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:
Argenti, 6-15 feet.
And yes, that was the metaphor I was going for.
Yes, even Abnoy’s supposed indifference to what other people do is predicated on them not doing anything that doesn’t fit his narrow ideas. In love with someone? Mustn’t have any PDAs. Don’t like rampant sexism or misogynists determined to exclude half the audience from things they claim? Well, you’re just IMPOSING on the poor lad. What a charming fellow he is.
Pecunium — I imagine pecans need sun too, thus sealing the vampire’s fate?
Kitteh — I’m still trying to figure out why he shrugged off me calling him a sadist, while ranting about things which have no affect (nor effect) on him.
Btw I’m not any other poster and I’m not white though I did have European ancestors a few generations back. And anyone can think what they like about me, I could care less for the most part but I just hate it whenever something negatively affects or effects my sense of satisfaction with something and limits or restricts my personal movements. I mean I was wholly apathetic to gender politics, feminazism, MRM, etc until it began to adversely impact my various recreational pasttimes. PS I think it would be neat for my corpse, if ever, to become part of a cherry tree or fire tree etc planted over my grave 🙂
@Katz and Howard: Thanks! And I don’t want to come down too hard on Gaiman. I also like how Wanda is treated in a lot of the story, and the way Barbie stands up for her after she’s gone. Still, the moon godess thing bothered me.
@Kitten: I think Wonder Woman usually has flat, practical boots actually. At least during the last few decades… The bathing suit is a bit weird, but doesn’t really bother me since she’s pretty invulnerable and use super speed and indestructable braclets to ward off weapons too tough for her skin. You could argue that it would be better to have full indestructable armour than merely bracelets, but it could be argued back that it’s a trade-off between mobility and protection. So Wonder Woman’s costume mostly goes into “needlessly sexy, but not impractical” territory.
Black Canary on the other hand… Shouldn’t it get terribly COLD to wear fishnets all the time?
@Dvärghundspossen
Black Widow’s boots in Avengers were only sensible in a very loose way. Yeah, they were solid, but had three-inch (wedge, but still) heels, by the looks of it. Scarlett Johansson’s quite short and Joss Whedon seems to have a bit of a thing for shooting bottoms, which I imagine contributed to the heels thing more than any sort of practicality considerations.
That was a pretty well-done costume though.
Dvarghundsspossen – It was Kate Beaton’s cartoon about the outfit I had in mind. I haven’t read comics since the 70s. The few Wonder Woman ones I had were of the 60s era (I think there was even one where she was fighting off evil violent hippies … man the comics were down on any counterculture then) or from her Diana Prince time when she had lost her powers and was hanging out with wossname, Johnny Double or someone, and wearing civvies – a sort of black jumpsuit thingy, with flares.
Oh god Americans, please sort this out. It makes my teeth itch and my soul bleed. You couldn’t care less. That’s how you say you don’t care at all. If you could care less then you care! I know there’s supposed to be an implied ‘(but I don’t)’ at the end, but all that says is that you’ve decided to care because it’s important for you to do so.
/rant
Cry moar. The whole world isn’t out to cater to you.
If you think not being able to ogle badly-drawn women in skimpy outfits and impossible poses is a restriction of your personal movements, you need a serious dose of perspective.
@thenatfantastic:
It needed saying. Thank you.
I think we should start up a collection to ship Abnoy some nice hankies. Maybe we can get quotes from Evangelion embroidered on them for that personal touch.
@howardbann1ster
Ha, I don’t want to come across as one of those snobby “Dear America, you are speaking our language incorrectly” types (especially because ‘color’ etc. are the original English spellings, we just decided to add extra ‘u’s all over the shop, and also as someone from ‘Oop North I’m in no place to tell people how to talk proper since most English people only understand about 50% from what I’m saying unless they’re from my birth city), but that one phrase really gets me!
I’ve learned to be okay with most mass changes in the language. I can handle people deciding en masse that certain words must be pronounced differently. I can handle colloquial speech.
But when your change causes the words to reverse meaning to anybody listening to your literal words…? Too much!! Too much!
Abnoy: Well, what the MRM says does make sense from this male’s POV. It seems that ever more of what turns us on (straight non-mangina males) nowadays is legally banned by governments at worst and noisily harangued by feminists at best.
I know! That’s why there are lingerie shops near my work, with big windows, and nothing but female salesclerks wearing skimpy nurses outfits. Or the adult store I went into (in a conservative part of California, where the woman at the register was wearing panties and a corset.
Those damned feminists, ruining everything for everyone.
It’s good that you feel we should take things as they are, and not get upset by what other people like.
. I mean I was wholly apathetic to gender politics, feminazism, MRM, etc until it began to adversely impact my various recreational pasttimes.
This is the definition of entitled privilege. Other people suffering real harms… not important. My pasttimes being changed in ways I don’t like… fascistic oppression of all men; to be exterminated, root and branch.
I tend to prefer couldn’t care less, but it doesn’t really bother me the way over/more than does.
Some things are idiomatic, and that’s the way it is. “half one” took some getting used to when I was in England, because to my that could be either half an hour hour past, or half an hour after, and the ambiguity was only absent from custom.
There is lots of of stuff like that, but now I am pushing late for work, so I need to run.
Ah, thank you for the grammar lesson, seriously. I get your point and will not repeat the same mistake in the future. Double negatives which technically negate each other is also one of the personal pet peeves of my life. I suppose the people who use them really believe they are enhancing emphasis but in reality are creating confusion. “Can’t hardly wait” for instance is a phrase that literally gives me migraines trying to comprehend. Also you shouldnt be too judgemental with your charge of “entitled priviledge” as not eveyone can care about every problem in the world all the time. Most people have limited resources of time and energy to expend on things which have yet to hit their own comfort zones. For example, majority of you Americans cared little, if at all, of global crises until it finally starts to already hit too close to home at last.
“feminazism”
Dude, you clearly missed when I was saying that I find Rayne’s boob jiggle to be hilarious and worth putting up with if it means getting to decapitate nazis. Please stop lumping feminists and nazis together!
“PS I think it would be neat for my corpse, if ever, to become part of a cherry tree or fire tree etc planted over my grave ”
Ignoring the transhumanist “if ever”, words I never thought I’d say…me too. Agreeing with ABNOY is weird…
“until it began to adversely impact my various recreational pasttimes.”
What kind of pasttimes?
“PS I think it would be neat for my corpse, if ever, to become part of a cherry tree or fire tree etc planted over my grave”
I like this.
American stickler for “couldn’t care less” — so no, this isn’t some British thing.
Abnoy: . Also you shouldnt be too judgemental with your charge of “entitled priviledge” as not eveyone can care about every problem in the world all the time.
1: You are ignorant as to what privilege and entitlement are.
2: You are so stupid that the meaning can’t be sussed from context.
3: You are so full of entitled privilege you don’t care to fix either of those.
That, or you do know and are trying to change the subject.
Because if you think comics not catering to your boner is a “problem in the world” rather than a problem in your pants, you are more clueless than I thought; which is also your sense of entitled privilege showing.
I will say that, should you wish to feed a tree, you ought to know I have no desire to stand in your way.
I can’t hardly wait. 🙂
“Because if you think comics not catering to your boner is a “problem in the world” rather than a problem in your pants…”
*dies*
“I will say that, should you wish to feed a tree, you ought to know I have no desire to stand in your way.”
Hell, I even like the idea!
A fire tree? Take off thy sandals, this is wholly stupid ground!