theatre, feeling uplifted. This calm and slightly pop-like song could be an anti-climactic way of ending something so massive in scale. His mainstream appeal, his boyish appeal and the acoustic-guitar elements of a lot of his music are the sort of things which many people seem to think aren’t right for a movie like ‘The Hobbit’.
So there is an apparent inconsistency between the genre of the music and the nature of the movie. So… So? Despite this, Sheeran succeeds in achieving something powerful and unique. He succeeds in capturing the essence of what the movie and book is all about in his lyrics; that being the oppressive and powerful nature of what opposes the characters. In all honesty, Bilbo, Thorin and the rest of the gang have a massive challenge on their hands in this film. Sheeran uses the image of the fire associated with the dragon effectively in this respect to demonstrate the frightening and potentially painful prospect of their mission to go against Smaug. “Watch the flames burn auburn on the mountain side,” Sheeran sings, the mountain in question being like a representation of the size and grandeur of their enemy. Considering that this is likely to play a significant role in the movie which is named after the dragon, I think that this is certainly going to be something I’ll be reflecting over following it. This captures what the song is all about; calm reflection on danger and demise, broken only by passion and power. This is what Sheeran’s song represents to me, and, since this is what the films and the book are also about, I think that the song is very appropriate as an ending to the movie.
I also think that the theme of the song is something that people can relate to, even if they’re not doing is consciously. No, I’m not suggesting or alluding to the idea that, at some point, we all go off on a perilous journey to a mountain dominated by a dragon to reclaim something stolen. I’m suggesting that we all run into conflict or intimidation at some point in our lives and in varying forms, some more extreme than others. This is something I think Sheeran is probably relating himself to. I think this because he keeps using the personal pronoun “I” and also uses “we”. I’m trying to stifle the inner English student inside me raring to talk about all the language features of this song, but I’ve got to bring attention to this one. Sheeran puts himself into the situation. He puts all of us into the situation. We are far away from being in the characters’ position in the film (or I hope so, anyway) but we can all empathise with the idea of going against the fires and the mountains that exist in all of our lives. Numerous cultures recognise fire as symbolic in this regard. Sheeran can see it “hollowing souls”. Sheeran can see everybody’s oppression going against them. He doesn’t just sing about the quest of the dwarves. He brings it to us. He brings it to the audience. Beyond even that, he brings it to the mainstream.
I recognise that perhaps the genre of the song maybe isn’t suitable for its audience. However, because of what the song really describes effectively, because of what it represents and reflects upon, and also because of the moment of reflection it actually offers the end of the film, I can overlook this. Many people will probably disagree with my point, and, in all honesty, I could be wrong, but that’s the beauty about something like this; it can be looked at and taken apart from many angles and in many ways. This is the beauty of perception. In my opinion, this is something crucial which really defines music, really defines literature, and, on a wider scale, really defines art.
