The first two episodes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premiered on Prime Video Thursday night (9/1) receiving rave reviews and acclaim from most fans of JRR Tolkien’s works. But a rowdy group hated him so much that they started a campaign to sabotage the series’ rating on public review sites.
On Metacritic, the audience rating reached 1.9 (out of 10) versus 71% of critical approval, while on Rotten Tomatoes the difference reached 37% of audience approval versus 84% of critics.
Without bothering to hide their motives, those who are not satisfied with the series make it clear as their skin what is behind the attack on the production: alleged racism and misogyny. Most of the negative comments are laden with heavy hints of the race of certain characters (black and Latino) and the decision to give the spotlight to a woman (Galadriel, played by Morfydd Clark).
The comments call Galadriel “Karen”, a nickname created by men with an “incel” profile for “complaining” women.
Others complain about the inclusion of “all minorities” in the plot, arguing that there were no dark elves and Latinos in Tolkien’s work or in the films that adapted “The Lord of the Rings”. For these, the fantasy Middle Earth is based on medieval Europe, where the population was predominantly white, and the series does not include any other races in the story. Europe didn’t even have dragons, elves or orcs, but that’s a detail in the racist argument.
Yes, there are people who base their attacks on the series on the argument that “there are no dark elves”.
In addition to a dark Latin elf (Ismael Cruz Cordova), there is a black hobbit / hairy foot (Lenny Henry), a black princess (Sophia Nomvete) and a black queen (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), among other non-white characters in Amazon’s Billion Dollar Production.
For decades, nerds and fanatics have been bullied for forming a minority of content fans that only they liked. Many saw the X-Men as symbols of this rejected and persecuted crowd. But with the popularization of geek culture, nerds have come out of the shadows to show themselves in the worst possible way, attacking productions that dare to give way to minorities and women in their plots. This is how these “fans” became the true dark side of the Force in the “Star Wars” franchise, they targeted Marvel productions for their depictions of black heroes and superheroines, and now they want to make Earth great again. di Mezzo forbidding the entry of blacks and Latinos.
In a reversal of values, the so-called genuine nerds condemn as a “political agenda” what goes against their own conservative political agenda, which aims to keep the world as segregated as it was until the mid-twentieth century.
The bullying has become so extreme that several sites dealing with geeky content have started disabling comments. It has come to this point.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” will continue to release episodes weekly on Prime Video, again at 1am on Fridays.
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
