Gender in Fiction: An Autoethnographic Approach to J.R.R. Tolkien, Female Characters and Gamers
Date
2021-10-25
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Southern New Hampshire University
Abstract
The thesis is an autoethnographic approach to J.R.R. Tolkien, female characters and gamers. It will focus the gender studies theory to study how female characters have changed and grown throughout history in Fantasy. J.R.R. Tolkien's work The Lord of the Rings are the primary source and how he had few female characters in the work. The paper will also look at how he wrote his characters and depicted them in the work. Laura Măcineanu’s “Women Figures in George Macdonald’s and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fantasy Writings” makes a point about Tolkien’s characters “It has often been noted that women are hardly present in Tolkien’s legendarium. However few they are, though, these women hold positions of power in the hierarchy of Middle-earth and easily stand out among the multitude of male characters that populate Tolkien’s world” (70). Female gamers are studied in the paper to tie together how female characters were/are written and portrayed in multiple media outlets. Female avatars/toons in most games are still sexualized and female gamers a lot of times play in a toxic environment. Christopher J. Ferguson and Brad Glasgow’s “Who Are GamerGate? A Descriptive Study of Individuals Involved in the GamerGate Controversy” is a look at a controversy involving the gaming world “In 2014, the GamerGate controversy erupted, focusing international attention to issues related to sexism and misogyny in gaming communities. Exactly how the controversy began remains an issue of debate” (243). The paper will be used to bridge the gap between how female characters were portrayed in early Fantasy to how times are changing and female characters are becoming the protagonists of the story. The paper will look at bridging the gap in how fiction is taught in English programs by studying female characters as an important part of Fiction.
Keywords: fantasy, gender, The Lord of the Rings, video games
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