Mists of Avalon and Fellowship of the Ring: Approaches to Gender and Similarities
As noted by Umberto Eco in “Dreaming of the Middle Ages”, one
representation of the middle ages is that of philological reconstruction which can be
“…applied either to great historical events or to the imperceptibility of underlying social
and technological structures, and to the forms of everyday life”(71). By utilizing the
middle ages in this fashion, it is possible for authors to critique and comment upon the
prevalent ideological structures in their own time by using the middle ages as a
mythological foundation for further reconstruction, analysis, and even play. Stemming
from this is the popular trend in literary criticism to attribute an author’s attitudes and
intentions within their works to the major cultural movements taking place during the
time of their writing. Through this framework it would seem that Marion Zimmer
Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy are by-
products of the post-modernist and modernist movements respectively. However, an
overlooked perspective is that of the cultural movement influencing the reader of these
works. One area in which this view is particularly relevant is representations of gender
in both of these novels, and Peter Jackson’s cinematic retelling of The Lord of the Rings.
By analysing both the author’s portrayals of gender in these works and the perception of
their works by modern audiences, it is possible to better understand the ways in which
cultural movements influence not only the writing, but also the consumption of popular
medievalist fiction.
One of the most prevalent themes of post-modernism is deconstruction, in which
an author “…seek[s] to distance [the reader] from and make [them] sceptical about
beliefs concerning truth, knowledge, power, the self, and language that are often taken
for granted within and serve as legitimation for contemporary Western culture”(Flax,
41). In The Mists of Avalon,
representation of the middle ages is that of philological reconstruction which can be
“…applied either to great historical events or to the imperceptibility of underlying social
and technological structures, and to the forms of everyday life”(71). By utilizing the
middle ages in this fashion, it is possible for authors to critique and comment upon the
prevalent ideological structures in their own time by using the middle ages as a
mythological foundation for further reconstruction, analysis, and even play. Stemming
from this is the popular trend in literary criticism to attribute an author’s attitudes and
intentions within their works to the major cultural movements taking place during the
time of their writing. Through this framework it would seem that Marion Zimmer
Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy are by-
products of the post-modernist and modernist movements respectively. However, an
overlooked perspective is that of the cultural movement influencing the reader of these
works. One area in which this view is particularly relevant is representations of gender
in both of these novels, and Peter Jackson’s cinematic retelling of The Lord of the Rings.
By analysing both the author’s portrayals of gender in these works and the perception of
their works by modern audiences, it is possible to better understand the ways in which
cultural movements influence not only the writing, but also the consumption of popular
medievalist fiction.
One of the most prevalent themes of post-modernism is deconstruction, in which
an author “…seek[s] to distance [the reader] from and make [them] sceptical about
beliefs concerning truth, knowledge, power, the self, and language that are often taken
for granted within and serve as legitimation for contemporary Western culture”(Flax,
41). In The Mists of Avalon,