Hobbit Casting Agent Fired For Dismissing Non-White Hobbits

[JohnGD117]

Sigh.
Everyone seems to be making this out as something Tolkien did by accident. He never specified skin color in any general description of the hobbit species. Check the books. Therefore, ethnic Hobbits are technically "allowed."

HOWEVER, Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings out of jealousy. Most ethnicities have elaborate cultural creation myths from Japan to Greece to the Aborigines. England, however, only had left-overs from a smattering of Scandinavian and Roman myths. Tolkien set about to create a myth for his ethnicity.

As such, casting a black or Indian hobbit is not impossible or necessarily a debasement of the material, but is a legitimate criterion for staying faithful to the initial intent of the author.

And the original intent of the author was not racist. It was simply an attempt at giving a people something that they felt that they hadn't had before, and any exploited minority should be able to identify with that.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Sigh.
Everyone seems to be making this out as something Tolkien did by accident. He never specified skin color in any description of hobbits. Check the books. Therefore, ethnic Hobbits are technically "allowed."

HOWEVER, Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings out of jealousy. Most ethnicities have elaborate cultural creation myths from Japan to Greece to the Aborigines. England, however, only had left-overs from a smattering of Scandinavian and Roman myths. Tolkien set about to create a myth for his ethnicity.

As such, casting a black or Indian hobbit is not impossible or necessarily a debasement of the material, but is a legitimate criterion for staying faithful to the initial intent of the author.

And the original intent of the author was not racist. It was simply an attempt at giving a people something that they felt that they hadn't had before, and any exploited minority should be able to identify with that.

You should really read the prologue of LotR specifically the section titled Concerning Hobbits in it there are 3 breeds of Hobbits mentioned as well as their skin tone in relation to each other.

 

[JDKJ]

Sigh.
Everyone seems to be making this out as something Tolkien did by accident. He never specified skin color in any general description of the hobbit species. Check the books. Therefore, ethnic Hobbits are technically "allowed."

HOWEVER, Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings out of jealousy. Most ethnicities have elaborate cultural creation myths from Japan to Greece to the Aborigines. England, however, only had left-overs from a smattering of Scandinavian and Roman myths. Tolkien set about to create a myth for his ethnicity.

As such, casting a black or Indian hobbit is not impossible or necessarily a debasement of the material, but is a legitimate criterion for staying faithful to the initial intent of the author.

And the original intent of the author was not racist. It was simply an attempt at giving a people something that they felt that they hadn't had before, and any exploited minority should be able to identify with that.

Read Tolkien. According to his own words, the Harfoot Hobbits are "brown-skinned." And Harfoot Hobbits make up the majority of Hobbits on the Shire. So, technically, brown-skinned Hobbits aren't just "allowed," they're "required."

 

[JDKJ]

Sigh.
Everyone seems to be making this out as something Tolkien did by accident. He never specified skin color in any description of hobbits. Check the books. Therefore, ethnic Hobbits are technically "allowed."

HOWEVER, Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings out of jealousy. Most ethnicities have elaborate cultural creation myths from Japan to Greece to the Aborigines. England, however, only had left-overs from a smattering of Scandinavian and Roman myths. Tolkien set about to create a myth for his ethnicity.

As such, casting a black or Indian hobbit is not impossible or necessarily a debasement of the material, but is a legitimate criterion for staying faithful to the initial intent of the author.

And the original intent of the author was not racist. It was simply an attempt at giving a people something that they felt that they hadn't had before, and any exploited minority should be able to identify with that.

You should really read the prologue of LotR specifically the section titled Concerning Hobbits in it there are 3 breeds of Hobbits mentioned as well as the skin tone in relation to each other.

How about we divvy up the work? You take the next one and I'll take the one after that and we keep on alternating that way? : ]

 

[RoBi3.0]

Sigh.
Everyone seems to be making this out as something Tolkien did by accident. He never specified skin color in any description of hobbits. Check the books. Therefore, ethnic Hobbits are technically "allowed."

HOWEVER, Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings out of jealousy. Most ethnicities have elaborate cultural creation myths from Japan to Greece to the Aborigines. England, however, only had left-overs from a smattering of Scandinavian and Roman myths. Tolkien set about to create a myth for his ethnicity.

As such, casting a black or Indian hobbit is not impossible or necessarily a debasement of the material, but is a legitimate criterion for staying faithful to the initial intent of the author.

And the original intent of the author was not racist. It was simply an attempt at giving a people something that they felt that they hadn't had before, and any exploited minority should be able to identify with that.

You should really read the prologue of LotR specifically the section titled Concerning Hobbits in it there are 3 breeds of Hobbits mentioned as well as the skin tone in relation to each other.

How about we divvy up the work? You take the next one and I'll take the one after that and we keep on alternating that way? : ]

sounds good it is getting tough to troll this tread and MMO at the same time.

 

[TeeBs]

I don't think this is racist, I mean its a movie. If there was a Black Nazi in a WW2 flick, it would be a horrible movie.

 

[RedDeadFred]

they were white in LOTR movies. It would just be weird if their skin colors were different in the Hobbit.

 

[Paulie92]

the obvious point here that I'm sure everyone before me has picked up on is Hobbits are short light skinned people with hairy feet. The other thing is if you go for a role as an extra a purely visual role and you don't look the part that seems like a pretty good reason not to get it. It annoys me that the P.R. guy got fired to save face that's pretty weak.

 

[JDKJ]

they were white in LOTR movies. It would just be weird if their skin colors were different in the Hobbit.

Which is kinda like saying that if I made a mistake yesterday, I should make the same mistake today because to do anything to correct yesterday's mistake would be "weird."

 

[RoBi3.0]

they were white in LOTR movies. It would just be weird if their skin colors were different in the Hobbit.

It would be weird if bilbo was suddenly black,yes, but other hobbits no. I would imagine that the movie will be spending a bit more time in the shire then LotR, so if would be safe to assume that a large simply of hobbits would be seen.

Also the main hobbit characters were white in the movie because they were white in the book the Tooks are descendants of the Fallohide breed of hobbits which are noted as having fair skin and hair. Bilbo was related to the Tooks. Pippin was a Took and Frobo was Bilbo's cousin and therefor part Took. Merry was a Brandybuck who were also descendants of the Fallohidish breed.

That doesn't many that random Joe Hobbit couldn't be of color.

Edit Frodo was also part Brandybuck

 

[RJ Dalton]

I get the impression the agent has been fired to save PR. Hobbits are all white, simple as - its not a racist thing but a point of fact. I mean if you really wanted to start getting technical its all done to where they sit in middle earth, based on the weather conditions and so on. Its the same reason why you wouldn't see any black dwarfs or elfs either.

While I agree, the thing I find interesting is that he specifically made this restriction for women and not men. I'm not going to cry racist over it, but that is really odd.

 

[JDKJ]

they were white in LOTR movies. It would just be weird if their skin colors were different in the Hobbit.

It would be weird if bilbo was suddenly black,yes, but other hobbits no. I would imagine that the movie will be spending a bit more time in the shire then LotR, so if would be safe to assume that a large simply of hobbits would be seen.

Also the main hobbit characters were white in the movie because they were white in the book the Tooks are descendants of the Fallohide breed of hobbits which are noted as having fair skin and hair. Bilbo was related to the Tooks. Pippin was a Took and Frobo was Bilbo's cousin and therefor part Took. Merry was a Brandybuck who were also descendants of the Fallohidish breed.

That doesn't many that random Joe Hobbit couldn't be of color.

Edit Frodo was also part Brandybuck

And Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias.

Just messin' witcha, man.

 

[Biosophilogical]

-snip-
TLDR: Political correctness is all well and good, until it starts ignoring the historical cultures that inspired, and the contextual settings within which a story takes place.

Actually, political correctness isn't "all well and good". When it comes right down to it, the only thing wrong with racism is that the discrimination is made unfairly/without due cause. I mean, discrimination is perfectly acceptable when the discriminated aspect is a valid reason to discriminate; I mean, you wouldn't have a paraplegic as a tight-rope walker (maybe a roller if they were especially talented but let's stick with 'walker'), so why would you cast a person with dark skin to play the role of a light-skinned individual (the hobbits in this case)? It isn't undue discrimination, it's common sense, and there is a world of difference between the two.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

You wouldn't get a white actor to potray Fifty Cent in a biopic about him, would you?

 

[JDKJ]

-snip-
TLDR: Political correctness is all well and good, until it starts ignoring the historical cultures that inspired, and the contextual settings within which a story takes place.

Actually, political correctness isn't "all well and good". When it comes right down to it, the only thing wrong with racism is that the discrimination is made unfairly/without due cause. I mean, discrimination is perfectly acceptable when the discriminated aspect is a valid reason to discriminate; I mean, you wouldn't have a paraplegic as a tight-rope walker (maybe a roller if they were especially talented but let's stick with 'walker'), so why would you cast a person with dark skin to play the role of a light-skinned individual (the hobbits in this case)? It isn't undue discrimination, it's common sense, and there is a world of difference between the two.

It's not "common sense." It's discrimination, damn it!! There's no good reason why I got rejected for that job as a Hooter's Girl. So what that I don't have any titties? I need titties to carry plates of chicken wings and pitchers of beer? Why? I'm not gonna use my titties (if I had any) to carry anything, am I? It's gender discrimination, plain and simple, and they're lucky I didn't sue their asses!!

 

[hightide]

And no matter how many times I post to the thread that the Harfoots were not white.

I wonder if there's any correlation between ability to read and willingness to make a "Hobbits are white" post. Perhaps the less the former, the greater the latter.

I disagree, why didn't he just come out and say it then? Why did he have to hid it? "Browner of Skin", in the context about a world based on Europe and in the much less multi racial time when Tolken wrote it seems like a slam dunk to me. But you don't care about the truth so I guess I shouldn't either.

 

[FurinKazanNZ]

I thought that Hobbits were all Irish or something?

 

[Screamarie]

I think what alot of people are missing here is that the casting director only asked for light skinned WOMEN! If he was truly trying to do this to be to true to middle earth, then the men would have to be light skinned too. I don't disagree that Hobbits are light-skinned, I'm just saying that he's really setting himself up for the fall.

 

[Korolev]

Hm.

You know, Tolkien's works were pretty explicit about the skin colour of many of the protagonists and antagonists. It always bothered me, since it always seemed a tad bit racist. All the good guys were invariably described as having fair or light skin, whereas all the bad guys had dark skin.

Well, whatever. Tolkien lived in a different time than ours, so I'll let his semi-racism slide. Regardless, Hobbits are described as being slightly hairy, short and fair skinned. Sorry, but that's the fiction. Brown or Black Hobbits just don't fit the fiction.

It would be like.... getting a black actor to portray King Henry VIII. King Henry wasn't black. Now, I know, King Henry was a real character and obviously hobbits are not real characters - they're fictional. But re-writing stuff to make it racially friendly is going a bit too far. What's next - re-writing Shakespear's plays?

You know what? I know some Chinese friends, and indeed, I'm half Chinese myself. I'm going to go to the next production of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" and get my friends to demand a role as an extra. Sure it'll look slightly strange and more than a bit kooky to see Chinese people playing the parts of English lords and ladies in the 18th Century, and sure, it betrays the fiction tremendously.

But I have a trump card - I'll say that if you don't hire my friends, my and their feelings will be hurt. And then they'll HAVE TO DO IT! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! My evil plan to force my way into any film I want is working!

Look - I know actors of colour have a tough life - shoehorned into stereotypical roles, not given good roles because of the dominance of white writers writing from a white perspective and what not. But this is silly and petty. Sorry, but hobbit's aren't dark skinned. Read the books. Look at the authorized illustrations. You might say that Tolkien's works are more than a bit racist for having all the characters light skinned and I wouldn't disagree with you (although I would point out that Tolkien did not grow up in Multicultural Britain - he grew up in mono-culture Britain and thus, had the concept that cultures would generally consist of people of the same physical appearance. That's just the time period he lived in.)

But at the end of the day, seeing dark skinned hobbits just doesn't fit with the fiction of Tolkien's works - just as having white actors play the role of Chinese people in East Asia wouldn't work out either.

Again, you can say "Hobbits aren't real" - and again I would say that the characters of "Avatar-the last airbender" aren't real either, yet the Asian community (using the British definition of Asian) threw a complete FIT over the fact that the roles were given to white actors instead of Asian Actors.

I understand the racism Asian people have faced, given the fact that my mother IS Asian. She has been discriminated against. In public. I know it hurts. I know it can scar you. I myself have not been discriminated against, given the fact that I look more like my father than my mother, but my brother, who looks more like our mother than our dad, has been the subject of bullying and harassment in school. It was unpleasant. Racism is evil, and it needs to be fought.

But this is just stupid. Getting dark skinned hobbits doesn't solve the wealth inequality, or the education gaps or the health gaps or anything else for that matter. It's just PC people popping up and demanding that TOTAL EQUALITY must come before ANYTHING ELSE, EVER. And I agree that equality should be a priority.

But equality works both ways. If they demand that people of asian descent be given parts in Tolkien's works, then they can't complain when caucasian people get roles in Asian films or Asian-themed films (like Avatar the last air bender).