Recently I have revisited "The Lord of the Rings" again. With the singing of the ending song of the movie, there are still fragments of the movie in my mind, and I am still unfinished... I think a good movie is not only for the audience's visual enjoyment. And while enjoying the visual feast, some spiritual beliefs of the movie characters can be passed on to the audience silently. This is the fundamental meaning of a good movie!
"Lord of the Rings", as a magical movie, its shocking scenes, powerful audiovisual productions are impeccable, but the most commendable is the work of the production team in characterizing. It allows the audience to enjoy the movie. You can also chew the brilliance of human nature and the truth, goodness and beauty of the world in the film repeatedly. At least I saw the friendship between Frodo and Sam and his party in this movie, the love between Aragorn and the fairy princess, the justice of Gandalf, and the elves and humans who never succumbed to the forces of darkness. , Tenacious resistance, unity of spiritual strength.
One of the story lines that impresses me the most, never forgets, but is easily overlooked by the audience, is the story of Huqi Guoluohan and the queen Eowyn. In Tolkien's novels and movies, the core idea of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is actually hidden in this branch.
Eowyn is the niece of King Hiurdon of Rohan and the younger sister of General Eomer. In the movie, Eowyn made his debut in the second "Two Towers". Compared to other female characters in the Lord of the Rings, Eowyn is inconspicuous. She is neither beautiful nor powerful, and even unable to control her own destiny when she debuts. Eowyn seems to be just the side of the throne, a weak daughter who serves as the solace of the elderly king.
However, as the story progressed, Eowyn's determination to resist and fight, as well as his understanding and assistance to the weak, were fully manifested. In the end, as a mortal woman, she became the key figure in killing the Ring Spirit Angmar Witch King. Eowyn’s storyline is full of Tolkien’s deep sympathy and great expectations for women as a group. It can even be said that the author believes that only awakened women and all marginalized groups that stand up can end the hopeless battle of mankind. And the reincarnation of tragedy, not the heroic male characters.
In the movie, Iowen's appearances and lines are not too many, there are mainly three main scenes, but these three scenes have deep metaphors and referents. The first act is in the "Lord of the Rings 2 Two Towers", when Iowen first met Aragorn, a dialogue between them——
Iowen: " Women in this country have known for a long time that anyone who doesn't have a sword will die by the sword. " " I'm not afraid of death or pain. " Aragorn: "Then what are you afraid of?" Iowen: " One Prison. " "(I) can't accept this fate until I die, (woman) has no chance to prove his bravery again, and there is no journey to remember ."
I think this dialogue between Iowen and Aragorn can be said that there is no more refined language to describe the pain of women. It first expresses that war has never been far away from women. "Those who don't hold swords will die under the sword." When darkness covers the earth, people who are not qualified to go to the battlefield are really safe? In fact, whether it is the winning side or the losing side, in the fight against each other, in the fight for the region, in extracting every drop of resources into the war machine, those unarmed people behind, the death haze over their heads is obviously thicker and silent. No interest, so that it has nothing to hide and powerless to resist.
For women, not holding swords, not allowed to hold swords, this does not mean preferential treatment and protection, but means that they are not qualified—not qualified to protect themselves, not qualified to protect their loved ones and places they love, They are not qualified to participate in the great journey of their own ethnic group, and are not qualified to decide the rise and fall of their own ethnic group. In the end, they are not qualified to compete for the distribution of power and participate in the formulation of rules.
From the beginning, women were forced to disarm. In the long history, women are the subordinates of men and are allocated resources. They are the spoils of the winners and the discards of the losers. In the war, the only positive action allowed for women is to unconditionally support men in their respective camps, guard the rear and provide as much material and population resources as possible. After that, there is only waiting: or waiting for the news of victory, and then looking at the spirited man at the celebration feast with envious and loving eyes; or waiting for a desperate ending, and then seeing everything that you cherish falls to pieces.
But women don't even have the power to be unwilling, and they don't even deserve to be relieved without regrets after doing their best, because they are destined to be cowardly "protected", they are the bleak background behind the successful men and the unnecessary burden behind the failed men. Perhaps women's tragedies can be used as one of the reasons to inspire the courage of the defeated, but their tragedies for themselves are never worthy of taking up a sword to protect themselves and everything they love.
You see, in human history, the women of the defeated side were even allowed to kill themselves, but they were not expected to kill the enemy. This is really a great mockery. This is a woman's life, no matter whether she is lucky or unlucky, she lives in a hopeless cage. For the awakened among them, "will accept this fate until she is old and dead."
Queen Eowyn is one of them. No one expected her, but she insisted on honing her fighting skills, just for a war that might never come. No wonder she would show understanding and assistance to Meili, who was also not allowed to go to the battlefield. This brings us to the second act. In "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King", Rohan helped protect Gondor on the eve of the expedition. Through the mouth of Eowyn's brother, he said the classic line: " War is a man's bounden duty." , Eowyn. "
This is a rejection from Iowen's own group, a rejection of women and all the roles of the marginal and weak. In this specific context, "man" is a metaphorical referent-a person who has violence and the right to execute violence is a male. Therefore, the image of women and men who are not good at fighting are excluded, and both are regarded as useless and meaningless existences for victory. But they were so wrong. Tolkien's understanding of the word "victory" allowed him to unfold the follow-up story with an almost mocking plot arrangement. Note that " War is the province of Men " here corresponds to the third act of the last climax of the Eowyn branch.
For a long, long period of time, it can be said that since humans have written records, the use of the word "man" usually represents all humans. In Chinese characters, the third-person female "she" character appeared even after the May Fourth New Culture Movement. Under normal circumstances, "he" can represent both males and females, and is a collective term for humans.
The English word "history" (history) is divided into "his story". In this sense, human history is actually the history of men. As a linguist, Tolkien played a game here. In a pun game, he mocked the patriarchal civilization and defiant behavior. The suffering of men is the suffering of all human beings, and the limitation of men's thinking is the limitation of thinking of the entire human civilization. They never looked for answers to the corners of those edges, to the existence of inhumans (men).
The Battle of the Calebrant Plains in the movie is a magnificent scene that ranks high in film history. The cavalry charge in the cold weapon era may best reflect the bravery and fearless masculinity of people after they have overcome fear. But in Tolkien's pen, this kind of spirit is useless in front of the real enemy.
In this battle, it was Eowyn and Meili, who shouldn't have appeared on the battlefield at all, and jointly killed the Ring Spirit Angmar Witch King, rather than any man who was a hundred times stronger than them. Before she swung her sword to stab the Witch King, the dialogue she said made me passionate, and I wanted to stand up and applaud for her.
"NO man can kill me."
"I am no man."
Is there anything a man cannot kill? -The man himself. It is the patriarchy attached to men. You can never use violence and killing to completely eliminate violence, because it is like fighting a fire. Violence is not afraid of you to treat it with violence, so Tolkien praised the brave and fearless assault, the warrior who regarded death as his home, and justified violence with violence, but he also doubted the outcome of the war.
Justice may only exist for a moment.
Tolkien, who had personally experienced the meat grinder in World War I, saw his young friends die in the war. He had the most profound experience of the cruelty of the war process and the meaninglessness of the war ending. I don't know how many stories the old man has seen, and how many characters he has seen. From these prerequisites, Tolkien the wise vetoed male power completely.
This is the simplest logic. If the male symbol is equivalent to possessing the qualifications and ability of violence, then how do you use violence to completely eliminate violence? Violence can stop violence, but what about after that? What logic do you use to run, and what logic do you use to rule? Violence cannot kill violence, and men can never kill patriarchy.
Patriarchy is a way of life, a universally recognized value, and a criterion for the relationship between people. It may exist in both the oppressor and the oppressed. When you agree that violence is the only way to solve problems, praise violence and desire rights, when you reject the disadvantaged and come to the stage to share power, you already believe in the same set of people who try to rule with violence. Logic system. Although you are different in structure and position, there is no essential difference. You and your enemy are actually the same.
You can defeat a physical enemy, but you can never change the structure of layered exploitation. If the logic of the world's operation remains the same, when you defeat a cruel enemy, it will be the day when your position changes. I know that many people will watch the heroic charge of the warriors and rejoice at the impending destruction of the devil, but the ghost of patriarchy is not afraid of this "physical attack" at all, and it will immediately be transferred to the next victor.
Do you think these bloodthirsty ghosts shiver in fear when they face heroic warriors? No, it will dance with excitement. Because that means new killings, new hatred, new blood, and new warriors will start a new cycle. When you think that after untold hardships, human beings have finally completely killed the evil. Under the leadership of the hero, when a new era is about to come, the ghost has already escaped from the dead body and possessed the body of the hero.
How many times have we watched the young rebel, the light in the eyes of the young rebel turned from bright to dark, how many times have we watched, behind the hero's stalwart body, the asylum's once pure white back grew black wings. So human suffering repeats itself again and again, as if it is endless.
"NO man can kill me."
Violence is so tempting, and the only power is to deceive people's hearts, just like the meaning of the Lord of the Rings. What could be easier than the annihilation of the enemy's body? What could be faster than resolving disputes by killing? But the violent race is endless, and in the process of chasing violence, it is easy for people to forget the original intention. This is the logic of violence. People who agree with this logic, regardless of whether they have wisdom and perseverance, will eventually reach cruelty and cruelty. The centralized side.
So what do we want for peace-loving people? Is it to completely eliminate the specter of oppression, or to pin the hatred on the next cruel ruler who sits on the throne? If we see the former, what is the way out? What should we do?
Tolkien used the 8.2 million words "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" to tell the way out in his eyes. Why did Tolkien set that only women can kill the ring spirits? Why does the most powerful brave guard a few halflings who seem the most weak and incompetent, even at the expense of their lives? Why do the soldiers delay time regardless of the cost, just to give the weak a breathing space and wait for a slim hope?
Using swords as weapons and bodies as city walls, the warriors have to hold back their desires and turn their backs on power, waiting and waiting for the so-called weak, to grow up and embark on the journey, and finally, firmly hold their own authority. Only by returning power to everyone and giving them the power and strength to fight for themselves can those endless cycles of death come to a true end.
Warriors, are you willing? Are you willing to give your life for a group you look down on? Would you like to believe that the key to solving the ancient problem is not at a high place, but at your feet? On the other hand, as all groups oppressed by patriarchy, we can no longer be cowardly. Every minute and every second we wait for our awakening, there are people paying the price of blood and soul.
Evil is shrouded in people's heads and ready to counterattack at any time, sweeping away all the fruits of human civilization, how can we bear the heart to continue to fall asleep, watching the original sons of light, helplessly plunge into darkness again and again. They need our awakening, and that awakening not only saves ourselves, it also saves them. Stand up, take up the sword, and fight alongside them.
Eowyn has always been the most perfect Lord of the Rings character in my heart. Strength and bravery are her true qualities, fighting for herself and being her own queen. The daughter of mankind, the daughter of victory-charge toward the light, let women prove their courage, let us create our own journey and future! The film was so complete in the end, but we know that it is the sublimation of art and the best wishes of the author. It may take a long time to bring this perfection into reality and return to human civilization. Hard process...
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