Hobbit Holes; First Time with Tolkien
So last week was my very first time interacting with some of Tolkien's work; none of my family read it when I was younger, and my friends preferred other series, so I never got into the Lord of the Rings hype like other people! And while I do have a serious appreciation for high-fantasy, I had never found the time to even watch a full movie since they were so lengthy.
I mostly enjoyed The Hobbit! I've heard from friends that it's a lot less leisurely in terms of flower-y language and side-plots compared to the original trilogy, and I think I felt that in the writing. It seemed fairly straightforward in its progression, and I didn't feel like I was getting too particularly lost in the detail of simple asides.
There were a ton of little scenes that really caught and entertained me; Beorn's whole interaction with Gandalf and the slow wave of oncoming Dwarves was a really fun moment, and played out particularly well as a way to introduce the type of character Beorn was. I'm also always a sucker for intelligent dragons; I could clearly see how people would latch onto a creature that's not only powerful and fearsome as a beast, but sharp and intellectually powerful as well. Bonus brownie points for the collections of gems on his underside, that was a really fun visual image!
That said, I do think I had my own gripes with it as a world and a story.
I do think a lot of what I had trouble with was the fact that there were pretty much no (complex) female characters written in. As someone who hoards fantasy works like a dragon, I've seen plenty of creative feminine characters for people to connect to effortlessly woven into stories. It's a shame that Tolkien's works, as a whole it seems, lack a take on female characters that makes them seem interesting and well-thought-out relatable characters.
The fact that women had to be inserted into the movie just sort of disappoints me; women obviously lead different lives than men, have different experiences and different interactions with society, but it's not a stretch to write a female character with actual motivations as a woman. She can be both, y'all! A heroine doesn't have to be the sword-swinging stoic battle-princess a lot of fantasy stories revolve around, who's sexy because she wants to be and powerful because she's mysterious. Women are allowed to fight and be that cool ass-kicking knight, and have distinctly vulnerable emotions!
I don't know, I just think a lot of people look to Tolkien as a definite god-father of high-fantasy, and can't break away from the standard middle-earth mentality often seen in fantastic stories. I think he obviously had a lot of wonderful ideas that serve as a wonderful pushing-off point for the modern day, but all too often people seem to just be re-using and re-writing slender elves, manly dwarves, and mysterious wizards. It's about time more people look at Tolkien's work and, rather than trying to mimmic it, attempt to build from it, not directly off of it.
I mostly enjoyed The Hobbit! I've heard from friends that it's a lot less leisurely in terms of flower-y language and side-plots compared to the original trilogy, and I think I felt that in the writing. It seemed fairly straightforward in its progression, and I didn't feel like I was getting too particularly lost in the detail of simple asides.
There were a ton of little scenes that really caught and entertained me; Beorn's whole interaction with Gandalf and the slow wave of oncoming Dwarves was a really fun moment, and played out particularly well as a way to introduce the type of character Beorn was. I'm also always a sucker for intelligent dragons; I could clearly see how people would latch onto a creature that's not only powerful and fearsome as a beast, but sharp and intellectually powerful as well. Bonus brownie points for the collections of gems on his underside, that was a really fun visual image!
That said, I do think I had my own gripes with it as a world and a story.
I do think a lot of what I had trouble with was the fact that there were pretty much no (complex) female characters written in. As someone who hoards fantasy works like a dragon, I've seen plenty of creative feminine characters for people to connect to effortlessly woven into stories. It's a shame that Tolkien's works, as a whole it seems, lack a take on female characters that makes them seem interesting and well-thought-out relatable characters.
The fact that women had to be inserted into the movie just sort of disappoints me; women obviously lead different lives than men, have different experiences and different interactions with society, but it's not a stretch to write a female character with actual motivations as a woman. She can be both, y'all! A heroine doesn't have to be the sword-swinging stoic battle-princess a lot of fantasy stories revolve around, who's sexy because she wants to be and powerful because she's mysterious. Women are allowed to fight and be that cool ass-kicking knight, and have distinctly vulnerable emotions!
I don't know, I just think a lot of people look to Tolkien as a definite god-father of high-fantasy, and can't break away from the standard middle-earth mentality often seen in fantastic stories. I think he obviously had a lot of wonderful ideas that serve as a wonderful pushing-off point for the modern day, but all too often people seem to just be re-using and re-writing slender elves, manly dwarves, and mysterious wizards. It's about time more people look at Tolkien's work and, rather than trying to mimmic it, attempt to build from it, not directly off of it.
Comments
Post a Comment