Fantasy Genre, especially Lord of the Rings is racist according to this article

I mean look at this obvious black dude.

whitewalkers.jpg

One look is all I need to know this guy is good at basketball, he listens to gangsta rap, he has multiple kids with multiple women, he can’t hold down a job, he’s got a criminal record, he’s behind on child support, and he loves fried chicken and watermelon.
 
One look is all I need to know this guy is good at basketball, he listens to gangsta rap, he has multiple kids with multiple women, he can’t hold down a job, he’s got a criminal record, he’s behind on child support, and he loves fried chicken and watermelon.

x240-hmp.jpg


That's drank!!
 
Sounds like the author of the article was hanging out on stormfront. Years ago I remember someone linking a thread from there, that theorized all of the "evil" races in LOTR are meant to symbolize minorities.


Some people just have way too much time on their hands.
 
Seems sort of simplistic to point out that fiction has a very one dimensional view of morality btw. In most works of fiction, the antagonists are just evil for the sake of being evil. That's not a trope that's limited to the fantasy genre. Layered and three dimensional villains are actually pretty rare.


That's what makes villains like the joker so iconic. He represents the concept that Evil isn't some cosmic force. Anyone could be the Joker, if enough bad shit happened to them.
 
This dude wrote a book about how racist fantasy genre is, starting with LOTR, below are 2 parts of his stuff.
https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-fantasy-genre/

Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre
"This is from the first page of Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It is the first time he uses the word “race” in the book (though he did use it in The Hobbit as well). Considering Tolkien’s place as the godfather of the fantasy genre, it’s unsurprising that his conception of the “races” of Middle Earth have become more-or-less standard across the fantasy genre.

But Tolkien’s conception of “race” is a huge problem. His ideas have been bred into the core of the fantasy genre—not just literature, but films and games too. Contemporary authors have had to work hard to free the genre from this original sin.

The core of the problem is that Tolkien conflates race, culture, and ability. Hobbits, he says, are a race, and based upon a combination their hereditary traits and cultural practices, are better at being stealthy than other races.

Tolkien does this throughout his novels, outlining the “racial” characteristics of men, of dwarves, of elves, of orcs, and those few of mixed ancestry (like Aragorn or the Uruk-Hai)."

"Making “races” like orcs and dark elves inherently evil does two things. First, it presents a world in which good and evil are so simplistic that an entire culture, race, or species can be inherently evil. If someone were to transpose that way of thinking onto cultures or races today, it could lead to the worst sort of prejudice.

Second, this smacks of the worst sort of colonial racisms, which sought to make American Indians, Africans, and other people of color not just seem less human, but inherently immoral. Making “evil races” (like the orcs and uruk-hai, as described in The Lord of the Rings, and dark elves, in D&D) dark-skinned creates fantasy worlds that are structured along racist lines—and mimicking those that plague us in the real world. It would be foolish to explain that away as mere coincidence. Whether the creators did it intentionally or not, their worlds are loaded with the idea at the core of white-supremacy: that having dark skin is bad."


The article is quite long but basically cliffs are:

-LOTR and fantasy genre in general (D & D, Elder Scrolls, etc.) are racist
-Defining races with characteristics in a fantasy world is racist
-Dark
skinned creatures are shown as being "bad"

Thoughts?

I don't agree that fantasy is racist.

However, I do feel it's pretty simplistic as always portraying Orcs, Goblins, etc as "all evil" races.

Very simplistic "good vs evil" themes. And fantasy is based on medieval Europe. So it just so happens that "white man" is always portrayed as the "good guys."

When in reality, human beings themselves are both the "good" and "evil" ones.
 
I don't agree that fantasy is racist.

However, I do feel it's pretty simplistic as always portraying Orcs, Goblins, etc as "all evil" races.

Very simplistic "good vs evil" themes. And fantasy is based on medieval Europe. So it just so happens that "white man" is always portrayed as the "good guys."

When in reality, human beings themselves are both the "good" and "evil" ones.

That's pretty well summed up in the first movie of LOTR. The fricking narrator talks about the weakness in the hearts of men. The head elf sez... "Men are weak, the race of man is failing." and then continues to bag on humans, blaming them for everything. Gandalf has no comeback at all, he know it's true. Watch it again, read it again, whatever.

It's there to be seen, but men are weak and see what they want to see. Results may therefore vary.
 
Serious question: is it actually black people who complain about all this shit constantly or is it mostly white guilt people?

I, for one, have not seen one Lord of The Rings or Harry Potter movie. And I just enjoyed a delicious latte from Starbucks.

Hope that helps.
 
This dude wrote a book about how racist fantasy genre is, starting with LOTR, below are 2 parts of his stuff.
https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-fantasy-genre/

Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre
"This is from the first page of Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It is the first time he uses the word “race” in the book (though he did use it in The Hobbit as well). Considering Tolkien’s place as the godfather of the fantasy genre, it’s unsurprising that his conception of the “races” of Middle Earth have become more-or-less standard across the fantasy genre.

But Tolkien’s conception of “race” is a huge problem. His ideas have been bred into the core of the fantasy genre—not just literature, but films and games too. Contemporary authors have had to work hard to free the genre from this original sin.

The core of the problem is that Tolkien conflates race, culture, and ability. Hobbits, he says, are a race, and based upon a combination their hereditary traits and cultural practices, are better at being stealthy than other races.

Tolkien does this throughout his novels, outlining the “racial” characteristics of men, of dwarves, of elves, of orcs, and those few of mixed ancestry (like Aragorn or the Uruk-Hai)."

"Making “races” like orcs and dark elves inherently evil does two things. First, it presents a world in which good and evil are so simplistic that an entire culture, race, or species can be inherently evil. If someone were to transpose that way of thinking onto cultures or races today, it could lead to the worst sort of prejudice.

Second, this smacks of the worst sort of colonial racisms, which sought to make American Indians, Africans, and other people of color not just seem less human, but inherently immoral. Making “evil races” (like the orcs and uruk-hai, as described in The Lord of the Rings, and dark elves, in D&D) dark-skinned creates fantasy worlds that are structured along racist lines—and mimicking those that plague us in the real world. It would be foolish to explain that away as mere coincidence. Whether the creators did it intentionally or not, their worlds are loaded with the idea at the core of white-supremacy: that having dark skin is bad."


The article is quite long but basically cliffs are:

-LOTR and fantasy genre in general (D & D, Elder Scrolls, etc.) are racist
-Defining races with characteristics in a fantasy world is racist
-Dark
skinned creatures are shown as being "bad"

Thoughts?


Didn't read, author can go fuck himself
 
Considering Tolkien himself said that he based the orc's appearance on Mongoloid facial features the author seems to be swimming in the wrong pool.

That said, I actually find Tolkien to be one of the less racist fantasy authors of his time period (in a time where most ones were by modern standards). He certainly didn't dive into the race theory swamp or sheer vitriol the same way Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E Howard or Lovecraft did, for example.

I think with Tolkien your dealing with a vague memory of "threats from the east" Europe has faced down the millennia(The Huns, The Mongols, The Ottomans, etc) but nothing really so specific as you could say Sauron or any of his forces obviously represents any of them.

I would say as well that Tolkien is by en large not very focused on his various "evil" forces, we barely ever meet any of them face to face for any length of time(bar Gollum and he's obvious nuanced) with almost all of the narrative being concerned with the nominally "good" forces being tested morally.

Honestly if he seems out of date these days I think its less about race and more about social class, in the case of the badguys his orcs obviously being based on working class cockneys.
 
This dude wrote a book about how racist fantasy genre is, starting with LOTR, below are 2 parts of his stuff.
https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-fantasy-genre/

Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre
"This is from the first page of Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It is the first time he uses the word “race” in the book (though he did use it in The Hobbit as well). Considering Tolkien’s place as the godfather of the fantasy genre, it’s unsurprising that his conception of the “races” of Middle Earth have become more-or-less standard across the fantasy genre.

But Tolkien’s conception of “race” is a huge problem. His ideas have been bred into the core of the fantasy genre—not just literature, but films and games too. Contemporary authors have had to work hard to free the genre from this original sin.

The core of the problem is that Tolkien conflates race, culture, and ability. Hobbits, he says, are a race, and based upon a combination their hereditary traits and cultural practices, are better at being stealthy than other races.

Tolkien does this throughout his novels, outlining the “racial” characteristics of men, of dwarves, of elves, of orcs, and those few of mixed ancestry (like Aragorn or the Uruk-Hai)."

"Making “races” like orcs and dark elves inherently evil does two things. First, it presents a world in which good and evil are so simplistic that an entire culture, race, or species can be inherently evil. If someone were to transpose that way of thinking onto cultures or races today, it could lead to the worst sort of prejudice.

Second, this smacks of the worst sort of colonial racisms, which sought to make American Indians, Africans, and other people of color not just seem less human, but inherently immoral. Making “evil races” (like the orcs and uruk-hai, as described in The Lord of the Rings, and dark elves, in D&D) dark-skinned creates fantasy worlds that are structured along racist lines—and mimicking those that plague us in the real world. It would be foolish to explain that away as mere coincidence. Whether the creators did it intentionally or not, their worlds are loaded with the idea at the core of white-supremacy: that having dark skin is bad."


The article is quite long but basically cliffs are:

-LOTR and fantasy genre in general (D & D, Elder Scrolls, etc.) are racist
-Defining races with characteristics in a fantasy world is racist
-Dark
skinned creatures are shown as being "bad"

Thoughts?


If you think Orcs look like black people YOU are probably the racist.
 
Suppose he missed that a lot of trolls and orcs have English accents.
 
Dude is getting ripped in the comment section of his own article, lol.
 
I don't know why it hasn't occurred to people but we REALLY need, as a populace, to start calling out pushy garbage like this as "Troll articles" and Troll tweets.


Identify them and call em out as "trolls", because that's what they're doing and they've been getting away with it with no consequences.
 
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