{"id":66594,"date":"2022-09-05T11:59:18","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T11:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-sandman-creator-neil-gaiman-dismantles-racist-lotr-arguments\/"},"modified":"2022-09-05T11:59:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T11:59:18","slug":"the-sandman-creator-neil-gaiman-dismantles-racist-lotr-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-sandman-creator-neil-gaiman-dismantles-racist-lotr-arguments\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sandman Creator Neil Gaiman Dismantles Racist LotR Arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Sandman<\/em> creator Neil Gaiman responds to racist arguments about the Harfoots in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Gaiman responded to arguments from fans on Twitter that casting black actors to play Harfoots, the ancestors of Hobbits, in the Lord of the Rings<\/em> prequel series goes against JRR Tolkien’s original vision since there were no black characters in his novels. In one tweet, Gaiman stated, “Tolkien described the Harfoots as ‘browner of skin’ than the other hobbits. So I think anyone grumbling is either racist or hasn’t read their Tolkien. Your mileage may vary.”<\/p>\n

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RELATED: LOTR: Rings of Power Bosses Shut Down Racist Backlash<\/span><\/p>\n

When another fan responded to Gaiman saying that “browner of skin means tanned white,” the author replied, “Tolkien didn’t say ‘The Harfoots spent longer in the sun than any of the other hobbits and were a lot more tanned.’ He said they were ‘browner of skin.'” This discussion was sparked by a GQ interview with The Rings of Power<\/em> star Sir Lenny Henry, who portrays a Harfoot named Sadoc Burrows. In the interview, the actor stated, “They have no trouble believing in a dragon, but they do have trouble believing that a black person could be a member of the court. Or that a black person could be a hobbit or an elf.”<\/p>\n


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Harfoots were one of the three breeds of Hobbits, the other two being Stoors and Fallohides. Like every people in Tolkein’s original books, the Hobbits have a complex history that wasn’t fully realized in Peter Jackson’s original film trilogy. The Rings of Power<\/em>which takes place during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit<\/em> and The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, will depict the early age of Harfoots when they first began migrating West. In the books, Tolkien described the Harfoots as “browner of skin” than other Hobbits. They were also the first to migrate Westward and were on particularly friendly terms with the Dwarves.<\/p>\n


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RELATED: LOTR: Rings of Power Star Sees a ‘Fluidity’ in Tolkien’s Galadriel<\/span><\/p>\n

In an October 2021 interview, Henry described it was like to play a “black Hobbit” in a “multi-cultural” tribe like the Harfoots. “We’re Hobbits but we’re called Harfoots, we’re multi-cultural, we’re a tribe, not a race, so we’re black, Asian and brown, even Maori types within it,” he said. Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay have explained how the prequel series will set itself apart from previous adaptations, but also noted that it has “deep roots” in Tolkien’s original work.<\/p>\n


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Shortly after the two-episode premiere of Rings of Power<\/em>, Amazon suspended ratings for the series in an effort to combat review-bombing. Generally, fans appeared divided on the series. Feedback on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes showing a critics’ rating of 84%, while the audience score is a rotten 37% at the time of writing. The Rings of Power<\/em> is the most expensive show yet for Amazon’s Prime Video; the first season alone reportedly cost the streamer $465 million.<\/p>\n

New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power<\/em> premiere every Thursday on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

Source: Twitter, GQ<\/p>\n


\n \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman responds to racist arguments about the Harfoots in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Gaiman responded to arguments from fans on Twitter that casting black actors to play Harfoots, the ancestors of Hobbits, in the Lord of the Rings prequel series goes against JRR Tolkien’s …<\/p>\n

The Sandman Creator Neil Gaiman Dismantles Racist LotR Arguments<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68672,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/elon-musk-says-tolkien-is-turning-in-his-grave-over-amazons-rings-of-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":0},"title":"Elon Musk says Tolkien is ‘turning in his grave’ over Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’","date":"September 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Elon Musk on Monday said JRR Tolkien, the author of the \"Lord of the Rings\" series, is \"turning in his grave\" over Amazon Prime's new hit adaptation of the fantasy books \"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.\" \"Almost every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67504,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/elon-musk-slams-rings-of-power-series-the-hollywood-reporter\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":1},"title":"Elon Musk Slams ‘Rings of Power’ Series \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter","date":"September 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Elon Musk has sent Amazon Prime Video's billion-dollar fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Powertweeting that late author JRR Tolkien is \u201cturning in his grave.\u201d Expanding on why he didn't like the show, Musk tweeted that \u201calmost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69076,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/hollywood-hobbits-model-elvish-you-all-are-welcome-here-shirt\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":2},"title":"Hollywood hobbits model Elvish “You All Are Welcome Here” shirt","date":"September 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the year 2022 and a reliably maggot-ous core of our numbskull culture has stirred itself into a frenzy about the indignities of seeing Black elves and women who are good with swords on television. Because these kinds of people are, if nothing else, very good at being loudthe internet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69197,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/elijah-wood-and-original-lord-of-the-rings-cast-shut-down-racist-critics-of-rings-of-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":3},"title":"Elijah Wood and original ‘Lord of the Rings’ cast shut down racist critics of ‘Rings of Power’","date":"September 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Several performers in Amazon's new series \"Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power\" have been besieged by hateful comments from viewers who have casting people of color as Elves, Dwarves and Harfoots, among other fictional races. (Most of the roles were created for the show, including the Silvan elf\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70053,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/lord-of-the-rings-stars-defend-rings-of-power-cast-against-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":4},"title":"‘Lord of the Rings’ stars defend ‘Rings of Power’ cast against racism","date":"September 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LONDON \u2014 JRR Tolkien has said that his vision of Middle-earth, the fantastical world in his acclaimed Lord of the Rings novels, reflects his \u201cwonder and delight in the earth as it is.\u201dThose who have taken up the latest television series inspired by his imagination are firing back against a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57336,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/neil-gaiman-fended-off-bad-adaptions-by-force\/","url_meta":{"origin":66594,"position":5},"title":"Neil Gaiman Fended Off Bad Adaptions by Force","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"photo: Jeff Spicer \/ Stringer (Getty Images)ace The Sandman enjoys an astounding success on Netflix, Neil Gaiman has done an exceptionally in-depth interview with Rolling Stonewhere he describes the arduous and sometimes underhanded methods it took to get the adaptation made to his specifications. \u201cI spent 30-something years battling bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"Humble Bundle's Summer Sale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_180,q_80,w_320\/679a6f1eacbae3285cf9105ce190cadd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static1.cbrimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Rings-of-power-BIPOC.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}