The Return of the Forced Conflict

We'll still be discussing the extended cuts. It was probably pretty apparent that we hate the second one. This one we hate less. In some respect this has less problems than the second but on the other hand, some of the previous issues are made even worse.

Pros: Same as with the second movie. All the external aspects - such as music, set design, most actor choices, etc. The song for Houses of Healing is great and Lighting of the Beacons is a kickass theme. That's literally all we got.

Cons: Also as with the second one, the two main issues we have lie with the story and characters. So we have divided this once again into two parts. Thus, story first. Where the second film didn't have enough material and it dragged on, this one is cluttered and feels rushed, apart from the end(s). This is why linear storytelling does not work here; The Two Towers is empty while Return of the King has most of the action. The writers should have realized that if Shelob is cut and moved to the 3rd movie, then the beginning of Return is too full. Not to mention that they robbed the second one of a fabulous cliffhanger. And don't give us that "but then it doesn't have a proper ending hence isn't a competent film"-crap, the book did it, why couldn't the movie follow? If it was absolutely necessary, then why not end Towers in Cirith Ungol's stairs? That would've at least improved the pacing a little in both movies. Also, remove all the shit that wasn't in the book and stuff that wasn't needed. For example, Arwen's pointless visions (for shit that isn't in the book) and the million different endings (where deviation from the book would have been welcomed). 

On to the characters. Since we mentioned Arwen, let's continue with her. In Towers, she was a lovelorn teenager, here they've made her into some goddamn virginal purity figure. Yeah, there's magic and shit in this world but the whole shtick about evil killing Arwen because she's sooooo good and pure is beyond ridiculous. Also, kind of insulting. It's just really stupid writing. Arwen unfortunately got caught in the crossfire of "upping the ante". And she ain't the only victim of this fabricated superdrama.

We have to offer our commiserations to anyone who likes Gimli in the book here. He was allocated as a sidekick in Towers, but here he is utterly foolish. Thank God they kept his character arc, but that's about it. He's only a comedy sidekick here. Aragorn is better here than in the second movie. He's not quite as much of an asshole. Faramir was also surprisingly okay in this one. Apart from the remark that as a youth he was more into imagining slaying dragons than acquiring knowledge. As we've established, that ain't Faramir from the book.

And now to by far our biggest beefs with this film.  So this is where they really fucked up Èowyn's character. In Towers she was only a lovesick teenager, here she's also a frightened little child. Her defiance and cold-blooded warrior spirit is completely gone. Instead of giving an awesome and impassioned lecture to Aragorn about his benevolent sexism when he refuses to take her with them, we get "but I luuuuv youuu". Cringe. Plus, did the filmmakers really have to insult us further by making her all weepy-faced over some dude? Get the fuck outta here with that shit.

There are literally too many offences to choose from here. Probably the most egregious to us is the change in her motives. Partially because that eradicates her amazing character arc from the book. But also because it fundamentally alters her personality. She was cold and hard as steel and she went to fucking die in the war. She wanted the stuff that men were allowed and encouraged to seek - like ambition, power and glory. We'd say those are pretty extraordinary motives for a sympathetic female character, especially considering the book was published in the 50's. In the film all we get is "for our friends, Merry!" Kill us now. Now the dialogue they took from the book is in contradiction with her soft character in the movie (the whole speech she gives to Aragorn in the second movie about warrior's glory and dying on a sword). Reading the book for the first time as teenage girls the scene that was most impactful for us was made completely flat and meaningless in the film. Why reveal she's a woman BEFORE she faces the Witch King!?!?!??! That scene is one of the greatest twists of all time. It's even better than Vader's "no. I am your father". For fuck's sake, how incompetent are these writers?

To be honest, we actually disagree with the interpretation that Èowyn is domesticated in the novel. Read it closely. She only talks about peacemaking and turning from violence into making things grow. Not a mention about homemaking or raising kids or anything like that.  And she's quite bitter about the fact that her turning from war to diplomacy will be seen as a man taming her, simply because she gets married. Whereas in the movie Faramir is literally a consolation price for Éowyn, so turns out all she needed was a guy. We think it's awesome that in the book she redirects her ambition from warfare and violence towards diplomacy and peacemaking. That is very important for everyone, particularly young girls, to see, since in reality women in power seem to get there by being as shitty as the men before them. Éowyn shows that there's a better way to interact with the world than destroying it. Does it bleed through that we're humanists/pacifists? All of the complexity of Éowyn is non-existent in the film. They gave all the dudes character arcs (even Faramir who didn't have one in the book) and took away the arc of the ONLY significant woman in the whole story. Not chill at all.  

Moving on to the aspect that we hate most in all of media: the forced conflict. You didn't think it could get worse for Frodo and Sam from Towers, but Jesus Christ this was intolerable. Frodo is the heart and soul of the books and it is unforgivable where they went with his character, and Sam isn't far behind. Watch the documentaries, even the creators have trouble justifying the changes they made in Mount Doom. Mount Doom is the crown jewel of the shitturd that is Frodo's and Sam's story in the movie. Every single instance had to be laden with forced conflict simply to create drama. The writers have this misapprehension (which they even come clean about in the documentaries) that audiences won't be entertained without constant conflict onscreen. As with Éowyn, there are too many examples to choose from. 

This is where Sam's actions go from "huh?" to "what the fuck?!" He's outright violent to Gollum. They made both Frodo and Sam so unlikable here. Sam is a violent brute and Frodo is just there completely passive and easily manipulated by Gollum. The little personality Frodo had in the first movie has been eradicated here. The Ring porn finally reaches its climax when Frodo goes back for the Ring at Mount Doom. They took the rather sombre and tender moment from the book and americanized it into a "don't you die on me!" - cliche. We could spend days on end bitching about Towers and Return movie versions but we'll leave it here for the sake of our own sanity. 

  

Disney, retrospectively

Mulan (1998)

Right off the bat, this is Jonna's favourite Disney film so don't expect us to judge it too harshly. Both of us do think that this is amongst the best three movies of the renaissance period (obviously the other two are Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame). In addition, Disney's tone deafness about non-Western cultures is surprisingly subdued here.

Characters

Mulan: She's almost pig-headedly determined when it comes to things she cares about. She's clumsy in all the good ways, not the annoying "adorkable" stereotype way. She's not good at the girly shit 'cause she's just not into it and doesn't feel comfortable in that atmosphere. She was, after all, raised on a farm. Probably the best thing about her is that outside of Meg she's pretty much the only classic Disney female character with an arc. And her character arc is so much more rewarding than Meg's. Some feminists have taken issue with her lack of ambition. We, on the other hand, love that about her (Jonna in particular since that's her).
Mushu: Makes an amazing runner-up to Genie. Not even Timon&Pumba elicit as much love from us. He's hilarious, loyal and reckless, what else do you need from a sidekick? Again, the Finnish dub is just better. We get it, Eddie Murphy's great and all, but no. 
Fa Zhou: Mulan's father is definitely the most important male character in this one, because she literally goes to war to save him. Also, these are the three main characters because they all have character arcs. His love and acceptance are the most important things for Mulan and part of the film is about him learning to give those freely to her as she is. 
Shang: The saving grace for him, is that he has a little more personality than Eric. What brings a bit more depth to him is his storyline with his dad. There's not much of it though. He's literally Mulan's reward. Hey, for once it was the other way around! 
Minor characters: The gang is all great, Mulan's buds, the granny, the adviser, the cricket and horse and hell, even the fucking emperor. Everyone is brilliant.  Apart from the villain(s). They're depicted quite inhumanely as barbaric mongrels. We guess that's the racism part of the film. Nothing less from Disney. The leader at least has a quite intimidating design. Otherwise they're pretty forgettable.

















Story

Very simple and effective. Just as we like 'em. The themes of self-acceptance and family approval of you as a human being are universal and will never stop being relevant. Again, it's pointless to contend plotholes with us, like how the size of the army keeps changing. As our love of Star Wars shows, we actually think those gaffes and goofs are part of the enjoyment. There is nothing unnecessary here, all scenes exist for some purpose. It never drags and keeps you engaged throughout. 
The emotional thread that holds the whole film together is the relationship between Mulan and her father. The culmination of the film is not, as many would have it, the scene where Mulan saves the emperor and the whole of Beijing bowing down to her (that's fucking awesome too though), but the ending where her father kneels next to her to apologise and express full acceptance of her without conditions. Accolades and political power mean nothing to Mulan. Personal fulfilment and empowerment is what she's after. 
We don't really care for the politicising of this film. The Mike Pence stance is utterly ridiculous. However, we're not on the side of some feminist critique about how Mulan is domesticized because she doesn't take on the emperor's offer. We don't like the implication that women without ambition or desire for power let down the whole of womankind. Furthermore, it's probably already known how much we love our dad. Like he's the best fucking human being in existence. So it's not really inconceivable that we relate to a story about a daughter who would do anything for their father.

Miscellaneous

Jerry-fuckin'-Goldsmith, people! This is some of his best work in history and one of the most impressive film scores in any Disney animation. The man was a genius. The songs are "meh" but rather entertaining. And they're easy to listen, plus they don't occur every ten minutes. The animation isn't traditional Disney but that's what makes it original and distinctive.

Boys do cry

In the past we have naturally focused a lot on women. We figured it was time to write a feminist post about men. (Sorry, we ain't dropping the feminism any time soon.) So this is a list of our favourite male characters who subvert some masculine expectations (sometimes described as toxic masculinity). We decided not to include sexual minorities, since masculine expectations are heteronormative. So by being not straight, one has already bucked the major masculine norms entirely. We're not big fans of such terms as masculine and feminine traits because that is basically assigning personality based on someone's physiology. We think that the line that has been created between what is masculine and what is feminine is rather arbitrary. We await for the day when men are no longer from Mars and women no longer from Venus. Where our characteristics are under the blanket of "humanity" and where we see each other as fellow human beings. And no, none of the aforementioned means erasing biological gender. So, chill.

1. Vash from Trigun. D-uh! He might not give the best first impression, but just stay with it. He is the most gentle, caring and compassionate person. Vash subverts almost all masculine expectations. He cries at everything. It's not Hollywood tears, it's weeping. We're talking waterfalls. Yes, the picture we have is funny, but most of it is played very seriously. He's forced to wear this mask of a clown and an idiot but is actually incredibly open with his feelings and basically wears his heart on his sleeve. Heard of the expression "would not hurt a fly"? Yeah, it's this guy right here. Whether friend or foe he refuses to seriously injure anyone and eschews violence. Plus he has like, zero ambition. Literally none whatsoever. Superheroes usually have these very lofty and ambitious goals. All he wants is to live in peace as a nameless nobody in some crummy little village helping people for the rest of his life. Also, he loves kids - as in he'd be exactly the type to be a stay-at-home dad. And last but definitely not least, he learned all his values and beliefs from a woman. As we all know, "real men" never take advice from women - only a bro is allowed to teach another bro. There are a thousand other things we could list about this guy and that's exactly why he's #1 here. It is no wonder that he shares the top spot as our favourite male character ever.

  












2. Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot.  The boy who likes ballet - of course he's included! This is really the only boy character we have here, since boys are not yet men and can be often given more leeway than full-grown male characters. But Billy is such a seminal character subverting not only of what is expected of men but of boys, so we had to have him here. We especially love the fact that the story takes place in a working class environment, with a single father whose ideas of manhood are harmful to both him and his sons. It is a wonderful and heartwarming story, since the father and Billy's brother both learn to express their tender side to Billy and accept Billy for who he is. 

3. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's on this list because Faramir of the book does not exist on film. Ashitaka has quite similar attitude to conflict and war that Faramir has. He would much rather live in peace and harmony with all his surroundings and only fights out of necessity. You knew that at least one Miyazaki would make it here. 

4. Mr. Baxter from The Apartment. This guy is incredibly nurturing. Here is a movie where you see a man being a woman's emotional support. And there is nothing that we love more about him than that he is never that guy who guilt-trips the woman (like saying I'm so much better than him or why are you with that guy) that you have in every other romantic movie. He makes no demands whatsoever on her and expects nothing.

5. Willow from Willow. Willow's the first one we have where nurturing is the main reason we picked him. Especially nurture towards children. You don't see men doing the domestic side of nurture - like feeding, changing nappies or carrying a baby constantly. And showing that the man would actually enjoy taking care of a child. Willow exceeds in all.

6. Michael from The Deer Hunter. First, think of all the 70's and early 80's roles De Niro has done. They're all pretty hypermasculine - he's aggressive, violent and often lacking in general humanity. They're interesting roles but fit a certain stereotype of men. Michael as a character is actually quite a departure for De Niro's usual roles. It might not seem that way looking at the film's premise, but the character is surprisingly deeply compassionate. Our favourite moment where his compassion shines is when he's talking Steven through their torture - he never tells him to man up or not to cry, instead he says it's okay and to let it out and tries to comfort him and be there for him. Another one is when Michael goes to see Angela - she is in a state of shock and is unable to communicate, and of course you'd at least expect him to get frustrated, because in many films where women are in shock men usually lose their nerve and either shout or shake them or tell them to snap out of it. None of that here. He is nothing but kind, gentle and patient to the very end.

7. Holland March from The Nice Guys. This guy is so damn effeminate and we absolutely love it! It's kind of played for laughs, but then again it's not. It's much more physical comedy rather than the viewer laughing at the character failing in some "masculine act". Part of the subversion here is to do with the actor - Gosling's roles tend to be on the stereotypical sphere, so it was nice to see a role where he got to play on a different spectrum. And we're always happy to see caring fathers onscreen.

8. Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He's a sweetheart. Even though he has been raised by the cruelest person, Quasimodo is astoundingly kind and gentle. Since he is a Disney character, the range isn't that wide, but especially when you compare him to other Disney men, he has far less toxic elements in his behaviour.

9. Lenny from Strange Days. Ok, he has some of the toxic aspects of "masculine behaviour" - like being hung up on his ex, but he does eventually learn out of them. The reason we have him here, is because when we (still 100% Mormon then) watched this the first time we deemed him a coward. Because he evades conflict and is afraid of pain. He uses every verbal method possible to avoid getting beat up. And he's always saved by a woman.

10. Ed Wood from Ed Wood. He's a cross-dressing straight dude. How much more norm- breaking can you get? And he's pretty much the only one on this list who's based on a real person, played with Depp's and Burton's weirdness, of course. We love it.

11. Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts. Here's another one who is a very nurturing character. The movie we don't much care about and have never liked Harry Potter, but this man was a pretty good main character. He focuses saving the animals without harming them and instead of violence opts for dialogue. It doesn't surprise us that some film critics took issue with Newt as a main character - for movies that are supposed to sell it is expected that the lead is your regular hero who punches first and thinks later (or never).

12. Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow. This is another dainty male character with some very effeminate traits. He's physically incompetent, afraid of spiders and faints at the sight of blood. Here you have the classic man of action versus man of intellect division, but unlike in most Hollywood films where the man of action is the one to save the day, here it's the other way around. 

13. Shinji from Evangelion. The series, NOT the movie (which was basically the equivalent of the creator saying: oh, you like these characters? Well, fuck you!) Shinji is pretty much an antithesis to most animeboy teen heroes. He's a coward, indecisive and really really passive. Shinji is actually quite an accurate depiction of depression (the whole show kinda is). Point is, these kind of boy characters rarely show up anywhere mainstream and definitely feel more like actual teenagers than most we see in popular media.

 

The Good, the Better and the Best

It's strange that we have managed to get this far without making a list of our favourite films. There's a reason for that. We have so many movies that would deserve to be on this list, so in order to cut it down to a reasonable amount for a blog, we have picked our favourites according to genre. Some of the films' genres overlap, because obviously they do. We had to pick genres, otherwise this list would be over a 100 titles. 

A few genres are missing, like western. Because they aren't our thing. If we had to pick, we'd take a western in a modern setting (The Way of the Gun). We actually have one western that we absolutely love, but it's a TV series. Film noirs are also something we're not drawn to. Again, if we had to pick a film noir, it would be a modern one (L.A. Confidential). We've dropped the genre 'thriller' as we don't think it's a separate genre because it's always paired with something else, eg. mystery, horror or action. In addition, it's nearly indistinguishable from horror or mystery. Animated movies are just movies, you can have an animated anything. As you'll be able to see by the end of this list, we're ridiculously mainstream.

1. The Deer Hunter (war)

Anyone who knows us or has followed our blog, probably already knew that this is our other favourite film of all time. We assigned the war genre (it could have been drama as well) to this because we don't generally like war films. War films seem to take place only during the war and focus more on the military and army perspective. And a war is so much more than that. The Deer Hunter is not about the action or heroism in war but about war as a construct and its effect on one's psyche. Since it is Hollywood there's a serious problem with racism when depicting the Vietnamese. Everything else about this movie is on a different plane entirely. It has some of the best acting in film history. What we especially love about this movie is that you have to pay attention during the whole film. Everything is meaningful, no matter how insignificant it seems. This is what we compare other films to. This is the golden standard of film making for us.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (family)

Also, might not be a big surprise this shares the top place. This film is just so life-affirming. If you ever feel like you need to restore your faith in humanity, this is the one to watch. We're pretty sure that we're preaching to the choir here. Who hasn't seen this movie? 

3. The original Star Wars trilogy (adventure)

This might be cheating for some, but c'mon! The one does not exist without the other two. If we were held at gunpoint and forced to choose, it would be The Empire Strikes Back. But we're not. We love all three equally. These have stayed with us since we can't even remember. We love everything about these, even the silly, stupid and dated aspects. They are the perfect adventure films. Unlike most other adventure films these have more than one level. Plus Princess Leia is our first feminist icon.

4. The Apartment (romance)

Oh, the time when romance offered as deep and intricate insights into society, relationships and the human condition as the best of dramas did. When romance hadn't been degraded into something purely frivolous and superficial. We love good romance and we hate it when it's shoved into this narrow box that film executives have created. This is what great romance movies can be. It's so funny but so sad at the same time. The main characters are simply lovable. It's Billy Wilder at his absolute best. Though we like Psycho it does not compare, this definitely deserved the Oscar. We particularly appreciate the subtle anti-corporate message.

5. Princess Mononoke (fantasy)

Another case of sharing because we can't make a decision. We love all of Miyazaki's works but this is hands down our favourite. We love his humanist ideals that are reflected in his films. And Mononoke is no exception. Fantasy has probably always been our most favourite genre, so when you combine Miyazaki's humanism with fantasy, it's inevitable that film should end up on this list. This was something that transferred us to a completely different world. We don't like anime, but this is what it could be at its best. 

5. Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Obviously the animation. The best that Disney has ever produced. Indisputably. Menken's best music, best animation, best story and best characters. The visuals are far and above any other Disney film. This is not a Disney movie, this is A Movie.  This is the only one, THE ONLY ONE, that rivals Miyazaki. Is there anything more to say about it?

7. Eastern Promises (crime)

We felt guilty about liking this film for the longest time (chalk it up to trying to be good Mormons). But goddamn if this movie isn't impressive. This is one of those that we return to time and time again and we like it more each time we watch it. It's dark and twisty, just as we like 'em.  This film is brutal and unforgettable. The Russian melancholy really gets us every time. 

8. Arrival (science fiction)

We never thought we would have a favourite sci-fi movie until we saw this. It's definitely the best film we have seen in the cinema. The science aspect in it is linguistics, a humanist science. Of course we loved it. It's incredibly well-constructed. This is the only movie where we love the plot twist, we normally either dislike them or are indifferent to them. The twist makes the film bittersweet and we love it.

9. The Lady Vanishes (mystery)

Obviously we had to have a Hitchcock on this list. It would've been invalid otherwise. We loved it immediately after seeing it. We really like Agatha Christie's mystery novels and she might as well have written this movie. 

10. On the Waterfront (drama)

It was a tough choice between this and East of Eden. This took the edge by the difference of a hair. This is a classic so it's no surprise that this is on the list. The reason this film touched us is because it's a story of redemption.  We love that it's a working-class story from a working-class perspective.

11. Bringing Up Baby (comedy)

This on the other hand was such an easy choice. The minute we saw it we knew it would remain as our favourite comedy. The slapstick, the verbal quips and the wacky characters! It's a never-ending gagfest where all the gags work. We quote this movie a lot.

 












12. 28 Days Later (horror)

For quite a while this was the only horror film we did like (we have since discovered a few more). This was the first and it hit the hardest. This isn't about how frightening the monsters are but about how scary we as humans could be in this situation. 

13. Aliens (action)

Yes, we think that The Terminator is the best action film, but this is our favourite. Another film that we can't remember not having seen. Awesome and kick-ass female character, terrific action and surprisingly genuine human interaction. What's not to like?

 










The thread connecting most of these films is a character-driven story, often with a humanist undertone. Music is pretty damn important to us as well. Film language and visual storytelling are also things we pay a lot of attention to. 

The Two Turds

We're talking about the extended cuts because those were the filmmakers' vision. And boy oh boy, how we detest this one. More so than the 3rd one (which is not a favourite in our household anyway). We think we've proved that we are capable of analyzing films independent of the book or be at least somewhat objective when it comes to movie adaptations of books we worship. 'Cause the first movie mostly works even separately from the book. This one on the other hand... Even if one was to discard the book entirely, this movie still has some serious structural problems. Not to mention the awful character assassinations. As we've stated previously, there's no use in looking at adaptations separate from the source material. The intention of the filmmakers was to make an adaptation. So excuse our anger.

Pros: Gonna be a real short list. Music, costumes, set designs, locations and most of the actor choices. Some action scenes are entertaining and well-put together. Cinematography is also great. And did we mention music? 'Cause it definitely merits a second shout out. All the external factors that had nothing or little to do with story and characters were good.

Cons: We had to divide this into two parts; our biggest issues are story and characters, the rest would just be nitpicking. Let's start with the story. Anyone who has seen the documentaries knows that they explained the change in the chain of events in the book by some bullshit reasoning that the film's story should be linear (for some reason?). This causes some major trouble for pacing. Goddamn this movie is boring at times.  It starts okay, but the whole middle part is a real drudge to get through. They've added pointless scenes and needless crap that lead nowhere and add nothing to the characters, or at least add nothing good. They've also kept some parts from the book that could have been discarded (like the Dead Marshes). Best example about adding useless stuff - that damn wolf attack scene. What they were clearly trying to do (and they admit to this in the documentaries) is to create conflict and tension artificially. As they say, to "up the ante". There are not many tricks in storytelling we hate more than this one (we'll get to this in greater detail when discussing Faramir). 

In this particular case, linear storytelling is impossible. There's a reason why Tolkien wrote the rest of the story out of sequence after the Fellowship disbanded. By the way, viewers are not stupid - we can pick up on the real sequence of events even if they are told out of order. In the end, we just kept asking "why? why change this? this would've worked just as it was in the book and actually been better cinema-wise." Now it's just out of balance. Additionally, we do not appreciate cheap emotional manipulation tricks (eg. Sam's whole speech at the end of the movie). The movie is riddled with them. 

Moving on to characters. So what the fuck happened to Aragorn? He's an asshole now? (Viggo is still perfect, though). They nullified his growth from the first movie - his character suffers from the invented tension. Because apparently they needed to make him be a total dickbag to Arwen, so that we'll all be like "oh no, whatever will happen to them?", in addition to creating an excruciating love triangle.  This also bleeds into Arwen's character, who is treated abysmally. She's completely infantilized by both Aragorn and her father. She's one of the most ancient and wise beings in that world (if one has read the appendices), here she's a lovelorn teenager who doesn't know her own mind.

Frodo and Sam. This is where it all goes downhill for Frodo. They doubled down on everything that we didn't like about his character in the first film. He's totally passive and none of his actions (which are a few and far between) make any difference. This is also where the Ring porn really kicks off. And that means that Frodo's character is defined by the Ring. In the book, it is a fairly fascinating, gradual and psychological journey for his character. Here,  it's just a simple "Ring is evil, so now Frodo is under its spell". And dear god Sam, what have they done to you?!?! Sure, in the book Sam was very suspicious of Gollum, but NEVER to the point of cruelty or violence.  The wedge they're driving between Sam and Frodo is at its worst in the 3rd movie, so we'll talk more about it then. Outside of Faramir, Sam and Frodo are the primary victims of the forced conflict. Fuck this shit.

That brings us to two literary characters whom we have loved ever since we first read these books, namely Faramir and Éowyn. What they did to both these characters insults us deeply. Let's start off with Faramir. His character introduction was promising (as was Èowyn's) but it was undone in a matter of minutes by everything that followed. As said, Faramir is the biggest victim of this forced conflict/tension bs. For anyone who hasn't read the books, Faramir was supposed to be a peace-loving and gentle soul, someone who preferred a pen and book to a sword and shield. It is said that Faramir and his values were a reflection of Tolkien's own. And since Tolkien had taken part in one of the most destructive wars in history, that's not a difficult connection to make. In the book Faramir is someone who defies toxic masculinity. He goes to war only out of necessity. Yeah, he doesn't have a character arc, but for a character to be relatable and meaningful to the story, an arc is not always required (for minor characters anyway). His purpose in the story is integral for another reason.

Here we present the atrocious and frankly infuriating excuse they gave in the documentaries for the change in his character. Because apparently Faramir needed the exact same arc that his brother had had, in order to create that sweet sweet tension (since evidently there's only one way to create tension) and to keep the Ring eeeevil. Didn't we just see this? Talk about pointless and redundant scenes. The reason Faramir didn't want the Ring was BECAUSE he could see what had happened to Boromir and more importantly, the Ring couldn't offer him anything he wanted. We guess this subtle form of symbolism went over the writers' head. What offends us most is that a character who originally eschewed masculinity's most toxic aspects now embodies them. He's willing to break his promise and torture a pathetic creature in order to gain information. Fuck this shit! 

Now for one of the most influential fictional characters to either of us. We'll write more about Éowyn, especially about her motives and what a badass she is, in the last post - since she isn't really present in the second book so we don't have that much material to go on here. And it shows, because they invented some of the most insulting, stupid and sexist shit that a human mind can conjure up. She's an amazing and truly unconventional character in the books, especially considering the genre and when it was written. Like Faramir with masculinity, Éowyn bucks all the feminine stereotypes. We didn't love her purely because of her badassery, but also because of her personality. She was cold and hard as steel while still having humanity. And it was wonderful to read for once that such a woman isn't automatically a villain or deserving of misery. How often does one see cold and distant male characters who are hailed as complex? Well, here you had a woman who was truly complex while espousing those traits. 

In addition, we were raised in a religion where it was impossible and unheard of for women to be anything else but gentle and nurturing. Women's highest purpose in life was to be a wife and a mother. Even if those are the things that one wants in life, hearing constantly that one's divine duty is to be those things 24/7 can be quite debilitating. So it was pretty insulting for us to see that two female writers managed to turn Èòwyn (written by a man) into a stereotype of a female character. In the books she was never in love with Aragorn but instead of the idea of what his title could give her. If Arwen was a lovelorn teenager, Èowyn is ten times worse. She didn't give a damn what any man thought of her. Here you see her constantly deferring to the men, her gaze is drawn to the men onscreen and her motives and actions are driven by male characters. Èòwyn, probably more than any other character from this story, is personal to us, so yes, we admit that it might affect our judgement somewhat. FUCK.THIS.SHIT.

Also, fuck this scene. Jonna had to leave the room because she was hyperventilating with anger.