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So, Lord of the Rings, racist undertones or not? Your take.

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nib95

Banned
Salazar said:
Bullshit. This is verging on the posture of that creep who wanted to "fix" Huckleberry Finn.

No, you seem even more deranged than he did.
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It's a general rule that people who resort to name calling and insults should be given little to no merit on any discussion.
 
S

Shanadeus

Banned
Tence said:
A guy from the south
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That reminds me of the "southerlings" and "eastlings" from Asimov's books.
Even in a galactic empire some people are from the "south" and "east" lol.

Anyway I do agree with the OP in that if the people in the books weren't directly specified as all being white then they should have cast a couple of extras as non-white people because why not?
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Did anyone notice that every hero in the original Star Wars saga is white? Expect maybe Chewbacca, but that's a dumbass-slave-role anyway: brown-skinned, can't speak English and only good for heavy lifting.
To top is off, the antagonist is black.

How racist can it get?
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
nib95 said:
It's a general rule that people who resort to name calling and insults should be given little to no merit on any discussion.
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Well you are calling JRR Tolkein a racist.

neorej said:
Did anyone notice that every hero in the original Star Wars saga is white? Expect maybe Chewbacca, but that's a dumbass-slave-role anyway: brown-skinned, can't speak English and only good for heavy lifting.
To top is off, the antagonist is black.

How racist can it get?
Click to expand...

Lando?
 
S

Shanadeus

Banned
neorej said:
Did anyone notice that every hero in the original Star Wars saga is white? Expect maybe Chewbacca, but that's a dumbass-slave-role anyway: brown-skinned, can't speak English and only good for heavy lifting.
To top is off, the antagonist is black.

How racist can it get?
Click to expand...
Wasn't the guy who blew up the death star black?
 
N

nib95

Banned
Shanadeus said:
That reminds me of the "southerlings" and "eastlings" from Asimov's books.

Even in a galactic empire some people are from the "south" and "east" lol.
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Easterlings are from the LotR world too lol. They are the Arab/Indian/Persian looking bad guys in the movies. The one's who ride those big ass Elephants.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
nib95 said:
It's a general rule that people who resort to name calling and insults should be given little to no merit on any discussion.
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That depends on the quality of the insults and the credibility of the recipient.


Sol.. said:
i will always enjoy telling my white friends that white people love fantasy stories and worlds because there are no colored people (except Marlon Wayans).
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Ever wondered how that makes your friends feel?
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
nib95 said:
It's a general rule that people who resort to name calling and insults should be given little to no merit on any discussion.
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How are people supposed to take it when you or things you appreciate are accused of race bias?

neorej said:
Did anyone notice that every hero in the original Star Wars saga is white? Expect maybe Chewbacca, but that's a dumbass-slave-role anyway: brown-skinned, can't speak English and only good for heavy lifting.
To top is off, the antagonist is black.

How racist can it get?
Click to expand...
there was that guy who betrayed Han Solo, don't forget him
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
nib95 said:
Keeping with the times would have meant more multi-cultural casting. You mean in keeping with the old times? Way I see it is, the novels left the make up of the good races themselves open ended, but Hollywood/Jackson decided to go through stead fast with the White people play the good, Dark people play the bad thing.

Even fictionally speaking, it seems stupid that over thousands of years not a single one of the darker people of the other races (Easterlings lol) have migrated or mixed with the White folk of the West, Rohans, Elves, Drawrfs, Hobbits, Gondorians etc.
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Keeping with the times of the fictions setting, not our modern times. There is quite a bit of writing about the settings Tolkien did that does describe general make up of the setting. Again even the white races are segregated as common of the medieval style setting and history. These setting are fantasy and also take from history but often also live in bubbles. Technology for example is often shown to not advance much if not all all despite thousands of years as well. Racial mixing is very very uncommon in traditional fantasy settings and especially old folk talks and lore.

Should they have modernized it by having some black elves? Don't really think it matters, but at the same time seeing negative of staying true to the fiction is hardly being racist.

The only known mixed folk in the setting from the fluff were those of the Cosairs who mixed men of the west along with the Haradrim.
 
G

G_Berry

Banned
DoctorWho said:
Isn't the whole thing about a bunch of different mythical races working together.

It's anything but racist.
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This. Skin colour should have nothing to do with it, I mean isn't that the point, the colour of your skin shouldn't matter?

ffs.
 
P

Patrick Bateman

Member
Shanadeus said:
Right, but white people aren't actually white - they're a shade of pink.

Black people can be very black though.
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stoyagoddess1ddvf.jpg
 
T

thefro

Member
nib95 said:
Keeping with the times would have meant more multi-cultural casting. You mean in keeping with the old times? Way I see it is, the novels left the make up of the good races themselves open ended, but Hollywood/Jackson decided to go through stead fast with the White people play the good, Dark people play the bad thing.

Even fictionally speaking, it seems stupid that over thousands of years not a single one of the darker people of the other races (Easterlings lol) have migrated or mixed with the White folk of the West, Rohans, Elves, Drawrfs, Hobbits, Gondorians etc.
Click to expand...

You've got a valid point about the Gondorians, but everyone else is either so isolated or has an insular culture (the Elves and Dwarfs) that mixing and migrating isn't possible. Quite frankly the world is too dangerous for it as well.
 
C

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Lando's alien copilot was clearly Southeast Asian.

See, that might be racist.
But you were all thinking it
 
C

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Shanadeus said:
What about Lee?
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No, because Harry disapproves of interracial relationships.

Oh, it's OK for the Chosen One to tap that yellow ass. But he can't stand a black man on his red headed ivory queen.

*please read in voice of Hooper X*
 
O

Osietra

Banned
It probably is not racist, but on the other who can't deny the virulent ageism that is a recurrent theme thoughout the trilogy.
In particular the burning of the Ents is an extremely obvious metaphor for the cremating of old people.
That being said, it didn't really diminish my enjoyment for reading them.
 
M

MWS Natural

Member
nib95 said:
Read your post above. So perhaps then Peter Jackson or elements of Hollywood itself instead are/were racist?
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I don't see any racism in LoTR but there is definitely racism and "white washing" in Hollywood.
 
A

akira28

Member
here's an interesting thought. Some scientists are pushing the idea that the different human groups: ergaster, neanderthal, and "modern" humans, all coexisted and even co-mingled. That would give us a kind of thought and memory basis for different 'races' of men. A hairy short and stocky neaderthal could be seen as a dwarf or even an orc, depending on how you felt about them. Maybe us homo sapiens were the rarefied and delicate looking elves. Who knows what an h. ergaster would be seen as. Anyway it's an interesting thought.
 
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