April 5, 2002

Re: Women in LotR
Razors

Regarding the roles of women in LOTR: I think the main thing that gets overlooked with this issue is that men and women aren’t the same (no, REALLY?). In other words, they have different strengths. The fact is that women – although perfectly capable of fighting – are usually less impulsively violent than men by nature; they tend to ask questions first and shoot later. Which is good, since it seems to temper the opposite mentality that men have portrayed throughout history. To quote the movie ‘Kuffs’: “Women – if it wasn’t for them, there’d be no civilization.”

So – if you’re going to realistically portray a strong, independent female character in a movie like LOTR, should you do it by giving her a sword and plate armour and having her hack the limbs of a horde of orcs? No, you do it by giving her a BRAIN and having her use it.

The best example of this in FOTR is the Flight To The Ford. When Aragorn gets attacked by the Ringwraiths, he fights them off with his sword and a torch, driving them away for the moment but fully aware that they’ll be back – at which point he knows he’ll have to fight them again. Then Arwen shows up and thinks, “Why fight them when I can’t kill them with my sword? Instead, I’ll lure them to the river and then use a spot of magic to drown the silly bastards. Problem solved!”

Okay, so in the book it was Elrond who made the river rise, but you get the picture. The odd thing is that a lot of people complained about Arwen being turned into a “Xena-type warrior-woman” – sorry folks, but that’s not what I saw. I saw a smart, brave, resourceful female who just happened to be riding a horse and carrying a sword. The lack of leather, cleavage and homocidal tendencies was a dead giveaway.

And then there’s Galadriel (putting aside my anti-Blanchett campaign for the moment). As Richard P. said, Galadriel is there to portray the “strengths of women”. She’s the wisest character in the whole story (she even makes Gandalf look like a dumbass by comparison) and even though she looks frail, Frodo gets one HELL of a taste of her power when he tries to give her the Ring. And she plays a huge part in the initial quest with little more than moral support.

I should write a scintillating conclusion to this piece, but it’s two in the morning and I’ve ranted long enough. ‘Night all.