[Drew68]

This is one of a few articles that came out this week that shows Amazon is increasingly growing worried that "racist online trolls" are going to bring negative attention to their $1 billion LOTR remake, primarily due to the multi-ethnic diverse casting.

Amazon is already stinging from he rocky start of their multi-hundred million dollar "A Wheel of Time" series that was supposed to carry the streaming network as their flagship program for the next seven season. Not only is it woke but worse than that, it's dull and looks cheap.

There's a fear that their LOTR will suffer the same fate; too woke, too dull, ignorant of the source material, and contemptuous towards Tolkien fans.

[Adder]

what the world actually looks like

The world, in this case is Middle Earth...it was pretty much described in the books...

[Westbrook]

It’s like all those movies and TV shows the commies used to broadcast behind the old Iron Curtain. Nothing but state agitprop. Nobody enjoyed them, not even the party hardliners.

They all knew that real entertainment came from the Free World, before it became saturated with “woke” virtue signaling.

Now I find more entertainment watching shows from foreign countries that don’t preach to me. They just present humanity the way it is and unbridled comedy the way it should be.

[Drew68]

Ping

[BenLurkin]

“Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”

They’re called fans.

[fruser1]

Can't wait to see how they address the black speech.

Yo! one rahng ta rule dem all

one rahng ta fahnd dem

one rahng ta brahng dem all a'

ahn da darkness bahnd dem

WORD!

[TomGuy]

I quit Wheel of Time about Ep 5. It was long on CGI and short on plot and characters of any interest.

LOTR. I tried to watch one of the movies, but lost interest. I read The Hobbit decades ago, but never read the LOTR series.

[metmom]

“It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of [author J.R.R.] Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like,” executive producer Lindsey Weber told Vanity Fair, which also published several new photos from the series.

It’s only natural to remain true to the story line in the book and not co-opt it to try to skim a profit off the work.

I hope they lose their shirts on this.

[norcal joe]

Added Tolkien scholar Mariana Rios Maldonado, “Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”

So groups of slaves in Civil War-era movies should include asian and white people? Okay, sure.

[PIF]

Sounds like its guaranteed to have lots of homos and lesbians - will it include bestiality also? Inquiring minds and all.

Women will, of course, take hardened warriors down like flies, killed in seconds by the dozen. Especially the midget women. Everyone wants to look ‘up’ to midget women as heroines .... sure.

“contemptuous towards Tolkien fans” and Tolkien. The story takes place 10s of thousands of years ago, so why would it reflect modern races and cultures? It will bomb big time. Amazon should tremble and shake with fear - we had it with the woke crap.

Mess with the best, get messed up.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

I’m sure Tolkien would be down for some Hip-Hop graffiti artists in Middle Earth.

There hasn’t been any good unique movies or TV shows that have come out since at least 2005.

What made LOTR create fans was it’s adherence to the original novels. Deviate from that and this will fail.

[mewzilla]

Amazon to the viewing public: You will eat your crap sandwich and LIKE IT.

[RayChuang88]

But yet, Amazon is wiling to part ways with US$1 billion on such a project. Why? Becuase that’s a monetary rounding error for a company of that size.

[skeeter]

Added Tolkien scholar Mariana Rios Maldonado, “Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”

Right. I remember how loudly the usual suspects bitched when they decided the Orks looked too black.

[TheDon]

Goodbye whitey!

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

The ensemble cast is completely unknown to me. Ensemble my ass. You probably have to be under 35 to know a single cast member.

[Timmy]

Frankly, I have no problems with black or Hispanic elves, as long as the actors are not selected based on color, but on merit. That’s what acting is.

[punknpuss]

Does Amazon really think that black and hispanic folks are into the LOTR? I don’t believe it for a second.

[Agatsu77]

F-ing up another classic.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Added Tolkien scholar Mariana Rios Maldonado, “Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”

The ones who actually read the books and learned that the only “swarthy men” were from the South and acted as allies of Sauron.

[sphinx]

I would worry more about the writing than the color of the actors. And sticking close to the source material, in tone as well as narrative. Tolkien left plenty of Second Age source material in the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle Earth, etc. Son Christopher pulled most of this together after his father’s death, but it’s canonical. The showrunners need to be kept on a very short leash. I’m ok with mixed race elves as long as they speak Sindarian without an accent.