this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.

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Just wondering. The show seems to be in kind of an… odd state. I only watched the first episode, didn’t love it, none of my friends expressed positive feelings..

… but it’s got pretty good critical reviews, it’s getting a second season this year, and honestly it often “looks good” from promotional material.

Is it worth giving a second shot? Is anyone looking forward to the second season?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I understand people appreciating the ring of power for being inclusive but boy is that just a super dishonest representation of LoTR.

Literally the fellowship is a multiracial group, two of which being bitter rivals. Both of which probably having not much regard for humans due to the ring not being destroyed. The fellowship forming and succeeding occurs only because multiple different races put their prejudices aside and work together.

One of the “pretty women who pop up to kiss them” resists probably the greatest temptation in the story in which her power would make her “a dark queen” and provided the fellowship with multiple life saving items.

Eowyn literally kills the witch king and had the famous “I am no man” moment. A woman who was ignored and dismissed turned the tide of that battle.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Saying that lotr is multiracial because different characters are different races in universe is missing the point. No black kid is gonna look up to Aragorn and think "he's just like me". Also claiming gender diversity because of one character (and another that had one moment of significance that still could have been cut without much impact on the story resolution) is wild.

I love LOTR as much as the next guy but I can admit it does have somewhat of a diversity issue.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

No black kid is gonna look up to Aragorn and think “he’s just like me”.

That's interesting, because by this logic Asian kids (and I mean Asian from the Middle-East to South Asia to East Asia) can't watch the first season of that show and identify with the characters.

Researching the topic, there was actually some backlash about it a few years ago (https://nextshark.com/ludi-lin-amazon-lord-of-the-rings) which led to the addition of Asian look actors for season 2: https://news.yahoo.com/amazon-ring-powers-announces-cast-215130312.html?guccounter=1

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Well it was written nearly a century ago, so it's not too surprising that diversity of representation was not great. Many countries got women's suffrage much later than that point in history.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Yes it has a diversity issue, I don’t dispute that of the other comment for a reason. However I take issue with solely characterising it by those issues. I personally feel only referring to it by it’s problematic elements, a good portion of which are because of Hollywood at the time and the era in which it was written, is disingenuous at best.

I would think that said “black kid” to use your term who while they may not be able to self insert as a particular character could still appreciate them and certainly appreciate the underlying message of the movie, which isn’t “a bunch of white guys do the thing”.

The lack of PoC in the story and the casting for the movies doesn’t change the message and overt themes of the book that I mentioned. Frankly I think if someone only took “white people rule” and “the woman show up to be pretty and kissed” from the story then the bigotry may lie with that person.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Saying that LOTR has racial diversity because there is an elf and a dwarf and hobbits is fucking hilarious. If you pull off the prosthetic ears, what color is the skin of the guy underneath... Can you imagine if that was how racial representation actually works? Like an Asian person seeing Gimli and Legolas and being like wow, racial minority people just like me! I can really relate to this! That white guy has different ears, he's just like me!

Why bother making Black Panther or Shang Chi? What a waste of money! You could have just put pointy ears on Hawkeye and completely fulfilled the racial diversity need.

LOTR fans are really on another level with their cognitive dissonance. I love Tolkien but I can also appreciate that he is a product of a culture and time when racial and sexual equality were not doing great.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Given your entire comment is based off of your first sentence, something which I never said, I was going to just ignore you. Pretty interesting your use of the term cognitive dissonance when your entire reply is attempting to jam a bunch of words in my mouth for it to even work.

Cool you found it hilarious though, I myself find it pretty funny when people claim to be about understanding and inclusion before making generalised claims about an entire fan base based on their misinterpretation of someone's comment. More so given you’ve stated to part of said fan base, diehard even. Maybe read my reply again and the others I’ve made in this thread because clearly you missed my point.

Edit: I also saw that deleted comment, good on you for having the decency to remove it but I’d point out my remark about the bigotry being within seems to have been more accurate than I initially expected.