How ‘Lord of the Rings’ Became ‘Star Wars’ for Millennial Women
The New York Times
With tender male relationships and fearless female characters, the trilogy drew in tween girls who still hold the films dear in their 20s and 30s.
Shortly after the release of the final installment of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the film critic Caryn James pondered in these very pages whether women were “just bored” when it came to Peter Jackson’s blockbuster films.
“Any movie so popular has to grab an audience across all lines of age and sex,” James wrote. “But both demographic and empirical evidence suggests that the trilogy is still primarily a boys’ toy.”
Whether women at that time felt enthralled or bored with these films, which began 20 years ago this month with “The Fellowship of the Ring,” isn’t for me to say. But I know that I, then a 13-year-old girl, and my 12-year-old sister, loved the story of Sam and Frodo and their quest to destroy the One Ring. And we weren’t alone.
