J.R.R. Tolkien’s Portrayal of Femininity and Its Transformations in Subsequent Adaptations

• Authors: Łaszkiewicz, Weronika

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the following paper is to examine the portrayal of female characters and femininity in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkien’s heroines have been both praised and severely criticized, this paper will, first of all, investigate and recapitulate the arguments in favor and against Tolkien’s depiction of women. Secondly, it will be argued that the ambiguity surrounding these fictional characters stems from the writer’s private relationship with women. Finally, the paper will analyze how Tolkien’s ambiguous female characters have fared in various adaptations of his works, particularly in the cinematic versions produced by Peter Jackson and in fan-made art.

Keywords

EN

J.R.R. Tolkien; Middle-earth; females; femininity; adaptations

• Publisher: The University of Bialystok
• Journal: Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 11

Dates

published

2015

Contributors

author

Łaszkiewicz, Weronika

References

• Akers-Jordan, Cathy. 2004. Fairy Princess or Tragic Heroine? The Metamorphosis of Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Films. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 195-213. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.
• Basso, Ann McCauley. 2008. Fairy Lady Goldberry, Daughter of the River. Mythlore 27:1/2. 137-146.
• Booker, Susan. 2004. Tales Around the Internet Campfire: Fan Fiction in Tolkien’s Universe. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 259-282. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.
• Carpenter, Humphrey. 1977. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. London: Allen & Unwin.
• Carpenter, Humphrey. 1978. The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and their Friends. London: Allen & Unwin.
• Croft, Janet Brennan and Leslie A. Donovan (eds.) 2015. Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien. Altadena: Mythopoeic Press.
• Frederick, Candice and Sam McBride. 2001. Women Among the Inklings: Gender, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Westport: Greenwood Press.
• McLeish, Kenneth. 1983. The Rippingest Yarn of All. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 125-136. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.
• Miller, John. 2003. The Hero and the Other: Alternative Masculinities and the ‘Dominion of Men’ in The Lord of the Rings. In: Susanne Fendler and Ulrike Horstmann (eds.), Images of Masculinity in Fantasy Fiction, 183-203. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
• Mullich, David. Date n/a. The Complete List of Film Changes for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. http://www.theonering.com/complete-list-of-film-changes (13 December 2016).
• O’Connor, Gerard. 1973. Why Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Should Not be Popular Culture. Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, vol. 13, no. 1. 48-55.
• Otty, Nick. 1983. The Structuralist’s Guide to Middle-earth. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 154-178. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.
• Partridge, Brenda. 1983. No Sex Please—We’re Hobbits: The Construction of Female Sexuality in The Lord of the Rings. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 179-197. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.
• Scull, Christina and Wayne G. Hammond. 2006. The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide. Vols. 1 & 2. London: HarperCollinsPublishers.
• Taylor, Taryne Jade. 2008. Investigating the Role and Origin of Goldberry in Tolkien’s Mythology. Mythlore 27:1/2. 147-156.
• Thum, Maureen. 2004. The ‘Sub-Subcreation’ of Galadriel, Arwen, and Éowyn: Women of Power in Tolkien’s and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 231-256. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.
• Tolkien, J.R.R. 1998. The Hobbit or There and Back Again. London: Collins Modern Classics.
• West, Richard C. 2011. Neither the Shadow nor the Twilight: The Love Story of Aragorn and Arwen in Literature and Film. In: Janice M. Bogstad and Philip E. Kaveny (eds.), Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy, 227-237. Jefferson: McFarland.

Identifiers

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/11320/5306

DOI

10.15290/cr.2015.11.4.02