[Legolas]

No, Tolkien's books are not sexist. It's the way Western culture has evolved. Would the stories have been treasured by so many, or even come to popularity had it had a more significant number of characters that were female? Not in my opinion.

The addition of females as heroes would turn away many because of the tradition of medieval heros fighting bravely. Now, Tolkien's world was never supposed to be some kind of parallel or even related to the medieval legends we think of, but they do share many factors - great battles, swords, knights, armies of hundreds waging war over power of the land, etc.

Of course, Tolkien could've easily put in more female characters who weren't involved in the fighting and such, but it would have clouded the story and taken away from the focus - the story of the ring being destroyed and a kingdom restored. He didn't want there to be an emphasis on romance (there's Arwen/Aragorn, which is enough), and he knew the inclusion of other female characters would've brought some of the readers to think there might be something going between this and that character...he didn't anyone implying things like that. (Of course, in the present, we now have people reading into homosexual relationships? Urgh...)

A note for those who haven't read...Arwen's part was expanded due to the absence of Glorfindel. Glorfindel was the male elf who would've found Aragorn/the 4 hobbits in the woods and taken Frodo on to Rivendell.

The original poster mentioned Arwen's role being expanded...I'd say these were more for commercial reasons (unfortunately). For the story to be a movie not restricted to just those who enjoyed Tolkien's work already, it may have been the production team's thought that they needed a female character for the female audience to embrace (to sell posters, figures, tickets, etc.) and also embellish on Aragorn/Arwen's relationship for the romantics. If her part was expanded because they felt a need for more female roles, *if* I was a woman, I wouldn't like it. Does the production crew feel sorry for females as if they need to have a prominant feminine character?

Another theory I've heard people say is that the inclusion of Glorfindel would just add another character for the audience to become familiar with. This seems likely, but really, I don't think he had a big enough part to confuse anyone...an elf who doesn't appear in the story anywhere else (except the council - some say a character played him at the council, but that's just speculation) shows up in the woods, takes Frodo on to Rivendell...hard to understand? I think not. Each of the 3 times I've seen the movie, I went with people who hadn't read yet, and they didn't seem to have any problem understanding. (The only thing I saw them have trouble with was the similar appearance of Aragorn and Boromir!)

Remember, just my opinion... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ January 06, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]