Thank you Micra, for the link
Excerpt:
What did you make of the new romantic storyline involving Tauriel and Kili?
To be honest I don’t have much of an opinion about it. They created characters that they wanted to explore. It was a female element that didn’t exist [in the books] which personally I don’t think was necessary. But I appreciated the fact that they knew that this film would be watched by a lot of young people and that they wanted young girls and women to have ca character that they could possibly relate to. I didn’t worry too much about it and I enjoyed the storyline myself and I was happy to see it played out.
Armitage Agonistes 
AH! I don’t think it was necessary too. I can perfectly relate to a character irrespective the gender. But they needed to be politically correct, I suppose. Nothing against Evangeline Lilly, and not to agree with the recent Black Widow polemics, but writing and forcing a strong female character on us and then let her fall in love and suffer as the usual damsel in distress has been worse than silly. Of course, it’s only my humble opinion.
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As a female who works in a male-dominated field, I completely understand why they wanted to introduce a strong female character. But I also understand why some feel it was unnecessary. What was more awkward to me is that they introduced a love triangle rather than just have her be a strong female, but apparently that was to reach out to a different demographic. I think that Peter Jackson is trying to reach out to lots of different audiences with these films.
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I believe I saw an interview with Evangeline where she talked about her role originally not having that love triangle. It was after the studio started seeing the footage that they requested it. Can we have a female character alongside a bunch of male characters and not there be a love interest?
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I know it was supposed to be a love triangle, but it always seemed to me that with Legolas, it was a one way thing. I never saw anything more than friendship between Tauriel and Legolas, from Tauriel’s point of view. There was that conversation with Thranduil and Tauriel in DOS, but that was about it.
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I’m going to buy the extended version of 5 Armies. When will it come out?
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fall
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It’s got to be really difficult at times to have to relate to a storyline that one does not entirely buy into – and defend it. That’s how I see this comment. I know it goes with the territory, but still…
I think EL did a fantastic job with the storyline she was handed – and let’s face it, the love triangle was unnecessary. But Tauriel rocked! The purpose of the role was to reach out to young females, and she did have a bunch of good fighting scenes, which appealed to those young females I’ve talked to. My daughter is a massive fan.
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He’s such a trooper when it comes to supporting his employers. I’m one that liked the story line, although that last scene between Tauriel and Thranduil rubbed me wrong.
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I actually loved the scene with Tauriel and Thranduil…. I thought it really humanized him. Of course, I’m not a Hobbit/Tolkien purist, so maybe “humanizing” Thranduil is questionable, from that point of view… lol 🙂 I liked Tauriel’s character, and I think she probably added a lot of interest specifically to the movies.
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I hate it when studios request things.
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