lotr movie thoughts

[darkoshi]

went to see Return of the King finally.
watching the last one, i was rather annoyed by gender issues...
with the men all being expected to fight,
and the women all being expected to wait it out while the men fought.
as well as the minority of female characters.

but today, it didn't much bother me.
because...
i am not a man.
i am not a woman.
in this story, men fight, and women do whatever they do,
but that's their thing. maybe that's how they like doing things.
it has nothing to do with me, because i'm not one of them.

but Legolas is still so fucking cute... ahhhh.
Orlando didn't look nearly as good to me in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
It's odd how long blond hair can make such a difference on him.

and what's with scottish accents always being used for gruff characters like that dwarf?
why not ever use a scottish accent for a cute and gentle character?
or does the scottish accent itself lend gruffness to a character?

another issue i have which this movie highlighted for me,
a contradiction in my mind,
is the idea of fighting and war as being an honorable/glorious/exciting thing
versus it being a bad thing.
an exciting fight between good and evil versus boring pacifism.
so much of our culture, so many of our stories, are based on the idea of fights between good and evil.
people proving their strength, skill, and courageousness by fighting.
people living exciting lives by fighting.
risking your life is exciting.
it's just a game.
without any fights, without struggles, things would seem dull.
yet war is bad.
those thousands of non-main-characters who yelled their battle cries and charged and got killed by orcs don't seem very glorious, do they? or do they?
if one has a cause important enough to fight for, one should fight, right?

so many orcs fighting together, their cause must have seemed important to them too. even if it was just the chance for a glorious fight. does that make the cause any less valid?

fiction versus real life.
war is bad.
there is no glory.

just because you've been convinced you're fighting for a noble cause,
doesn't mean you really are.
is your conviction an illusion?
does it matter?
will your victory or your death be any less glorious
as long as you believe you're fighting for a noble cause?

something about such excitement, such intensity,
only being there
when you're truly in a life-and-death situation like that.
that intense joy/fun which is only possible playing such a game at such stakes

but real life doesn't work that way.
you'd just die.

things used to seem exciting
now they seem dull.
that pride/strength/effort thing...
(even that dom/sub thing)
that was there in tae kwon do classes.

ach gosh damn words.
this is too hard to verbalize.