[Knight of Gondor]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Knight, while I agree with much of what you have said, I must disagree with you here. Romance is a central element in most films, and one that most film-goers expect. And the romance of Aragorn and Arwen is the only one that spans all three films so, unless you want scenes of Rosie Cotton mooching around missing Sam, Arwen's role had to be expanded to bring this element out. She was not there to "pander" to "feminists" and "girl action" devotees. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I am not, by any means, any sort of anti-woman kind of person at all. I just disagree with what I would still consider to be a treat for the woman who didn’t want to wait for RotK to see their gender get to open up a can of whiporc. I’m reasonably happy with the romance portrayal, and would have been upset if this was something that <I>wasn’t</I> portrayed in the story.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>And the final decisions on Arwen's role would have been made by Jackson and the production team. Although, I recall seeing on one of the EE documentaries that Liv Tyler was instrumental in persuading them to remove Arwen's role at Helm's Deep, having read furious "anti-XenArwen" comments on LotR websites. Hardly the behaviour of someone desperate for more screen time. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>If that is true, then I commend her. And I take my “wanting more screen time” idea from an article I read, not from personal accusation. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Don't forget that these films are distributed outside America too. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I understand, and please don’t be offended at that. I generally make sweeping generalizations of “the rest of America” without consideration for the other nations, but again, it doesn’t reflect any sort of bias. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>And please leave the language moderation to the moderators.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I get offended by orc-talk, so I will express my wish not to see it, even with the good old stars blocking it.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Knight, your opinion of Liv-Arwen is legend here on the Downs, but I think Saucepan Man's points about the necessity of a romantic story axis and the necessity also of the female part of this axis to be sufficiently fleshed out are valid ones.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Wow, I didn’t know it was legend. <P>I’m not like a huge “OH MY GOSH, THERE’S ARWEN AGAIN, NO, NO, NO” kind of person by any means. I’m just one of the crowd that didn’t like Arwen’s increased role. I entirely agree that the romance was necessary; I don’t object to that at all.