8 comments

  1. Steph

    Dear hosts,

    I usually absolutely love this show and have listened to every single episode so far.
    However, listening to this episode I found myself getting increasingly annoyed at Fr Roderick’s comments concerning Tauriel.

    Throughout the episode, she is constantly referred to as a female character behaving like a man, whose only purpose seems to be a possible romantic “canvas” for Kili/Legolas and who ultimately needs to sacrifice herself for – according to you – most likely Legolas. (While I do understand the potential point of her survival being “problematic” for the LotR trilogy, in practice I can’t see this as a problem at all – Legolas remains the only Mirkwood elf with an active role in the movies, so it’s not like there are any scenes that would need the “Star Wars treatment” in hindsight.)
    I have no idea why Tauriel’s character being described as “a fierce warrior” and “passionate” would automatically make her a “male” character. It would be great if everyone could be a little less gender compartmentalising! Having said that, it seems that, even these days, big movie productions still have a tendency to either kill off their strong women (good example: “Avatar”) or strongly display their actions as motivated by romance – even Eowyn in “The Return of the King” was shown to be motivated much more by her love for Aragorn than she ever was in the book. I think that’s a real shame, as it just keeps continuing to reinforce old stereotypes that do justice to neither women nor men.

    Now don’t get me wrong – I am in no way saying that everyone should be 100% politically correct all the time, but I do think that a podcast with such a wide and loyal listener base should try to be a bit less clichéd when it comes to gender roles.

    Please keep up the otherwise great work! As always, I can’t wait for the next episode, and am keeping my fingers crossed for a new season of “Secrets of Middle-Earth” as well!

      1. Fr. Roderick

        No worries, we will record a new episode this week. I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately!

        Fr. Roderick

  2. Don

    Hello guys, theres a new trailer and two fresh posters online ! We need another wonderfull secrets of the hobbit podcast please!

  3. Nina

    I have enjoyed your podcasts. Thank you for creating a place where Tolkien fans can connect. In your podcast about the elf Tauriel you commented that there are not many strong female characters in Tolkiens writing. I would say rather there are not many female characters in Tolkiens writing. I think all or most of Tolkien’s female characters are strong. For example Luthien, Melian, Galadriel, Morwen, Haleth, Eowyn, Arwen; all of these characters are strong. So Tauriel being a strong female character fits with Tolkien’s general treatment of females characters.

    Nina

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