I refer visitors to the Ink Desk to the interesting discussion on my post about whether Tolkien and Lewis believed in nymphs and dryads. It’s well worth reading.
I am, however, responding specifically in this new post to Recent Convert’s complaint that the elves in Jackson’s movies all look outrageously effeminate. RC wonders whether others had notice this. For my part, I not only noticed it but wote about it in my book, Literary Giants, Literary Catholics. Here’s the paragraph in question:
Unfortunately, the film fails miserably in its efforts to depict the elven characters. The elves, arguably the most sublime and most beautifully evocative of all Tolkien’s creations, are shown either as outrageously effeminate or as provocatively feminine. The male eleves are as transexually impotent as their female counterparts are sexually charged. Elven “males”, as seen in Lothlorian, are so neutered that it is impossible to determine their sex. Are they supermodels or transvestites? Either way, they are unconvincing as elves.
I have the same complaint about today’s pop culture depictions of angels.
I haven’t seen any of Peter Jackson’s films in their entirety. I have pictured Tolkien’s elves as somewhat effeminate in appearance from the time I read his books.
I agree that Jackson’s elves have an unfortunately androgynous look. But if you think about it, in practical terms, how do you make them seem ethereal and eternal but manly at the same time? Easy in words, but not easy with actual human actors….
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has noticed! 😉
Thank you for pointing me to that paragraph, I quite agree with it.
While I thought that Legolas and Elrond were fine in terms of looks, it was the male elf extras that looked oh so wrong. You asked if they were supermodels or transvestites, they were supermodels… very effeminate supermodels. Combined with the makeup and the style of clothing, they gave off a queer vibe, sadly. Impotent was the right choice of words. So was transexual now that I think of it, I’ve seen transexuals that would make better elf extras in a Peter Jackson film than would his supermodels, ha!
Certainly one of PJ’s bigger mistakes in LOTR, it came back to haunt him in the Hobbit. Thranduil looks like he could be joining Barry Humphries in a drag queen contest once the credits roll. Expect to see more of that kind of elf in the second film, out this December.
In truth I don’t know if we can lay all the blame on Jackson, as he may have been just going with pop culture’s picture of elves, kind of like what he did with his dwarves. PJ’s dwarves are essentially scottish miners, a fantasy trope that has been in place for decades, where as Tolkien’s dwarves were rather norse, and hebraic, actually. The same happens to the elves. The trope consists of a mixture of parts, essentially boiling down to an ethereal nature worshiping hippie pretty boy sprite, with an xenophobic outlook and a haughty, arrogant attitude. These tropes have been in place for some time now, it would be interesting to see a comparison between how much Tolkien was in the films vs Tolkien inspired tropes (which consist of Tolkien filtered through years and years of Dungeons & Dragons and other Tolkien inspired fantasies). How these tropes got made is an interesting subject, I think it happened with initial readers of LOTR interpreting what they read through their own lens, rather than Tolkien’s, and then carrying this with them, especially those who drew on these false interpretations when creating their own fantasy worlds.
Some of the comments here are interesting: unlike Micha, I never pictured Tolkien’s elves as being effeminte in appearance, or at least I would never have put it that way. I always thought of them as being graceful, and ethereal.
But Jennifer does have a point “But if you think about it, in practical terms, how do you make them seem ethereal and eternal but manly at the same time? Easy in words, but not easy with actual human actors….”
I think it would require alot more time on the casting director’s part, for one. To be able to find men who looked (or could look with makeup) ethereal, while still being able to give off an impression of masculinity. Difficult, but not impossible I think.
Also: I cracked up at the title of the post. You just made my day! 🙂
?! In response to the commenters, *why* should it be difficult to present Elves as gloriously male??
The comment indicates to me what a sorry pass we’ve come to in our desexualized culture. We’ve forgotten what a gorgeous man even looks like!