Hobbit Casting Agent Fired For Dismissing Non-White Hobbits

[diebane]

If you think this through: how would hobbits be black? It isn't that hot in the Shire, is it? Has Tolkien written anything specific about this?

mfG diebane

 

[Grufflenark]

If you think this through: how would hobbits be black? It isn't that hot in the Shire, is it? Has Tolkien written anything specific about this?

mfG diebane

Well I at least know he NEVER stated it was hot there in either the books or the movies.

Its just stupid that they think this is "racist" because Hobbits are white, black Hobbits does not make sense.

 

[Sorafrosty]

I am certainly not seeing why there shouldn't be hobbits of any skin colour. I wouldn't mind that, simply because it would seem natural to my eye. Everyone, even hobbits, is different, no?

EDIT: Geographically speaking, I understand, but it doesn't bother me at all, really.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Oh also, PayJ567 is a cancerous smear on the underwear of humanity who, like all noxious stains, must be treated with polite disdain in company and sad pitying laughter when he has left the room.

Stiffkittin is a godly gift to the otherwise-squalid hopelessness of humanity who, like the greatest of thinkers, must be put on a plinth and admired for his witty and original use of the concept of "laughing with pity" and "growing tired of your once-humourous efforts to prove me wrong, trolls".

Matter has antimatter. The Troll has the Antitroll - a being who seeks out the common troll and states it is "amused" by the "flailings" of the "pathetic" troll, and uses "airquotes" a "lot" of the "time".

PayJ is twice the man you will ever be! He stands for freedom of speech, non-sequiturs and half a slice of bacon for every second-born.

VOTE PAYJ ON NOVEMBER 2ND! It PAYS to be with PAYJ!

 

[Chameliondude]

Wow, i can understand being offended if it was for a desk job or something but its an acting job, they discriminate on looks and talent, thats literally how it has been forever, not because they are racists or bigoted, its because a better suited person will make the characters, and therefore the movie more believable and better because of it, this will make the film more money. Besides the fact, no black tooks were ever mentioned in the books, and none have been cast in the films so far so it would seem out of place to change this now so late in the game, and if you did put them in seeing as its a prequel, people would ask where they went inbetween the end of this and the lotr.

If you are going to get angry at this then get angry at the producers of transformers not casting a less atrractive but better at acting person for the role that megan foxx got, they discriminate to make money, it shouldnt be offensive because its like every other industry who discriminate to get the best workers to make the most money for the company.....

 

[RoBi3.0]

I am certainly not seeing why there shouldn't be hobbits of any skin colour. I wouldn't mind that, simply because it would seem natural to my eye. Everyone, even hobbits, is different, no?

EDIT: Geographically speaking, I understand, but it doesn't bother me at all, really.

If this wear a movie about the Shire in the 6th of 7th age of middle earth where gaint highways stretch across middle-earth from the Grey Heavens to Mordor and everyone owned a car and on the weekends hopped on a plane to visit the Mordor resort and spa, then fine that is completely possible.

But Hobbits of color in the 3rd age of middle earth makes about as much sense as having white people in a movie about what Africa was like pre-European colonization.

 

[Nukey]

All hobbits are white, short and basically children/midgets, it's a known fact. It's not racist if you're only casting whites to stay true to cannon; kinda like why we've never seen a white guy star as Martin Luther King or Malcom X, and why we've never seen any black Nazis in WW2 flicks.

To the man who fired the casting director: You're a fucking idiot.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I don't quite remember if any of Tolkien's books specified if Hobbits were all one skin color or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. And if so I don't see why looking for "light-skinned" people to play Hobbits is wrong. I mean if all the characters are white and they want to stick to the story then they need white actors. I remember watching one of the film versions of Hamlet where there were black actors used throughout. It was a little jarring as the whole thing takes place in Denmark. Last time I checked there weren't that many people of African decent in Denmark. I understand that the actors were cast according to their skill, not their race; but if every other Hobbit is light-skinned and you see one darker-skinned one, that would be pretty odd.

The person was fired to probably make sure that people didn't start accusing the movie or the people in charge of making the movie racist.

Although the fact that only female actors had to be light-skinned to be Hobbits is pretty weird...

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Surprise!!

Well there we go. Apparently there were darker-skinned hobbits in the LotR universe. Now it doesn't give much description on how dark their skin was, just that it was "browner", but that could run anything from a Mediterranean sort of "dark" skin to what you'd see from native Africans. I imagine that they weren't too dark, but they could have some pretty dark-skinned actors in the movie and be backed up by the books.

 

[ugeine]

I'll say again in case I was to fast for you.

Based off Yorkshire like area, not Yorkshire itself. For example Dwarfs in some fantasy settings are loosely based off of the Scottish stereotype, loud arrogant, drunkards but rather good fighters.

Now not all Scots are 5ft tall and clad in chain mail because you see these kinds of dwarfs are BASED off a stereotype just as the Shire and its peoples are based around the Yorkshire area in England there is a difference.

I'm sorry for coming off as rather insulting here but I'm tired of people trying to bastardise classic stories and novels. You don't exactly have a white man to play a African tribes man set in the 1700 do you?

Just like in the EarthSea books the main characters are black and therefore should be played by black actors and not whites.

The Shire is a bit more like The West Midlands then Yorkshire, you're talking about the wrong county.

But The Shire is mainly just based on these tired old stereotypes of happy rural folk of the Olde English countryside that never really existed, in reality England was nothing like that.

The Shire is based on English folklore and legend, not England itself, which is why the matter of race doesn't come into it.

And I'd be really wary about calling Scottish people loud, drunk and arrogant.

 

[JDKJ]

I don't quite remember if any of Tolkien's books specified if Hobbits were all one skin color or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. And if so I don't see why looking for "light-skinned" people to play Hobbits is wrong. I mean if all the characters are white and they want to stick to the story then they need white actors. I remember watching one of the film versions of Hamlet where there were black actors used throughout. It was a little jarring as the whole thing takes place in Denmark. Last time I checked there weren't that many people of African decent in Denmark. I understand that the actors were cast according to their skill, not their race; but if every other Hobbit is light-skinned and you see one darker-skinned one, that would be pretty odd.

The person was fired to probably make sure that people didn't start accusing the movie or the people in charge of making the movie racist.

Although the fact that only female actors had to be light-skinned to be Hobbits is pretty weird...

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Surprise!!

Well there we go. Apparently there were darker-skinned hobbits in the LotR universe. Now it doesn't give much description on how dark their skin was, just that it was "browner", but that could run anything from a Mediterranean sort of "dark" skin to what you'd see from native Africans. I imagine that they weren't too dark, but they could have some pretty dark-skinned actors in the movie and be backed up by the books.

At least you stated your position with enough doubt to leave you some wiggle room to wiggle out of if need be -- and, as it turned out, need be. You could have been like that idiot, Nukey, who posted that "[a]ll hobbits are white, short and basically children/midgets, it's a known fact" (and who probably has never read a word of Tolkien but, rather, has only seen the film trilogy).

 

[Spencer Petersen]

The way I see it, the director may have had ideas to include some hobbits of different racial backgrounds for his own interpretation, but the casting agent decided to dismiss it for their own reasons. Probably less caused by perceived racism, probably more just from differing opinions.

Say for example the director wanted some specific actors for his work, and the casting agent completely ignored him and instead hired his own favorite actors. The casting agents job is not to decide the direction of the work, its to go and try to hire those who the director chooses.

 

[Lilani]

They just threw them under the bus. They wanted to demonstrate that they deal with racism in a "no-nonsense" manner, so they fired them.

The whole thing is a bunch of crap. It's not the casting director's fault Tolkien made essentially everyone on Middle Earth white. The Hobbit was published in 1937 for crying out loud. Personally, I applaud them for not wanting to change that just so they could get the gold star of "political correctness."

EDIT: I just spotted the quote about how there were, in fact, certain Hobbits that were darker-skinned. So fine, hire a few then.

But that doesn't change the fact that sometimes certain roles call for certain physical features. That's just how acting is. If they want a huge group of white people, they'll ask for a huge group of white people. If they want a huge group of black people, they'll call for a huge group of black people. Same goes for Asians, Inuits, and Middle-Easterners. To call a casting director racist for needing a certain physical appearance for a role is just ignorant.

 

[JDKJ]

For all the posters who keep on foolishly insisting that Hobbits can only be white, you may find that it occasionally pay dividends to actually read a post or two of the other posters to this thread. As was noted by zala-taichou, with accurate quotation of The Lord of the Rings (page 4 thereof):

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Now, if you wanna read the above and keep on insisting that there weren't any brown-skinned Hobbits in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, then suit yourself. But don't mind me if I keep on concluding that you're dumber than a red brick.

 

[VicunaBlue]

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Nice. You win 100,000 internets for that one. And you should be making about 99.9% of the posters to this thread wonder why they're so quick to run their mouths about that which they know absolutely nothing.

I'd like to agree, but all the hobbits,except for Gollum, in Tolkien's main works are Harfoots from The Shire. The Stoors are from a different region, the Gladden Fields.

While the Hobbits should be depicted by white actors, the casting agent really seems like kind of an ass for putting that bit in. If you do things like that, you should subtly hint at them, not go and add a comment like that without permission.

 

[JDKJ]

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Nice. You win 100,000 internets for that one. And you should be making about 99.9% of the posters to this thread wonder why they're so quick to run their mouths about that which they know absolutely nothing.

I'd like to agree, but all the hobbits in Tolkien's main works are Harfoots from The Shire. The Stoors are from a different region, the Gladden Fields.

While the Hobbits should be depicted by white actors, the casting agent really seems like kind of an ass for putting that bit in. If you do things like that, you should subtly hint at them, not go and add a comment like that without permission.

I'm totally confused. What are you trying to say? It's the Harfoot Hobbits that are brown-skinned. Or, at least, "more brown-skinned" (which could well be taken to mean that Hobbits other than the Harfoots are indeed brown-skinned themselves).

 

[Madara XIII]

This is just damage control, they're still going to cast white people only.

And you know why? Because LoTR is set in a medievil European setting. Guess how many Pakinstanis where living in Europe back in those days...

^ This guy said it best.

I am severely distrought about how everyone wants to go about these so called cries of racism. A guy got fired because of the sheer stupidity of a person who didn't fit the bill.

 

[VicunaBlue]

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Nice. You win 100,000 internets for that one. And you should be making about 99.9% of the posters to this thread wonder why they're so quick to run their mouths about that which they know absolutely nothing.

I'd like to agree, but all the hobbits in Tolkien's main works are Harfoots from The Shire. The Stoors are from a different region, the Gladden Fields.

While the Hobbits should be depicted by white actors, the casting agent really seems like kind of an ass for putting that bit in. If you do things like that, you should subtly hint at them, not go and add a comment like that without permission.

I'm totally confused. What are you trying to say? It's the Harfoot Hobbits that are brown-skinned. Or, at least, "more brown-skinned" (which could well be taken to mean that Hobbits other than the Harfoots are indeed brown-skinned themselves).

Oh crap. Seems I don't know my middle earth trivia quite as well as I thought. Sorry about that.

They probably just want to keep hobbits the way people are used to seeing them, the way they're depicted in TLOTR.

 

[Gingerman]

I'll say again in case I was to fast for you.

Based off Yorkshire like area, not Yorkshire itself. For example Dwarfs in some fantasy settings are loosely based off of the Scottish stereotype, loud arrogant, drunkards but rather good fighters.

Now not all Scots are 5ft tall and clad in chain mail because you see these kinds of dwarfs are BASED off a stereotype just as the Shire and its peoples are based around the Yorkshire area in England there is a difference.

I'm sorry for coming off as rather insulting here but I'm tired of people trying to bastardise classic stories and novels. You don't exactly have a white man to play a African tribes man set in the 1700 do you?

Just like in the EarthSea books the main characters are black and therefore should be played by black actors and not whites.

The Shire is a bit more like The West Midlands then Yorkshire, you're talking about the wrong county.

But The Shire is mainly just based on these tired old stereotypes of happy rural folk of the Olde English countryside that never really existed, in reality England was nothing like that.

The Shire is based on English folklore and legend, not England itself, which is why the matter of race doesn't come into it.

And I'd be really wary about calling Scottish people loud, drunk and arrogant.

West Midlands in medieval times coupled with English folk lore. Which is the reason why I dont think they should plug Asians or black people in as it wont fit and wont be staying true to the setting.

Also I'm Scottish by the by and I'm currently drunk, loud and quite arrogant

 

[RoBi3.0]

I don't quite remember if any of Tolkien's books specified if Hobbits were all one skin color or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. And if so I don't see why looking for "light-skinned" people to play Hobbits is wrong. I mean if all the characters are white and they want to stick to the story then they need white actors. I remember watching one of the film versions of Hamlet where there were black actors used throughout. It was a little jarring as the whole thing takes place in Denmark. Last time I checked there weren't that many people of African decent in Denmark. I understand that the actors were cast according to their skill, not their race; but if every other Hobbit is light-skinned and you see one darker-skinned one, that would be pretty odd.

The person was fired to probably make sure that people didn't start accusing the movie or the people in charge of making the movie racist.

Although the fact that only female actors had to be light-skinned to be Hobbits is pretty weird...

And I quote LotR page 4:

"Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter,..."

Surprise!!

Well there we go. Apparently there were darker-skinned hobbits in the LotR universe. Now it doesn't give much description on how dark their skin was, just that it was "browner", but that could run anything from a Mediterranean sort of "dark" skin to what you'd see from native Africans. I imagine that they weren't too dark, but they could have some pretty dark-skinned actors in the movie and be backed up by the books.

Interesting indeed. I am ashamed to not have known that. That whole section of the prologue is a very interesting read.

After rereading the article it is clear that the issue with the casting director was that he decided that female hobbits would be only white. That is a problem as there would certainly be non-white hobbit females. The guy should have been fired for being a moron.