The Racist Tapestry of Lord of the Rings

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » January 3, 2004, 9:07 am

I can.

Post by **Xouqoa** » January 3, 2004, 12:57 pm

Xzion wrote:For all of you disregarding the racial issues in LOTR, what would you say IF the film was created with some black/hispanic/asain/arab/native american extras and for arguments sake say...bormir/farmir/and there father were hispanic actors, or Aragon was Asian and Gimli was arab?
would you use the same argument and say thats not an accurate representation of european culture? or not give a shit and look at the film for what it was?

Yeah, maybe we should petition Spike Lee to redirect his own version and he could get like, Wesley Snipes as Aragorn, Lawrence Fishburne as Elrond, and Shaq as Sauron.

It's a fucking fantasy novel. There was nothing racial about it. You can't apply a concept such as racism to a story like the Lord of the Rings.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 3, 2004, 1:01 pm

There WERE multiple races present in the film. Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Humans, etc.. Color of skin on humans doesn't make one not be human.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » January 3, 2004, 6:24 pm

I love/hate watching all the latent racism come out of everyone when topics like this come up.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » January 3, 2004, 7:06 pm

What's funny is all the talk about racism in general. There is NOTHING racist about the movie or the book except that it's about DIFFERENT RACES. All this bullshit we call racism is based upon basically skin color. Sure there are SOME minor genetic differences but most people play them down because talking about them might be... "racist."

In LOTR there are obviously GENETICALLY different races... differen SPECIES of beings fighting this war that is MAKE BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I'm going to say, I've tried to just ignore this thread because of it's stupidity but in the end couldn't I guess...

Marb

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » January 3, 2004, 8:04 pm

you all just dont understand do you? I think LOTR is one of the greatest epic films of all time, peter jackson was nearly flawless in his making of the films,but il repeat myself for the last time
PERSONALLY i think that there should have been more diversity among the human extras, to say the least....but thats just a VERY MINOR rant, and of course someones going to misinterprit that again and being up some bullshit comparison between ROTK and the Cosby show

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 3, 2004, 9:50 pm

Xzion wrote:you all just dont understand do you? I think LOTR is one of the greatest epic films of all time, peter jackson was nearly flawless in his making of the films,but il repeat myself for the last time
PERSONALLY i think that there should have been more diversity among the human extras, to say the least....

Heh apparently you don't get it...LOTR is arguably the greatest epic novel of all times...Lack of diversity was an intent of the author who was aware of how language groups and ethnic groups evolve and diverge...and it was his intent that these groups were ethnically insular...the films were a reflection of the novel...

If you want to see a representative cross sections of multiple ethnicities in a film or novel...go write it...its entirely doable but it is not what LOTR is about...

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 4, 2004, 1:02 am

Xzion wrote:you all just dont understand do you? I think LOTR is one of the greatest epic films of all time, peter jackson was nearly flawless in his making of the films,but il repeat myself for the last time
PERSONALLY i think that there should have been more diversity among the human extras, to say the least....but thats just a VERY MINOR rant, and of course someones going to misinterprit that again and being up some bullshit comparison between ROTK and the Cosby show

According to the 2001 New Zealand Census, there's 135 Spanish/Hispanic men living in New Zealand. How many hispanic extras did you want in the movie exactly?

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » January 4, 2004, 1:17 am

Please let us end this discussion... if for no other reason than because today is Tolkien's Birthday. Have a drink and think of the man who gave you so much enjoyment

Marb

Salis · Post by **Salis** » January 4, 2004, 1:16 pm

Zaelath wrote:According to the 2001 New Zealand Census, there's 135 Spanish/Hispanic men living in New Zealand. How many hispanic extras did you want in the movie exactly?