gender, sexuality, and geeks

Stephanie Zacharek of Salon defends The Return of the King against Caryn James's claim that the final installment of LOTR, like triliogies in general, is only enjoyable to men.

Zacharek's right to point out that it's rather facile to label movies along gender lines. I went to see ROTK with four other Swarthmore students: three girls and one guy. It's ridiculous to call the LOTR trilogy guys' movies. If you're going to single out any one group that it appeals to, there's no reason to look beyond geeks. It's Tolkien, after all.

But what Zacharek (and so few mainstream writers, at least those that I've read) fails to recognize is just how male-dominated the film is. There's all of, what, three female characters in the third installment? The major characters are all male. As such, it's impossible not to look for (and find) the homoerotic subtext to, well, almost every scene. I mean, come on. Sam and Frodo? Need I say more?

Maybe I just enjoyed the secret diaries far too much.