Arwen is the JarJar Binks of LOTR

[dampscribbler]

Okay, at risk of pissing off all three of my potential readers here, it's time I said my piece. I was pissed at the way Arwen was presented in "Fellowship of the Ring." First of all, Liv Tyler? To say she lacks the regality of an Elfen princess is an understatement. She looks more likely to drool on herself than to carry the wisdom of the ages. But apparently that's just me. Secondly, what the hell is she doing delivering Frodo to Rivendell when it was supposed to have been Legolas? Third -- it's about the One Ring, and the battle for Middle Earth, not about an elf and the maybe-one-day-if-we're-not-all-dead-or-in-thrall-to-Sauron-future-king getting their rocks off. Good vs. Evil, not Boy meets Girl. Get it?

I decided to withhold judgement until I had seen all three films. Well, last Sunday I saw ROTK, and my original irritation stands. Had I been editing the film, Arwen would have been left on the floor. And the film would have been the better for it, no doubt. The "romance" between Arwen and Aragorn did nothing to enrich or inform this story. Sure, she gets to speak some cool-sounding Elvish, but does that really help tell the story? Galadriel speaks way cool Elvish, and it's actually relevant.

In the book, Arwen's decision to stay and wed Aragorn was extremely moving and heartbreaking. Peter Jackson's handling of this was bathetic. I also didn't like the way he presented Eowyn, at least not when she was simpering over Aragorn. Methinks Peter Jackson doesn't like women too much.

The day when we can all present our own versions of movies to our friends isn't that far off. I could re-cut this series on my computer, burn new DVD's, and dish them up on my TV set for my own and my friends' enjoyment. The tough part is just finding the time and the inclination to watch a half dozen (or more) different cuts of the same movie(s).

ETA: Oops. Glorfindel delivers Frodo. I need to re-read my books.

Comments

[hhw]

I buy Jackson's reasoning for why he expanded Arwen's role in movie 1 (at the expense of Glorfindel), but I don't think he handled it well in movie 3 (if he wanted to revise the story to give her something to do, then let her bring the sword to Aragorn instead of Elrond, for example). And I agree, Liv Tyler doesn't work for me, either. However, I can't go so far as you to invoke JarJar simply because I found her ultimately ignorable and/or forgettable most of the time, and she didn't have much screen time anyway.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

she didn't have much screen time anyway.

Maybe not as a percentage of the film(s), but every second with her on screen was like 10 minutes. So, consider yourself lucky that she was ignorable/forgettable for you. For me she was a whiny mosquito in the bedroom after dark.

[wardo68.livejournal.com]

Liv Tyler? To say she lacks the regality of an Elfen princess is an understatement. She looks more likely to drool on herself than to carry the wisdom of the ages.

Hear, hear! I wasn't as upset with Jar Jar as others, but I don't have as much invested in the Star Wars Trilogies as they either.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: while I have no choice but to accept that Aragorn chooses Arwen over Eowyn, I cannot and will not accept Viggo Mortensen choosing Liv Tyler over Mirando Otto. Surely he's seen That Thing You Do? Yeesh.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Eowyn was always my favorite in the book. (Not that there were a lot of females to choose from in them.) As I recall, though, she hooks up with Faramir, and that's not a bad thing.

while I have no choice but to accept that Aragorn chooses Arwen over Eowyn, I cannot and will not accept Viggo Mortensen choosing Liv Tyler over Miranda Otto.

I never thought of it that way, for some reason. But, holy yeah, Batman, you have a point!

[dragonfall.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Thanks for speaking up. I bought Arwen's increased role because of the lack of female characters in the movie, but I would've been happy if more had been made of Eowyn. The simpering over Aragorn in the third movie made me ill. And while Liv didn't bother me so much in movies 1 and 2, by the third she made my skin crawl.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

I feared from the beginning that Arwen's introduction in part 1 was a capitulation to Hollywood logic that "it needs some romance." I suppose I shouldn't complain, the movies could have been bastardized severely by Hollywood logic, and PJ managed in large part to escape that. But I dig a strong female character, and in the books Eowyn really was that character, and she shoulda/coulda been in the films, too. No one could take the killing of the King of the Nazgul from her, though. Eowyn truly rocks!

[mousey1013.livejournal.com]

eowyn definitely rocks -- truly the opposite of arwen in every way. and while i don't feel as strongly as you about liv tyler's complete unsuitability, there are times when i feel she's laying on the "i'm a pretty elf girl" thing a little too thickly.

but the arwen thing that really got me, and made me wonder just what the hell peter jackson was thinking (because this is defnitely not in the book), was to have her dying in the third movie because "her fate is tied to that of the ring." why would that be? EVERYONE'S fate is tied to the ring -- if it's destroyed, they live and if it's not, they die! did peter jackson & co just want to give aragorn an extra incentive to win? as if the imminent destruction of the entire world isn't enough. sure the scene with elrond bringing the sword to aragorn is cool (though it doesn't happen in the book either), but arwen's dying scene adds nothing to the movie -- especially since they never return to her, just, "oh yeah. um, she lived" at the end.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What you said. I didn't get that at all, and had another one of those "that's not in the books -- is it?" moments. That's what I get for not re-reading them sometime in the last 3 years.

BTW, I'm sorry about your lost kitty. :-(

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, stupid!! Don't whistle into the wind, piss into it! You're already all wet so you won't notice the difference!