I found this little article rather amusing, maybe you will

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:15 am

http://www.tolkienonline.com/docs/14665.html

I actually jokingly stated something to this effect to a friend awhile back. But some believe it. Oh my.

I personally enjoyed lines like:

"the fact is that the only people of skin color in the entire three part series of films are all associated with the Dark Lord Sauron, the destruction of the earth and all of its occupants. Not to mention the elephant riding mercenaries that resemble the cultures of the Arab world as well as Africa, Persia and East Asia and the fact that the Monarch of the land of Rohan, King ThÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â©oden a white guy yelled out "You great warriors of the West" in the final part of his speech to rouse the troops into battle in the third film."

"It is important to understand that young people are impressionable and influenced by the symbols foisted on them by the popular culture. It would not have been that difficult to make a contemporary version of the Lord of the Rings that included the heroic symbols of people of skin color."

"Can you imagine how people of skin color, of Persian, Arab and East Asian ethnic background feel when they come out of these films where all the heroes are white and all the "evil doers" are of dark skin."

SI TEH HIDIN RACIST AGENDA. WE NEED MORE ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN OUR MOVIES! FUCK PLOTLINES AND SETTINGS! ETHNICITY IS KEY.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:25 am

The whole Mid-Earth setting is kinda amusing, when you take into consideration the time when it was written. The west prevails over the EVAL COMM... UH, MAGIC EAST and good guys are white and bad guys are (literally) black (as coal). Only the human race has a variety of personalities, all others (dwarves, elves, goblins whatever) are kept strictly to the "racial limits". So a dwarf can never be artistic or gentle etc.

It's not just the movie, let's blame Tolkien for writing that godawful book that brought us D&D and Mainstream-Fantasy.

Franz Schubert · Post by **Franz Schubert** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:44 am

I didn't think LotR books were that great. They only have two things going for them:

1.) Obviously the trilogy set the stage for the genre as we know it today.

2.) More importantly, the world (Middle Earth) has a very rich history and background depth.

The majority of fantasy books around today can't live up to either of these standards. However, there are a few that do, such as Dragonlance, which happens to have a much richer world/history to it, partly due to the fact that there have been about 5 skilled authors working on it besides Weis and Hickman.

PS: I really liked the layout of that website though. Although if it was me, I would have had the columns going all the way to the bottom of each page. (It's easy to do using CSS and tables)

CloudNineGT · Post by **CloudNineGT** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:03 pm

Dragonlace.. I remember reading at least twenty of those books when I was in middleschool. Are they still pumping them out? It really was a rich and well developed setting, but I kind of lost interest in the 5th age, or whatever the one was with all the stupidly powerful dragon/aliens.

Wolfman Walt · Post by **Wolfman Walt** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:37 pm

I hate Tolkien for making so many pyscho fan type people. One of the examples I often give on how stupid humanity has become is an argument I had with a person over LotR. It wasn't a normal argument mind you, but one of epic porportions of stupidity. She tried to argue that
A:) Middle Earth and Lord of the Rings is real
B:) Tolkien somehow found a magical portal because he couldn't have possibly made up all the rich background and languages without it being real.
C:) She will spend all her life searching for said portal.
And people wonder why I think genocide isn't such a bad idea anymore.

Tayl · Post by **Tayl** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:43 pm

Wolfman Walt wrote:I hate Tolkien for making so many pyscho fan type people. One of the examples I often give on how stupid humanity has become is an argument I had with a person over LotR. It wasn't a normal argument mind you, but one of epic porportions of stupidity. She tried to argue that
A) Middle Earth and Lord of the Rings is real
Tolkien somehow found a magical portal because he couldn't have possibly made up all the rich background and languages without it being real.
C) She will spend all her life searching for said portal.
And people wonder why I think genocide isn't such a bad idea anymore.

God, I need to go kick some random idiotic people in the junk to make myself feel better after reading that.

Phias · Post by **Phias** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:59 pm

It's simple. People will find any excuse to start a lawsuit or a controversy, just for the thrill of it, and the ability to say that they started one on their own.

It's obviously not racist. The "Dark" Lord Sauron. Good=Light Evil=Dark. It's natural that the antagonists of the paragon of fantasy books have dark skin or dark features.

Utter stupidity, of the highest form.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:14 am

Phias wrote:It's simple. People will find any excuse to start a lawsuit or a controversy, just for the thrill of it, and the ability to say that they started one on their own.

Don't forget the hefty paycheck if you win.

"YOU KILLED MY FIFTH COUSIN WHO I NEVER MET BUT REALLY KIND OF ALMOST WANTED TO! NOW I NEED THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS TO <strike>BUY A NEW BOAT, HOUSE, AND CHALUPA</strike>-- ER, I MEAN TO GET BETTER. KTHXBYE!"

LlamaGod · Post by **LlamaGod** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:26 am

Kashluk wrote:
It's not just the movie, let's blame Tolkien for writing that godawful book that brought us D&D and Mainstream-Fantasy.

Ha! Yeah! Who wants to play "RPGs"? What a load o- oh wait.