dalton99a (65,973 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216372424
Jeff Bezos' new Lord of the Rings show is angering fans because it has Black dwarves
Jeff Bezos’ new Lord of the Rings show is angering fans because it has Black dwarves. Seriously.
By Christiaan Hetzner
February 19, 2022 6:00 AM CST
Amazon’s new big budget Lord of the Rings series may be months away from its streaming debut in September, yet a battle is already erupting over Middle-earth.
Coveting the phenomenal success of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Jeff Bezos is investing a fortune to grow Prime Video’s 200 million subscriber base by bringing J.R.R.’s Tolkien’s unparalleled fantasy world-building to life on the small, streaming screen.
However, when the first trailer for Prime's tentpole LOTR epic, dubbed The Rings of Power, dropped on Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon Studios sparked uproar after the all-white, heavily male casts from previous film depictions made way for a more inclusive Tolkien retelling.
Rather than the image of a slender Galadriel dressed in her ethereal gossamer gown that Peter Jackson chose for his Tolkien trilogies, the Lady of Lothlórien was instead portrayed charging a field atop her steed, clad in full armor. All new characters that never appeared in the author's works were introduced, including Arondir the elf, and the dwarven princess Disa, both portrayed by a Latinx and Black actor respectively.
No, fans are annoyed that the works of Tolkien are being ignored just to fulfill a quota. The amount of material in JRRT books is so vast that you really couldn't do the tales justice, but in order to be woke Amazon is just changing shit to change shit.
Dwarves are described in detail, being bearded in both male and female sexes. Amazon's dwarf by 'a latinx' is not. AND, being from a subterranean species. is pigmented very darkly. Odd choice, unless you are just trying to piss fans off.
Likewise, Elves are of several 'races', from very very fair, so dark haired and darker complexion, Itialian-esque, so to speak. Tolkien does talk of Dark Elves, but doesn't go into detail on them. BUT, the elf in question is portrayed as a Silvan elf, the most fair of the elvish nations... and is played by a black actor.
eh...
but what really annoys fans is that Galadriel is shown as a powerful strong woman warrior...
... which she is most defiantly not in Tolkien's books.
add to the fact that the studio came out as soon as the trailer hit calling anyone who had a problem with the show, racists and sexists... a la 'Ghostbusters' 2016.. not a good idea...
eh... It might be ok. I'll watch a couple of episodes...
Star Member Kid Berwyn (8,017 posts)
3. Can't teach CRT...
Can’t cast fictional characters…
What is the color of a snowflake?
changing a story just to make it what you want isn't the way to tell a story, especially one as popular and with as much background as Lord of the Rings...
Star Member Retired Engineer Bob (665 posts)
4. More belly aching from the racist filth
The same eff-heads bitched about the Black Panther Marvel movie.
Not really. Black Panther was a black character in a comic aimed at black people. Most people didn't like the heavy handed white people bad shit... not the fact that he was black.
meadowlander (3,480 posts)
8. And female Ghostbusters.
It's because it sucked.
Dial H For Hero (2,363 posts)
13. I was just annoyed that the female Ghostbusters film was lousy. As for the Rings of Power, I am concerned that (among other things) it's my understanding that they're compressing the events of the Second Age by thousands of years to avoid bringing in a brand-new set of human characters each season as the centuries roll by. I don't mind taking some liberties, but that's huge.
yup
Star Member Demsrule86 (57,146 posts)
23. Actually, it wasn't lousy...I liked it very much...bunch sexist tried to take it down...
Seriously...
Dr. Strange (25,327 posts)
11. Female dwarves WITHOUT BEARDS!
Everyone knows that the female dwarves are supposed to have beards!
https://www.gamesradar.com/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-dwarves-beards/
We're supposed to be living in a society!
yup
Dial H For Hero (2,363 posts)
14. Well...Tolkien did state explicitly that they did have them.
For the Naugrim (dwarves) have beards from the beginning of their lives, male and female alike; nor indeed can their womenkind be discerned by those of other race, be it in feature or in gait or in voice, nor in any wise save this: that they go not to war, and seldom save at direst need issue from their deep bowers and halls."
---J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
Diraven (159 posts)
16. I think that was supposed to be funny
I always took the female beard thing to be Tolkien's attempt at humor. As for them never leaving their homes that was a convenient way to not have any in his stories.
Dial H For Hero (2,363 posts)
17. The Silmarillion isn't exactly a comedy.
getagrip_already (8,353 posts)
22. where will this lead?
Next thing you know, they will have blacks portraying southern slaves and african tribes people. This is a slippery slope. Soon, we will have hispanics portraying puerto ricans, or actual east asians portraying those races!
What will happen to the poor, talented white actors?
