Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.

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Has anyone been watching the Rings of Power show? Does anyone expect to watch it in 2024? (lemm.ee)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/tolkien

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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] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 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 10 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 10 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 10 months ago* (last edited 10 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.