> Bryon Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >From: "Chad Cooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <snip>
> > >... All the stuff with Elrond and Arwen was > > > overdone and stupid. > >True.. All one really has to know is that Arwen > >gave up immortality for > >Aragon, and Elrond was pissed. They could have > >illustrated why Aragon > >wandered for 20+ years as a Ranger. This is more > >interesting to me. However, > >these facts were in the appendixes of the book, and > >not part of the story > >directly. It does not add much to the story. > > I don't really mind the Arwen/Aragorn changes, for > the most part. LOTR is > rather short on female roles. I remember when my > mom (not a fantasy buff) > read it, her first comment was "There are almost no > women in these books". > I don't blame Peter Jackson for wanting to broaden > the movie appeal beoynd > the geek base some by expanding the small bits of > romance that are in the > novels. Fortunately Liv Tyler couldn't handle > swordplay, so they canned their > plans to stick Arwen in assorted battles. And speaking as a non-Y geek, I *liked* the romantic bits! I think Aragorn's love for Arwen is one of the major reasons he perseveres in his lonely rangering (in the book), and the changes in both his and her characters (he's reluctant to seek the kingship, and she's more active instead of being off on a pedestal) make the movie more relevent to today's audience. While I love and still reread LOTR every 5 years or so, the dearth of women characters and "real" man-woman relationships means that I've always had to imagine more; of course Tolkien essentially grew up in Edwardian times/morals, so I'm not condemning him, just noting that the world/Western culture has changed greatly since. But I'm glad they didn't make Arwen a sword-swisher...I hope Eowyn's horsemanship and swordplay is top-notch, though. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
