case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2015-01-22 10:26 pm

[ SECRET POST #2941 ]


⌈ Secret Post #2941 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag]


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03.
[Fire Emblem: Awakening]


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04.
[Hannibal, Richard Armitage]


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05.
[The Hobbit]


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07.
[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]


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10.
[Doctor Who]












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 015 secrets from Secret Submission Post #420.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

(Anonymous) 2015-01-23 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Eh, no one besides other dwarves can tell the men from the women anyway, the bulk of the dwarves are interchangeable if you're actually sticking to canon, and not one part of the original story is dependent on whether or not generic dwarf #9 has a stalagmite in the cave. Seriously, if PJ had made Nori a female dwarf, how would that have changed the story?

(Anonymous) 2015-01-23 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
If the female dwarves were totally indistinguishable from the male dwarves, I agree that it wouldn't affect the plot, but it also seems to me that it wouldn't be much good as female representation.

I don't know though! The Tauriel interpolation just seems like a better option, in that it leaves the original plot to be what it is (well, except for the other changes Jackson made). Then again I think the best option would just be to adapt the damn thing and let the chips fall where they may.

(Anonymous) 2015-01-23 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I think we've got different ideas about what counts as representation and also about what counts as mangling the canon. Throwing in a superfluous plotline for Tauriel the sparkly lady elf who kicks ass, falls in love with a dwarf, and helps thaw Thranduil's cold, cold heart so that he can bond with his son again is about as far away from respecting canon as you can get without turning the whole story into a High School AU. And you don't need to point out that women are women to have it count as representation unless you're looking for back pats. Representation just means that you've got women who exist to be something other than victims or love interests doing their thing. And, much like real life, a lot of times their thing isn't really any different from the men's thing. I don't do my job in a girlier way than my male counterparts do, do you? But my Tauriel equivalent would be leaving everyone memos on pink, sparkly post-its while making an epic speech by the water cooler about being true to herself and listening to her heart.

(Anonymous) 2015-01-23 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Again, to be clear, I don't think the Tauriel option is really all that good. I think it's a better option if your only criteria is whether or not it's canon.

I guess there are, basically, three qualities that we're talking about here: how accurate to the actual Tolkien book the film is; how good it is as a film; and how good it is in terms of representation. And I don't think they're closely related. I think the Tauriel option is better than the female dwarves option in terms of canonicity, because you can just totally ignore it and pretend it never happened. But it's clearly worse in terms of representation and film quality, because it is dumb, and sucks. Conversely, the female dwarves option would be way better in terms of representation, and probably about the same as the all-male dwarves & no Tauriel option in terms of film quality. But it would be way less canonical, because it changes shit that's actually in the book. Personally I would prefer the option that is closer to the book but not as good in terms of representation (all-male dwarves, no Tauriel). But I can see why someone would feel differently.

& for what it's worth I do agree with you about representation. I'm just not sure that it would be seen that way by everyone, or that working female dwarves into it works out automatically. There's at least a bit of difficulty going on there. I agree it would probably be better all told than Tauriel though.

(Anonymous) 2015-01-23 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
If you go with the Pratchett assumption that all dwarves are referred to using masculine pronouns and accept that male and female dwarves are interchangeable, there's no reason to think that half the dwarves aren't female. They're just being played by male actors since all dwarves look male anyway.