The social equality movements of the past decade have done a pretty good job of showing how important it is to highlight diversity in film and TV. Many modern TV shows (The Sandman, Dr. Who, Stranger Things) are stringent about diversity and make sure to have characters that are as racially diverse as the real world. The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power follows a similar trend and some viewers have spoken up with some ugly sentiments on social media.
The first Lord of the Rings film came out way back in 2001, and let’s just say diversity wasn’t Hollywood’s top priority at the time. Looking back, the franchise is almost exclusively white and in recent years that’s become more of a talking point.
The Hollywood Reporter just released a piece about author J.R.R. Tolkien and his stances on diversity, which refuted some popular misconceptions about the author..
“The most common refrain is that Tolkien didn’t include people of color in his stories,” writes author Richard Newby. “… There remains the idea that because Tolkien sought to create an English mythology that he intended Middle-earth to be comprised only of white people.” Newby writes that this perspective isn’t well-informed and misunderstands Tolkien’s intentions.
Though misguided, that line of reasoning seems to be the main anti-diversity argument against the show. Newby later tweeted that the article was not well-received.
“Woke up to some very normal responses of course (including a now deleted photo of the KKK.),” he wrote.
Sadly, some viewers aren’t ashamed about being open with their distaste for racial diversity in Tolkien’s world. Brandon Morse, the deputy managing editor of RedState, said the few diverse characters ruin the show. He claims it’s an attempt to inject “social justice politics” into a world where those issues don’t exist.
Amazon even had to suspend ratings of the show because it looked like it was getting review bombed.
The Daily Mail published a piece similar to the THR piece.
“I doubt that Tolkien thought of hobbits as black. It seems as though cultural appropriation is fine as long as it’s non-Whites doing the appropriating,” one user said.
Another user said he was “sick and tired” of diversity, and that it’s ruining the show.
“How much has to be lost for the sake of diversity? A great trilogy of books by JJR Tolkien pissed all over by Amazon. Is anyone sick and tired of this sh*t yet,” the said.
Journalist Nadine Batchelor-Hunt said people mad about diversity and Black hobbits are uninformed.
“99% of the people complaining about Black hobbits being in the new LOTR Rings of Power series have clearly never read LOTR. The other 1% are wrong. Also, from what we know about Tolkien and some of his stances on racism it’s likely he’d have welcomed this,” she said.
Then, there are the people who are ready for the casting to include even more minority actors., like Twitter user SmugStick.
“I hope they remake Lord of the Rings with a full black cast JUST to make these weird racist Tolkien fans angry,” they said.
Someone else pointed out that Tolkien never said anything about anyone’s skin color.
Philosophy professor Derek A. Michaud wrapped up the sentiment by saying we should call it what it is: racist.
“If you didn’t bat an eye at dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs, and ents being sentient species in Lord Of The Rings but the thought of a black dwarf, elf, hobbit, etc. angers you it’s not because Amazon has ruined Tolkien. It’s because you are racist.”
The first two episodes of The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.