Arwen Again...
Stephanie C.

Max...

Again, I think you've missed the point. The point is that making Arwen an ever-present fixture destroys more than simply her character. It forces attention away from the real story, since Arwen's story (unlike the rest of the story) would need to be totally explained to us. It warps the story to focus on her activities. I think it might be valuable to give her more screen time than she got in the book. But I see making Arwen into a warrior mostly as a rather arrogant move on Jackson's part, meant to accommodate the lowest common denominator of audiences.

A women shouldn't have to be a Buffy or Xena to feel like a strong woman. We can be trapped by modern sterotypes just as easily as we can be trapped by older ones. We don't need more people telling us what we "should" or have to be a fighting expert in order to be valued. I still think we devalue Eowyn's role when we make Arwen into a warrior as well. One of necessity must eclipse the other when they're put to that close a comparison. Let's get some diversity among the women in the LOTR movie!