I guess we don't have a thread to discuss Tolkien and his works and influence and other fandom related things yet so... here we go.
And to start us off... what does His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman still think of Tolkien?
Why of course he thinks Lord of the Rings is still shite... and misogynist as well!
Sexual power and mystery? If only Samwise had some sort of sexual awakening... like he starts the saga by trimming the bushes outside of Rose's window... before moving onto trimming her bushes and scouring her Shire in the climax of the third book. Also apparently Eowyn and Faramir, Aragorn and Arwen... their romances were clearly so chaste and innocent that they didn't actually have children via sex but actually they sprouted from the ground like some manner of Dwarf.
As for women playing a small part in the saga, Yes I actually agree with him. I can't think of any female characters by name from the Lord of the Rings. NOT... A... SINGLE... ONE!
To be fair to Pullman, a lot of the above article seems to be the Journalist, showing his evenhandedness, bringing up the generic, stale arguments against Tolkien (and CS Lewis) like how CS Lewis apparently loathes women and portrays them poorly based off an open ended two line statement made in one book (of the five or whatever books he actually wrote populated with all manner of female characters) but I digress.
And to start us off... what does His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman still think of Tolkien?
Why Do Women Have Such Small Parts in LOTR? asks Philip Pullman, Calls Tolkien's Iconic Book A 'Dead-end' - News18
In an interview with News18.com, British author Philip Pullman talks about religion, authoritarianism during the Trump Era, how libraries and books are fodders for human lives and souls.
www.news18.com
Why of course he thinks Lord of the Rings is still shite... and misogynist as well!
Philip Pullman said:I’d want to know why he lets women play such a small part in the story of the ring. There is absolutely no awareness of sexual power and mystery in the book. Children might as well be delivered by post. I think that, like many Englishmen of his generation, he was actually afraid of women and much preferred the company of men (no women among the Inklings). ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a dead-end, in my opinion.
Sexual power and mystery? If only Samwise had some sort of sexual awakening... like he starts the saga by trimming the bushes outside of Rose's window... before moving onto trimming her bushes and scouring her Shire in the climax of the third book. Also apparently Eowyn and Faramir, Aragorn and Arwen... their romances were clearly so chaste and innocent that they didn't actually have children via sex but actually they sprouted from the ground like some manner of Dwarf.
As for women playing a small part in the saga, Yes I actually agree with him. I can't think of any female characters by name from the Lord of the Rings. NOT... A... SINGLE... ONE!
To be fair to Pullman, a lot of the above article seems to be the Journalist, showing his evenhandedness, bringing up the generic, stale arguments against Tolkien (and CS Lewis) like how CS Lewis apparently loathes women and portrays them poorly based off an open ended two line statement made in one book (of the five or whatever books he actually wrote populated with all manner of female characters) but I digress.