Female Characters are Scant but Strong in Tolkien Trilogy

Orlando (FL) Sentinel | December 2002 | Roger Moore

[Egg]

NEW YORK-- In The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn-- the man who would be king-- battles horde upon horde of the minions of evil while Gandalf the wizard gallops hither and yon, rallying the troops. Legolas the elf unleashes torrents of arrows on the invaders. Gimli the dwarf bloods his battle-ax, and Sam and Frodo, the hobbits, suffer and struggle and persevere.

It's a man's world, this Middle-earth of J.R.R. Tolkien.

[Egg]

So far, I believe one of Peter Jackson's brilliant achievments has been his success in staving off the influences of the gay and feminist lobbies to change this movie into a kinder, gentler, PC version of LOTR. I always knew that whoever wanted a guaranteed success of a film in LOTR need only to work on the cinematography and leave the script to Tolkien. It's a shame that the movie has strayed from the story as little as it has.

Alas, poor Glorfindel, I knew him well.

Interesting WSJ LOTR article.

[Redcloak]

I wonder if this author looks between his legs each morning and wimpers "I'm so ashamed!"

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[jimt]

Alas, poor Glorfindel, I knew him well.

His elimination from the first movie was one of the very irritating changes.

The characterization of Galadriel was off-putting as well. She was neither evil nor power-mad in the books: in the movie she's downright creepy.

The author of this piece doesn't seem to like historical reality: women were typically not the sword-fighters and warriors in reality, current TV notwithstanding.

[big'ol_freeper]

big'ol_bump

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Movie adaptations of books often combine multiple characters into one. The combination of Glorfindel and Arwen is well-done and doesn't bother me the least.

The transformation of Merry and Pippin from wise friends of Frodo -- in the book, they arrange for Frodo's escape from the Shire -- into buffoons bothers me far more. And even that hasn't prevented me from enjoying the movies, so far.

[Billthedrill]

I do not think that the author of Beren and Luthien needs to apologize to anyone over depth of understanding of men and women. I do not think Tolkien confused Eowyn with Arwen based on a similarity of pronunciation. I do not think Mr. Moore has the faintest idea of what he's talking about.

Eowyn was, in fact, a proto-feminist character, that is, she presented these issues long before even considering them in popular culture was cool. Her presence in the trilogy is a total refutation of the accusation that Tolkien couldn't write women, and a triumph of character development as well. People attempting this course of criticism haven't read or understood the source material.

[Egg]

Eowyn was, in fact, a proto-feminist character, that is, she presented these issues long before even considering them in popular culture was cool.

Actually, that's what the author writes as well, although he seems to do it in a way so as to justify why such a male-dominated storyline is so appealing to a feminized culture.

[Egg]

The transformation of Merry and Pippin from wise friends of Frodo -- in the book, they arrange for Frodo's escape from the Shire -- into buffoons bothers me far more.

I feel the same way about Gimli in TTT.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

The author of this piece doesn't seem to like historical reality: women were typically not the sword-fighters and warriors in reality, current TV notwithstanding.

Fighting women in popular culture is not exactly a new thing. There are any number of traditional songs, for example, in which women disguise themselves as me and go off to war and/or the sea, sometimes with their lover, sometimes in pursuit of their lover, sometimes just for adventure.

In history, the pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read are well-known, but certainly not unique examples. In fact, when the pirate crew they served with were captured, they were the only ones who fought. Later, when her captain and lover "Calico Jack" Rackham was to be hung Bonney reportedly said to him, "Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang'd like a dog."

[Egg]

Movie adaptations of books often combine multiple characters into one. The combination of Glorfindel and Arwen is well-done and doesn't bother me the least.

It's more of the "why" they did it than the fact that they did it alone. The feminists just can't stop trying to re-write history into one that fits their wanna-be agenda.

[Paul Atreides]

It's a no-win situation: they claim that, all through history, women were crushed into a servile position by society. However, when someone does a historical epic, they are expected to have a strong feminist character in the mix. The feminazis can get in a sexual lather all they want to, while watching Xena, it doesn't change history.

[B-Chan]

...not to mention yummy...

[Paul Atreides]

What is there is "Middle-earth's first feminist," Shoan says, a warrior princess "chafing at the chains of the patriarchal society in which she lives."

No. What is there is a woman wanting to defend her loved ones. History is full of them. I wish these diversity-obsessed pantywaists would stop trying to make any woman who isn't a maid into a feminazi.

[EdJay]

<< The characterization of Galadriel was off-putting as well. She was neither evil nor power-mad in the books: in the movie she's downright creepy. >>

Why do you say that? I didn't see any indication so far in the movies that she's either "evil" or "power-mad." I thought that, as played by Cate Blanchett, she was a beautiful, poetic presence -- hardly "creepy"!

[EdJay]

"The author of this piece doesn't seem to like historical reality: women were typically not the sword-fighters and warriors in reality, current TV notwithstanding."

However, when push comes to shove, women in all historical eras have been perfectly capable of fighting to defend themselves (and their children).

I loved the movie, but, I will admit, it bothered me, in the Helmdeep sequence, to see them handing out arms to old men and children (presumably because they were MALE) -- while brawny women were left to cower in the caves, waiting to be raped by orcs.

It didn't occur to anybody that some of those women were quite capable of wielding a sword or spear -- and probably stronger than those feeble oldsters and terrified little boys? To give them arms wouldn't have been feminism, but sheer common sense.

[jimt]

Fighting women in popular culture is not exactly a new thing.

I wouldn't call the ones you cite well-known.

The only one that comes easily to mind is Joan of Arc.

I think your citations bear out my thesis: women were typically not the sword-fighters and warriors.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

No. What is there is a woman wanting to defend her loved ones.

I disagree. Eowyn in the book wanted to go to Helm's Deep and fight. Why? So she could win honor and die in battle. She wanted to go to help lift the seige of Minas Tirith. Why? So she could win honor and die in battle. She wanted to ride to the Black Gate with the remnant of the army. Why? So she could win honor and die in battle.

She was very childish in her belief that if she didn't win honor and die in battle then she was another worthless woman, as she implied she would end up. It took a strong man to tell her to grow up and see beyond her childish views.

[cmsgop]

PING!

[Thoro]

Watch the extended version of Fellowship. Their stay with Galadriel is much longer and makes more sense than in the theatrical cut. I think Jackson even makes note of Galadriel being much more friendlier in the extended version during the commentary.