Uh oh! It seems that some woman is offering some opinions about Tolkien!
Over on Time.com, Ruth Davis Konigsberg has a brief personal essay reflecting on the almost complete lack of female characters in the new Hobbit film, and in Tolkien’s ouvre generally. As she notes, it’s not until about two hours in to the nearly three-hour movie that “we finally meet someone without a Y chromosome,” namely Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel — and she was added into the originally all-male story by the screenwriters. Blanchette’s is the only female name out of 37 named in the cast list – though there are a couple of unnamed female characters who make brief appearances.
“I did not read The Hobbit or the The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a child, and I have always felt a bit alienated from the fandom surrounding them,” Konigsberg observes.
Now I think I know why: Tolkien seems to have wiped women off the face of Middle-earth. I suppose it’s understandable that a story in which the primary activity seems to be chopping off each other’s body parts for no particular reason might be a little heavy on male characters — although it’s not as though Tolkien had to hew to historical accuracy when he created his fantastical world. The problem is one of biological accuracy. Tolkien’s characters defy the basics of reproduction: dwarf fathers beget dwarf sons, hobbit uncles pass rings down to hobbit nephews. If there are any mothers or daughters, aunts or nieces, they make no appearances. Trolls and orcs especially seem to rely on asexual reproduction, breeding whole male populations, which of course come in handy when amassing an army to attack the dwarves and elves.
Yes, yes, as she admits, Tolkien’s few female characters tend to be powerful. But that hardly changes the basic fact that the Hobbit, and Tolkien generally, is overloaded with dudes.
These fairly commonplace observations have, naturally, sent the orcs and the elf princesses of the Men’s Rights subreddit into an uproar. Naturally, none of them seem to have bothered to read any of Konigsberg’s brief piece before setting forth their opinions, which sometimes accuse her of ignoring things she specifically acknowledged (like that whole powerful-female-character thing), and completely miss that the bit about reproduction is, you know, a joke on Konigsberg’s part.
Here are some of my favorite idiotic comments from the “discussion.” (Click on the yellow comments to see the originals on Reddit.)
Uh, Jane Austen’s books are filled with dudes. Especially Pride and Prejudice 2: Mr. Darcy’s Revenge, which was later adapted into a buddy cop movie starring Robin Williams and Danny Glover.
EDITED TO ADD: Somehow forgot to include two of my favorite comments:
Oh, and if you were unable to find a woman in the picture above, try this one instead:
Okay… Haven’t read that much of the new 52, but where did Abnoy get the idea that DC had the intention of bringing back the typical 90:s style with the reboot? I read Action Comics and some of JLA International as well as Firestorm, and none of them were/are drawn that way.
I think Liefield actually got a job drawing Hawk and Dove for the new 52? *Google* yep he did. So…was that book cancelled? And if so… was it because of evil feminists?
However: Me and husband did notice that Superman has been drawn recently in unmotivated sexy poses where he sticks his butt or crotch out at the reader. Maybe that’s because of evil feminists? Will men, from now on, be unable to read Action Comics? All those questions…
Where does Abnoy get most of his ideas?
@Dvärghundspossen: Liefeld was originally doing Hawk and Dove, but when that was cancelled, DC decided to turn around and give him three more books, because clearly that was going places. Liefeld quit shortly after due to his disagreement with editoral mandates, which isn’t uncommon in the New 52. He is, however, the only person to have a meltdown on Twitter afterward and start lashing out at the company and everyone involved with it.
There is some Liefeld-esque art in the New 52, but no more so than what always sneaks into comics. Starfire in the first issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws especially had a very Liefeldian spine.
Interesting that Abnoy seems to think the New 52 was some grand scheme to bring back the nineties that was crushed by the feminists, when sites like Scans_Daily, with a large feminist population, seem to react to every announcement about the New 52 with “DARK AGE ALL OVER AGAIN.” As do sites like CBR, come to think of it, which are not a feminist majority.
“when sites like Scans_Daily, with a large feminist population, seem to react to every announcement about the New 52 with “DARK AGE ALL OVER AGAIN.” As do sites like CBR, come to think of it, which are not a feminist majority.”
It would be an even Dark-er Age revival if those noisy fangirls just kept quiet about it. For example, they already changed Starfire’s costume to a less revealing one. And over at Marvel, they did the same thing to Emma Frost, Mockingbird, X-23, and now even Psylocke! I want my sexy violence, my metahuman T&A! What do I pay my precious money for to buy the legal versions of the books in the first place eh?
Oh, and lest I forget, in DC, Poison Ivy too. Especially her, when I see what she used to look like and what like she looks like now (in the main universe), well, if I could still cry tears of woe, I would.
Yeah, but not Faramir. Srsly, he’s everybody’s favorite character.
From his butt, which was kidnapped by aliens.
Poison Ivy looks freaking gorgeous no matter what she’s wearing (at least when the artists drawing her aren’t twisting her spine/making her breasts defy gravity/etc.). Jesus Saiz in particular proved that she can be both beautiful and intimidating while covered neck to toe and not doing boobs and butts poses.
Of course, Saiz excels at making women in general look strong and attractive without hypersexualizing them, so Abnoy probably hates his art.
Is ABNOY seriously getting wound up about cartoon women not being drawn in underwear? It’s a cartoon duder, draw your own. You could even do them naked.
This takes “BUT TEH FEMINAZIS IS TEKIN AWAY MY BONEEEERRR!” to the saddest level I think I’ve ever seen. I mean, ABNOY, if you actually liked comic books the way you said, it wouldn’t matter what they were wearing, you’d enjoy it anyway.
Looks like you’re the only fake geek around here.
Another note on the attire of comic book women-
Half the time women are drawn in full body outfits, they’re still drawn as if they’re naked anyway, you just can’t see nipples and they aren’t colored with flesh tones. I present Harley Quinn and Ivy as examples. The fabric of their outfits clings flat against their skin, separates to cover each breast instead of just stretching over them as, you know, fabric does, and does the same for their asses. In Ivy’s case it make some form of sense as her suit is supposed to be alive and a part of her, but Harley? Harley is wearing actual clothes, which are not known to do that.
This is in reference to Harley’s jester outfit, anyway, not what she’s currently wearing.
This talk of comic books reminds me, has anyone else seen this:
http://io9.com/5973508/armored-wonder-woman-is-ready-for-battle
so awesome!
@atomicgrizzly
That is so awesome! I’m off to share it with my friend who dressed up as Wondrous Woman for Halloween a few years back.
(And the comments on the article’s main page don’t make me want to scream either so double win!!)
Laura: To be fair, super hero costumes cling as much to male bodies as to female ones. You can see every detail of people’s muscles etc, as if they were body-painted rather than actually wearing clothes. There are a few exceptions, but most super heroes really have “body paint” costumes…
On the subject of super heroes, I was really annoyed by Selina’s costume in the latest Batman movie. Nolan’s take on Batman is supposed to be, well, as realistic as you can make Batman, not kitchy. And then they have Selina walking around in super high stiletto heels and a tight corset. Seriously! If you’re gonna run, fight and climb, you probably prioritise things like BALANCE and BEING ABLE TO BREATHE over looking as stereotypically sexy as possible!
For a contrast, look at Natascha in the Avengers movie. She also had a sexy skintight costume, but with sensible boots, and if the movie makers put her in a corset to amplify the sexy at least it wasn’t blatantly obvious. She looked like she could realistically do some martial arts and fighting in her suit. And she was ten times sexier than Selina.
“(And the comments on the article’s main page don’t make me want to scream either so double win!!)”
Probably because it’s not Kotaku.
I agree that the heels on the Hathway Catwoman costume were stupid, but she wasn’t wearing a corset. It’s a bodysuit just like Natasha had (Well, not exactly, the seams are different and judging from the actor’s comments on the costume, Hathaway’s was way more breathable, but it’s not a corset.)
And true, most superhero one piece costumes are painted on, but the art for it with dudes tends to emphasize their strength, whereas the art on the women’s suits tend to be all about the cheesecake.
Also, I get to see women’s nipples through their costumes. Superhero men seem to have no nipples at all.
I know Greg Land and Rob Liefeld have both drawn at least one image where you could see the outline of a vulva through a suit too. Classy, guys.
“Superhero men seem to have no nipples at all.”
anime men don’t have any either, just massive pecs:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9dX0iPb3f_U/Spqdaj9p-2I/AAAAAAAAAGM/p3g-nOE8KaQ/s400/super-saiyan-1-goku.jpg
I like that version of Wonder Woman sooo much.
Of course, I drew my own. And wrote a script for a Wonder Woman movie. Dammit! I’m a huge nerd! SHOCKING PLOT TWIST!!! (only not)
*my own version of ‘what Wondy’s costume would look like if it was built for function, instead of being a swimsuit.’ And that script is probably the worst fan-work of all of mine.
No, wait. There’s some stiff competition in there.
Wow. You know, guys, in some way, I’m impressed. Abnoy wins troll points for the sheer chutzpah of MISSING the Liefeldian 90s. That’s like trying to miss the Dark Ages.
And dude. If you want porn, just GO GET PORN. There’s a whole Internet out there, waiting for you!
(This isn’t to say the 90s had only shitty comics. Hardly. The tail end of JLI and Zot! was in the 90s! Understanding Comics was in the 90s! Wandering Star was the 90s!)
That is a pretty awesome Wonder Woman.
Technically missing the 90s of comics is missing the Dark Ages…
Oh wow, that was a terrible nerd comic age pun. I’m going to go sit in the corner now.
I still say the 90s was the EXTREEEM Age.