And now for a feminist rant.
So, I'm hearing a lot about people being upset about the introduction of Evangeline Lilly's character, Tauriel, in the new Hobbit film. They don't like that the holy, untouchable source material is being fiddled with. Some think it's insulting to suggest that little girls need to see a woman on screen to enjoy the story, and so the character shouldn't exist. I mean, catering to women and girls is just a craven money-making scheme, so this mass-marketed media behemoth should be above it!
Which reminds me-- remember the nerd rage that erupted after fandom got so obsessed with Bret McKenzie that the Jackson films’ promo stuff officially acknowledged him as Figwit in the LOTR-verse, and then decided the character was actually Lindir in the Hobbit films? Because isn’t it just AWFUL that a character was created / adapted for the film to appeal to part of the fanbase?
Or when they put Orlando Bloom into the new Hobbit movie despite Legolas not appearing in the Hobbit book?
Wait, no? Is it maybe because they have a pe--
Oh, I see.
But hey! Let’s all talk about how terrible and insulting it is for young girls who don’t grasp gender studies yet to now have a female asskicker on screen next to a legion of warrior dudes. Yeah. Let’s do that. It’s not like films adapt and change material all the time or anything. I mean, god forbid a little girl still forming her concepts about femininity and gender roles be shown that girls can be ass-kicking heroes, too. I’m sure it’s so insulting to the source material that the whole fan experience will be tainted.
(It does not escape my notice that those complaining the loudest about Tauriel--and I have seen several now who describe their ire as "rage"-- have not said ONE WORD about the fact that she is shown in the trailer with Legolas, a character who also does not exist in the source book.)
I mean, I understand that it sucks that the marketing people think that girls need to see a woman on screen to be interested in the first place. That’s sexist bullshit. Who doesn't like dragons? (I mean it’s not like lady-led films often need a dude shoehorned in because execs think boys won’t ID with female leads. OH WAIT THAT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME with no public outcry.)
Would that we lived in a world where Disney didn't act like it's hard to have a lady-centered movie because womens' faces are just so hard to show emotion on and stay pretty (Frozen)! Or that execs think a mother/daughter story won't appeal to boys (Brave). Would that we lived in a world where The Hunger Games wasn't viewed as a feminist achievement. If we lived in a world where women equally headlined action films instead of Wonder Woman and Black Widow being ensemble characters while their male counterparts get their own films, it might be absurd to shoehorn Tauriel into a sausage fest. Alas, we do not live in that world. And, as Evangeline Lilly says-- in 2013, we should not be sending little girls into a movie where there are no women on screen.
So you know what? if they’re going to challenge gender norms by adding a warrior lady who is like, lady #2 in NINE HOURS OF FILM (esp. within the Tolkien-verse where characters like Eowyn are sparse), I say more power to them.
Which reminds me-- remember the nerd rage that erupted after fandom got so obsessed with Bret McKenzie that the Jackson films’ promo stuff officially acknowledged him as Figwit in the LOTR-verse, and then decided the character was actually Lindir in the Hobbit films? Because isn’t it just AWFUL that a character was created / adapted for the film to appeal to part of the fanbase?
Or when they put Orlando Bloom into the new Hobbit movie despite Legolas not appearing in the Hobbit book?
Wait, no? Is it maybe because they have a pe--
Oh, I see.
But hey! Let’s all talk about how terrible and insulting it is for young girls who don’t grasp gender studies yet to now have a female asskicker on screen next to a legion of warrior dudes. Yeah. Let’s do that. It’s not like films adapt and change material all the time or anything. I mean, god forbid a little girl still forming her concepts about femininity and gender roles be shown that girls can be ass-kicking heroes, too. I’m sure it’s so insulting to the source material that the whole fan experience will be tainted.
(It does not escape my notice that those complaining the loudest about Tauriel--and I have seen several now who describe their ire as "rage"-- have not said ONE WORD about the fact that she is shown in the trailer with Legolas, a character who also does not exist in the source book.)
I mean, I understand that it sucks that the marketing people think that girls need to see a woman on screen to be interested in the first place. That’s sexist bullshit. Who doesn't like dragons? (I mean it’s not like lady-led films often need a dude shoehorned in because execs think boys won’t ID with female leads. OH WAIT THAT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME with no public outcry.)
Would that we lived in a world where Disney didn't act like it's hard to have a lady-centered movie because womens' faces are just so hard to show emotion on and stay pretty (Frozen)! Or that execs think a mother/daughter story won't appeal to boys (Brave). Would that we lived in a world where The Hunger Games wasn't viewed as a feminist achievement. If we lived in a world where women equally headlined action films instead of Wonder Woman and Black Widow being ensemble characters while their male counterparts get their own films, it might be absurd to shoehorn Tauriel into a sausage fest. Alas, we do not live in that world. And, as Evangeline Lilly says-- in 2013, we should not be sending little girls into a movie where there are no women on screen.
So you know what? if they’re going to challenge gender norms by adding a warrior lady who is like, lady #2 in NINE HOURS OF FILM (esp. within the Tolkien-verse where characters like Eowyn are sparse), I say more power to them.