Praise the Lord
In spotting Andrea Lewis’ article “Return of the same old thing” [Comment, January 13], I was instantly disappointed. I’m sick of reading articles about The Lord of the Rings trilogy by people who either haven’t seen or didn’t understand the movies. And yet I have once again read more of “the same old thing.” Lewis says in the article that “the men save the world while the women of Middle Earth cower in fear,” and I have but one question for her: Did you fall asleep in The Return of the King? Because that would be the only way you would have missed the shouting of every woman in the theater standing up and applauding Eowyn when she slew the Witch King, the most obvious female-empowering scene in the movie. She throws off her helmet, raises her sword, says “I am no man!” and scatters his corrupted, undead spirit to the wind.
Maybe I’m the one who’s missing the point, but that didn’t seem like cowering to me.
Again and again the term “patriarchy” was used in association with The Lord of the Rings and again I believe that is mistaken. The women of The Lord of the Rings don’t wear skin-tight leather and 6" heels to show off their femininity, but they still get the job done. Arwen denies all of her father’s plans for her, she escapes the fate that he has made and would have her accept to follow her dreams, to pursue her own wants and desires. Eowyn comes from a long line of respected women, shield maidens who kick ass with the sword, and rather than staying at home and looking after the keep like her uncle told her to, she goes to war, helps a male along the way, and kills the biggest enemy that they would face in the trilogy. How does she do it? Simply because she was a woman. She will gain more renown and honor than nearly all of the men who fought in the battle.
To me, even though The Lord of the Rings doesn’t try its hardest to represent every minority, the people fighting for what they believe in aren’t exactly “steroid-laden Schwarzenegger-types” either. The two people who save the world, Frodo and Sam, are hobbits, generally thought to be weak and lesser beings. But it is through their struggles and their enduring love for each other (that would make many a homophobe uncomfortable) that they finally make it to Mount Doom and destroy the ring. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future,” isn’t exactly the motto of the patriarchy.
Perhaps you left all of these qualities of the films out of your article to develop a believable point, but you’re not fooling anyone who watched the films carefully.
Allison Jarrett
Nimbrethil9@aol.com