Earlier quoted context omitted.
People were up in arms before a single episode aired, because they saw a fictional species (dwarf) had dark skin. many of those people have now pivoted their arguments against the show to being about pacing, writing (note: I’m in no way implying this is you, I haven’t seen any LotR series opinions on HN) - but the racist stuff has already occurred
I wonder how well it would go down if someone made a show about slavery in USA with all of the black people being played by non-blacks... For inclusivity you know? Get some Asians there. Maybe gender swap the historical big figures to boot and have them speak Chinese or something.
IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
291–300 of 841 posts
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#292Steam gets the scale this right by only having up or down reviews, and collecting reacts to the review to sort out what people think of the review.
They shouldn’t have removed all negative reviews, and it earned its 3/10. But having a tighter scale removes the 1/10s outsized drag on the average.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder how well it would go down if someone made a show about slavery in USA with all of the black people being played by non-blacks... For inclusivity you know? Get some Asians there. Maybe gender swap the historical big figures to boot and have them speak Chinese or something.
Dwarves aren't real, historical people. Black slaves were. What the actual fuck are you talking about?
Of course that would be silly, and we both know why. Tolkien’s work is explicitly based on Norse myth and the peoples of Northern Europe, who were and are quite real. He wrote about these intentions and influences at length.
There’s no need for writers to rely on European culture as a crutch. I’d personally love to see more epics set in the Mali Empire, Ghana Empire, or Kingdom of Dahomey. Sub-Saharan Africa has lots of its own rich mythology, too. It seems bizarre that besides Black Panther, the most I’ve seen these stories represented on TV is still the 1990s PBS series “Wishbone”.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its so funny people would care about this for a fantasy world where there are actual different races of humans and elves and little guys.
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Having a black elf is a miscast, because most races in LOTR depict real groups of people or real cultures in Europe. Elves are tall and blonde and represent the Germanic and Scandinavian traditions that Tolkien loved. They are strongly linked to Alpine mountains and European forests. Their language is based in how Nordic languages sound.
An Asian actor could fit in the role as long as is tall and thin but a credible African elf is much more complex to construct. Can easily feel out of place and as miscasted as would be seeing a black actor in the role of a german nazi soldier.
Harry Potter has black actors, but all of them are from UK (very smart move JK) and share a common culture. Their interactions feel much more realistic and cohesive by that.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
> she's a fairy, not a human .. what does her skin have to do with the time period or place in which she appeared? I mean, why can't we have a viking Black Panther and put Wakanda near Iceland? > The real problem is getting upset over the skin color of the actors and actresses playing fairies No one is upset for that, I, as Italian, am upset that some writer thinks that Collodi's story needed to be changed in ways th…
I want the best actor for a role, not one with the right skin color. You can hedge around the skincolor issue all you want, but that's the basis for your complaint.
I don't know why this fixation with the colour of the skin.
I was merely pointing out that they changed a character, one that was very distinctly described, that obviously would be at the center of flamed debates and cause uproar.
My understanding is that the more people talk about the movie, the less Disney need to spend in marketing it.
Of course best actor for the role, but the studio never put it that way, so they are to blame IMO.
Also, I mean, the blue fairy is called blue (it's actually turquoise in Italian) because she has long turquoise hair.
The new fairy is bald.
Kinda provocative, does it make for a more compelling story or is it for attention grab?
We'll see when the movie comes out.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#296I think people with legitimate criticisms are starting to get really tired being called a racist or a misogynist. 99% of the reviews aren't about wokeness at all. They're about the writing, the pacing and the how unbelievably dull the show is.
She-hulk got review-bombed before the first episode came out. After watching it and enjoying it, my frustration at the fact that it's tough to criticize it without feeling lumped together with sexists wasn't at the "woke" crowd, but rather at the people who'd buried it in negative reviews before it even aired simply because they hate anything with a wiff of liberal politics.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why spend the money to get the rights to a known series at all? Make up a new IP in Generic Medieval Fantasy Land with lavish production values. No licensing or contract renewal fees, and you don't upset any existing audience.
Because the movie trilogy was extremely successful and is associated with great production value by a whole generation? Don’t get me wrong I wish Amazon had the courage to just put 500 millions of dollar on completely new IP but that’s just not how American entertainment companies work.
The Fellowship of the Ring (film, 2001) is just over 20 years old, which creates, now, 25-45 year olds significant childhood nostalgia, just in time for them to be able to show their ~5-15 year old children (in their most formative years)
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#298My issue with the show has nothing to do with the “woke” stuff mentioned here. I don’t like it because none of the heroes are likable. All of them have some form of sticking it to the man and doing what they want as their story line. True heroes are self-sacrificial and reluctant. Contrast Galadriel who acts like a self righteous dickhead with Aragorn who was reluctant to accept his calling spent and three movies pro…
Name a „woke“ movie with likable characters. One. Its a contradiction in terms - you cannot be a spiritual scold or schoolmarm and mold a set of likable characters from this essence.
There are plenty of movies out there that have been criticised for being too ”liberal leaning”. “Woke” is a rather recent term.
Django unchained and Black Panther are two relatively recent movies accused of being “woke”. Both were resounding successes.
Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#299Re: IMDB deleted all negative user reviews for The Rings of Power
#300My issue with the show has nothing to do with the “woke” stuff mentioned here. I don’t like it because none of the heroes are likable. All of them have some form of sticking it to the man and doing what they want as their story line. True heroes are self-sacrificial and reluctant. Contrast Galadriel who acts like a self righteous dickhead with Aragorn who was reluctant to accept his calling spent and three movies pro…
Galadriel took part in the kinslaying at Alqualondë, she is totally a dick. The LOTR movies portrayed her in a much more positive light than the books. True heroes as you describe them exist only in your imagination and in fairy tales.