Racist reaction to ‘Rings of Power’ puts Tolkien’s legacy in the spotlight

For a moment it seemed as if a great shadow passed over the world, and then it disappeared; it was still there, though not so terrible. There were those who confidently believed they were seeing progress. like? Probably. But not without cost. However, there were those who sought the cover of this shadow to cover their own insecurities, failures, uselessness. They could not imagine the infinite potential for progress. Poor trolls left seething in their ugly ignorance and hatred, who tried to retreat but proved too incompetent to succeed, even when encouraged by the lies of their weakened leader.

I could easily talk about Middle Earth, but I’m not. What I’m discussing is our real world and social media as an extension of that world. Last week, I was bombarded with hate messages, called N-words, sent to Africa and demanding the death penalty. Reason? Lord of the Rings. It would almost be funny if it weren’t so deeply sad. Lots of stories and the will to believe in sorcerers, balrogs, giant spiders and magic swords. But allowing people of color to exist in Middle-earth? Well, that’s an insult to everything good and decent. Anyway, that’s the main argument of those damn trolls who are clearly considering bombing and colorfully harassing Amazon fans. power rings Series.

I’ve been a fan of JRR Tolkien’s universe for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching Rankin and Bass The Hobbit (1977) and return of the king (1980) in repetition. When it came time for school book fairs, I was an early adopter of Tolkien’s works. Not only The Hobbits Lord of the RingsBut the Silmarillion, unfinished fairy tales s middle earth history. I did my fifth grade biographical report on CS Lewis and his friendship with Tolkien. When Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings (1978) was re-released on VHS, my mom took me to the store to buy it on release day.

I used to listen to the school bus ride. Lord of the Rings on audio cassettes. And when Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Turns out the movies defined my adolescence as war of the galaxies and Sam Raimi Spider man. Ბekhdi brotherhood It was the first DVD I had. I collected all the Burger King glasses and played all the video games, even though most of them were terrible. I say all this not to pretend to be an expert on all things Middle-earth, but to paint the picture that this fantasy world is as essential to me as it is fundamental to my structure, like DNA. So why shouldn’t I enjoy seeing people like me in Middle Earth? What makes me less deserving of this pop culture legacy?

By this point, I’ve heard every argument in the book against why actors Lenny Henry, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Nazanin Boniadi, Sarah Zvangoban, Maxine Cunliffe, and Sophia Nomwete shouldn’t play barefoot, elves, dwarves, or even humans in between. -The Earth where the Amazon series takes place. The most common refrain is that Tolkien did not include people of color in his stories. Not only is this false, as the Comb’s Feet are described as having “brown” skin, but Tolkien often did not focus on describing skin color, although he sometimes relied on the manifesto “lighter than.. “.

However, the view remains that because Tolkien was trying to create an English mythology, he intended Middle-earth to be made up of only white people. This ignores people of color who settled in England throughout its history and that early modern Britons were dark-skinned, based on DNA evidence from the 10,000-year-old skeleton of Cheddar Man discovered in 1903.

And while it makes no sense to speculate on the reactions of a dead man who, at the time of his death in 1973, had not entered the 21st century, Tolkien was clearly anti-racist, at least for a while. Biographers have noted that Tolkien was strongly opposed to the Aryan ideology promoted by the Nazis and colonialism in South Africa. While there are those, as several Twitter accounts have pointed out, who believe that orcs are Tolkien’s perspective on people of color, there is no evidence from Tolkien’s writings or life to support this (unlike, for example, the wide range of evidence that speaks to the racism of his contemporary HP Lovecraft, both in his writing and in his personal life).

But here’s the thing: while Tolkien’s progressivism in the early 20th century wasn’t the same as today’s progressive attitudes, it has nothing to do with adapting or expanding his works. Things are changing. Cinema and television emerged in 1954, when Ბekhdi brotherhood came out, obviously looked very different in terms of casting options than what we see today. As such power rings It looks different from the Peter Jackson movies of 20 years ago. Systems are adapting, people who are officially denied the opportunity to showcase their talents get the attention they can and will get. Audiences of color, who have been asked to sympathize with whites throughout the history of visual media, can see themselves on screen and validate those desires.

yes something power rings It has the potential to be more inclusive in coming seasons. While the cast includes Black, Latino, MENA and Pacific Islander actors, there is currently a lack of Asian artists, something actress Ludi Lynn pointed out last year. The Sino-British executive producer and director of most of the first season, Wayne Yip, shows versatility behind the scenes in this regard, but there’s clearly room for growth in front of the camera. Ultimately, let’s be real here. The vast majority of the cast remains white, and characters that audiences recognize from Jackson’s films are still played by white actors. The only reason people complain about casting choices is the result of sheer bigotry, despite attempts to cover themselves with claims of “poor acting” and “inexperience”.

what speech ended power rings Let it be clear that we live with the rationalization of racism. People who constantly consume corporate media to give their brain personality while showing profile pictures of popular IPs are now crying that fans power rings They support the “bad” ethics of Amazon and Jeff Bezos. So-called Tolkien purists use Jackson’s films as armor to support an all-white cast, despite the fact that Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens made many major changes to Tolkien’s novels when they adapted them for film, including playing with the Timeline. And adding new characters too. power rings.

And of course, there’s the tried-and-true argument: people of color should create their own stories rather than stepping into existing worlds, which again assumes that we don’t exist in those worlds and that they would support those stories if we did. . . But my favorite, who has spat at me more than once: “If these projects didn’t try to be diverse and sober, these actors wouldn’t have to deal with racism. In fact, they are used.” And all that ultimately means, “If you didn’t exist, if you didn’t have the skin you had, you wouldn’t need to be offended.”

I’m making a concerted effort to keep these things as light as possible, capitalizing on the absurdity of it all. But the reality is they say you can’t exist in a fantasy world, that you can’t be an elf because you’re soft, or a dwarf because the weather doesn’t tolerate dark skin, and you can. t. Nor does it exist freely in real life. A world where every walk through the neighborhood could be your last, where shopping can bring you down, and where the lights of a police car are cause for concern is terrifying and grotesque.

The simple answer, at least on Twitter, is to block. Trust me, I’ve blocked hundreds. But it does little to muffle the noise. So let’s bring some noise back. Sting glows and all sorts of trolls, orcs and goblins come, but they don’t pass. I refuse to accept that I cannot be part of the world I love, and I encourage others who face arrows to do the same. Because now we occupy Middle-earth, we exist and we are not going away.