I wonder if it says something about me that my 3
favorite fantasy book series are on a list of 11 “preposterously manly
fantasies”?
“What makes a book series manly? Is it the action? The violence? The
lack of female characters? Is it male wish-fulfillment? Misogyny? Or a
combination of all these things?
I don’t know the answer for sure, but I do know that these 11 fantasy
series are all in their own unique way, very, very manly. This is not
necessarily a good thing… but neither is it necessarily bad. Just grab
your axe and your favorite loin cloth while we journey to the manliest
realms fantasy fiction has to offer.”
Since most of my fantasy writing is similar, does that mean I
write in a manly fashion? Or does it mean I give men more power or time
than women? I don’t know what writing in a manly way really means. I
don’t believe I give men more power or story time than women. Even
though, I enjoy submission in my personal life, I do not admire or like
weak women. Submission does not equal powerless or weak. Furthermore,
while some of my conceptions about gender roles may be considered
archaic, I do not believe it is a woman’s place to submit to her
husband. It is my place to submit to my partner. I do not believe
a woman is obligated to submit either because of her nature or because
any deity said she must. I think anyone, male or female, should have the
right to submit to their partner.
Besides, unless I’m purposefully writing erotica, I don’t think any of that enters my writing. What else could it mean?
3
rd on its list, the article says, “…wizard makes Richard
Cypher a Seeker of Truth, he gets a Sword of Truth, he fights the evil
tyrant Darken Rahl, who [spoiler] ends up being Richard’s dad. And then
he fights some other folk. Along the way he falls in love with Kahlen,
who isn’t awful or evil, but does end up a damsel in distress
approximately 18 bazillion times over the course of the series. It’s
traditionally manly!” about the Sword of Truth.
True… I decided I like Bridget Regan’s portrayal of Kahlan
better than the book’s portrayal. In the books, she gets upset too
often. Granted, I’ve never been in love and I’ve never faced the
adversities she faced, but compared to every other book character (who
faced similar events!) she seems emotionally weak. She is strong in some
ways, she is the ruler of multiple nations and when she puts her mind
to something, she is unrelenting. In LotS she seems more well-rounded.
Talking about the Wheel of Time, “The women have just as much power
and political agency as the men – perhaps moreso, since women rule most
of the main kingdoms, cultures and magical societies in the series.
Unfortunately, this means while the women are constantly screwing around
with politics, the men are the ones generally busy saving the world.
This would be less grievous if the women in
The Wheel of Time
weren’t generally only bearable when they’re sleeping with the male
characters. The rest of the time they’re scheming on a macro level or
tormenting men with insults and general bitchiness on the micro, so that
the male characters spend most of their time thinking about how awful
women are, if not being outright befuddled by their insanity. Oh, and
the main character, Rand Al’Thor, gets to have sex with three separate
women, all of whom are just totally okay with sharing him. Aggravatingly
manly!”
Hahaha, I never noticed anyone being unbearable. I did not
see scheming as unbearable; I saw it as intelligent. Also, in part,
politics drives countries’ decisions. Therefore, the women are
orchestrating how the men must act. For example, if all the Wise Ones
decided to stay in the Waste, Rand would never have a chance to command
the clans.
Speaking about Lord of the Rings it says, “You could drop all the
female characters from the books and lose probably less than 50 pages.
In fact, there are only three female characters of note: 1) Arwen, who
is Aragorn’s mostly off-page love interest, 2) Galadriel, who is the
mightiest of all the Elves (according to Tolkien) but who really doesn’t
do anything other than giving each member of the Fellowship a pep talk
and lembas bread, and 3) Eowyn, who actually does kick some Nazgul ass,
although she has to disguise herself as a man to get the opportunity.
There’s a reason Peter Jackson increased the roles of all three female
characters in the movies. And that reason? An overabundance of
manliness!”
*nods* I have no rebuttal here. Eowyn is the best of the three!
