Women and Romance in Lord of the Rings: Part 1
The lack of women
in Lord of the Rings franchises is a well-known and obvious problem. In 21
hours of Tolkien based cinema for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the three
Hobbit Movies, there are only four main character women: Tauriel, Galadriel,
Arwen, and Eowyn. The lack of female representation is of course an issue, but
even more than that, all four of these women have plots that are partially or
completely centered around romance, love, or physical attraction to or from a
man. At first that does not seem to be of that much importance. As long as
there are women, they’re being properly represented, right? However, because of
their ingrained connection with their romances to a man, they are dependent on
these men for their own character growth and development. Most of these women
are still fantastic characters, but their dependence on romances and the men
they are connected with hinders their character in a way that the dozens of
male characters are not subjected to.
Tauriel is the
worst example of a main female character in the Lord of the Rings franchise,
for her backstory is nearly nonexistent and her entire purpose in the movies
quickly becomes as a love interest for Kili, and to a lesser extent, Legolas. Tauriel
begins as a sorely needed female character in a story that is otherwise solely
about men and their adventures, and while adding one woman to the story does
not fix the issue, it is at first still a welcome relief. However, soon after
she appears, she is wrapped up in a shallow romance story with one of the dwarves,
Kili. Their romance begins to kindle 
innocently enough, and it feels like it
may have potential. However, Tauriel’s character quickly becomes focused only
on her romance with Kili. Her already weak character development falls away as
she abandons her place at Mirkwood to search for Kili, who is wounded, and the
threatening love triangle with Legolas begins to solidify as Legolas
accompanies her. This creates a forced and awkward love triangle. Love triangles
where two men are after the same woman, while they can sometimes work well, are
often cliché, forced, and awkward, and they rarely do anything useful to
develop the woman’s character. Even the actress Evangeline Lilly who plays Tauriel
wanted a character with more depth, not just one in a shallow, ill contrived
love triangle. She said, “For the record, when I took this job, in 2011, I made
one stipulation… I said, ‘I will not do this film if you will not guarantee me
one thing. You have to guarantee me there will be no love triangle.’” But after
doing some reshoots and adding more scenes, there was suddenly a love triangle
that she was unable to escape (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tauriel).
With Tauriel wrapped in a forced love triangle and a superficial romance, her
character was unable to grow into anything meaningful or interesting.
innocently enough, and it feels like it
may have potential. However, Tauriel’s character quickly becomes focused only
on her romance with Kili. Her already weak character development falls away as
she abandons her place at Mirkwood to search for Kili, who is wounded, and the
threatening love triangle with Legolas begins to solidify as Legolas
accompanies her. This creates a forced and awkward love triangle. Love triangles
where two men are after the same woman, while they can sometimes work well, are
often cliché, forced, and awkward, and they rarely do anything useful to
develop the woman’s character. Even the actress Evangeline Lilly who plays Tauriel
wanted a character with more depth, not just one in a shallow, ill contrived
love triangle. She said, “For the record, when I took this job, in 2011, I made
one stipulation… I said, ‘I will not do this film if you will not guarantee me
one thing. You have to guarantee me there will be no love triangle.’” But after
doing some reshoots and adding more scenes, there was suddenly a love triangle
that she was unable to escape (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tauriel).
With Tauriel wrapped in a forced love triangle and a superficial romance, her
character was unable to grow into anything meaningful or interesting.
Tauriel’s failure
as a character continues right up until her story’s main point, which of course
has to do with the love story. Tauriel’s entire character climaxes with her
scene fighting with Kili 
against the Orc Bolg, and Kili sacrifices himself to
save her. After Thranduil appears, seeing her holding mourning while holding
Kili’s body, Tauriel says, “If this is love I do not want it. Take it from me,
please. Why does it hurt so much?” It is difficult to truly feel her grief,
even when the acting is well done, for the entire premise of their love is
largely baseless and poorly built throughout the movies. Thranduil responds, “because
it was real,” a callback to a moment with Thranduil earlier in the film. This entire
exchange is a weak attempt to work with the stressed connection between
Thranduil and Tauriel’s characters, but since Tauriel’s relationship with Kili
was underdeveloped and shallow, any meaning behind this exchange feels false
and forced. Thranduil’s character seems to grow more than Tauriel’s as he
acknowledges that his statements about her earlier in the film are wrong, a
humble move for such a prideful elf. Tauriel’s character and Kili’s death fall to
the sidelines in the face of a much more interesting and well-developed
relationship between Thorin and Bilbo. Thorin’s callback to Bilbo’s acorn just before
Thorin dies resonates and holds much more power than Tauriel’s entire character
because, unlike Tauriel who was developed only as a romantic interest, Bilbo and
Thorin were complicated characters given the potential to explore in many
different directions. The failing of Tauriel’s character is connected to the
overall failure of much of the Hobbit movies as they attempted to cram more and
more subplots and characters into the relatively simple story of the Hobbit,
but Tauriel is a clear example of how characters that are shaped almost
completely by a romance plot, especially a poorly done romance plot, lack depth
and quickly become uninteresting characters.
against the Orc Bolg, and Kili sacrifices himself to
save her. After Thranduil appears, seeing her holding mourning while holding
Kili’s body, Tauriel says, “If this is love I do not want it. Take it from me,
please. Why does it hurt so much?” It is difficult to truly feel her grief,
even when the acting is well done, for the entire premise of their love is
largely baseless and poorly built throughout the movies. Thranduil responds, “because
it was real,” a callback to a moment with Thranduil earlier in the film. This entire
exchange is a weak attempt to work with the stressed connection between
Thranduil and Tauriel’s characters, but since Tauriel’s relationship with Kili
was underdeveloped and shallow, any meaning behind this exchange feels false
and forced. Thranduil’s character seems to grow more than Tauriel’s as he
acknowledges that his statements about her earlier in the film are wrong, a
humble move for such a prideful elf. Tauriel’s character and Kili’s death fall to
the sidelines in the face of a much more interesting and well-developed
relationship between Thorin and Bilbo. Thorin’s callback to Bilbo’s acorn just before
Thorin dies resonates and holds much more power than Tauriel’s entire character
because, unlike Tauriel who was developed only as a romantic interest, Bilbo and
Thorin were complicated characters given the potential to explore in many
different directions. The failing of Tauriel’s character is connected to the
overall failure of much of the Hobbit movies as they attempted to cram more and
more subplots and characters into the relatively simple story of the Hobbit,
but Tauriel is a clear example of how characters that are shaped almost
completely by a romance plot, especially a poorly done romance plot, lack depth
and quickly become uninteresting characters. 
lots of feminist bullshit!
ReplyDeleteNo it's a fact lol. You can't just call anything related to women "feminist bullshit."
DeleteSeriously, it's disappointing how her character went! Weird how the only other comment here can't stand that women don't want to be centered around men in media.
ReplyDeleteI guess wanting female characters that resemble real, complicated human beings just like men want for themselves, is just "feminist bullshit."
Watch how men fall apart when someone similar happens to them, or when the female ghost busters movie came out. All that whining and they can't understand the other side of it. It's only MEN who should get good roles, I guess.
Crazy how nobody sees the hypocrisy. Crazy how wanting women in movies to be real people is just.... feminist bullshit.
The hypocrisy really is astounding. I think plenty of people see the hypocrisy, especially as women in media are becoming more common, both those thoughtfully and complexly added to narratives as well as those added more for a nod towards women that ends up being little more than fanfare (like Tauriel unfortunately).
DeleteIt's just often those that yell the loudest who are the most terrified about their own "rights" being taken away, afraid of being "replaced" and whatever other complexities the fear and hypocrisies hold.
That in itself is the true BS in this situation.