Hobbit Casting Agent Fired For Dismissing Non-White Hobbits

[JDKJ]

Racism = wrong

However:

Hobbits = White


Also, if the casting call was for white people, It's kind of that Pakistani lady's fault that she was standing in line all that time because she didn't check the call.

Did you read the part of the article that states only women of brown skin were refused the opportunity to audition? If you were a brown-skinned male actor, you could audition. Explain that piece of nonsense with more nonsense like "Hobbits = White." Is it that "Female Hobbits = White but Male Hobbits =/= White?"

 

[UltraParanoia]

Christ, the first few pages had me laughing my ass off.

OT: Pakistani woman is retarded. Darkest you're going to get out of medieval Europe is a Welshman, or if you're lucky, a Spainiard (More than likely the basis for them there darker hobbits, as Spainiards are darker than regular Euros without being fucking middle eastern or African.)
Since I don't think the Tooks had a Harfoot in the woodpile, and since I don't remember reading about them fucking ever, we can safely assume that they fucked off somewhere else.


(Coincidentally, Gollum was a Welshman.The short, theiving, psychotic little bastard that he was, it's kinda obvious)

 

[Cmd. Shepard]

The idea that there's racism involved in this is completely false because the way Tolkien wrote The Hobbit wasn't meant to have a multi-racial collection of tiny folk. Back when he wrote the book he would've been fried for writing a group of multi-cultural folk in....book was circa 1900....Hobbits are meant to be white, so are dwarves, and elves....it's got nothing to do with racism and merely with the way Tolkien wrote the book. The idea that everything needs to be soooooo unbelievably politically correct these days or people whine and complain is childish. So what, the cast needs to be white, that's the way it was written....you want a multi-cultural cast then don't cast for the Hobbit.

 

[JDKJ]

The idea that there's racism involved in this is completely false because the way Tolkien wrote The Hobbit wasn't meant to have a multi-racial collection of tiny folk. Back when he wrote the book he would've been fried for writing a group of multi-cultural folk in....book was circa 1900....Hobbits are meant to be white, so are dwarves, and elves....it's got nothing to do with racism and merely with the way Tolkien wrote the book. The idea that everything needs to be soooooo unbelievably politically correct these days or people whine and complain is childish. So what, the cast needs to be white, that's the way it was written....you want a multi-cultural cast then don't cast for the Hobbit.

The Hobbit was published in 1937. Even with a "circa" qualification, you're off by more than a few years. And you're overlooking the fact that the requirement of light skin applied only to women. Dark-skinned men could audition for the role of a Hobbit. That fact tends to create a gaping hole in your "Hobbits are white so that's how they cast for Hobbits" argument.

 

[Harlief]

With the criteria for casting "light-skinned" someone was bound to kick up a fuss. I'm Caucasian, what this girl has done would be like me applying for the main part in a Martin Luther King Jr biopic.
For some roles you just have to look the part, and hobbits in LOTR are the mythical analogies of pre-industrial English farmer types.

 

[Soylent Dave]

It's possible this has been pointed out, but I got sick of wading through the racism after a page or two.

At what point does Tolkien describe the skin colour of the hobbits? He doesn't really describe the skin colour of many people in Lord of the Rings (He might do it with the Southrons / Haradrim, but I can't remember).


He describes hobbits at length in the foreword of LotR, and doesn't think to mention a specific skin colour when talking about hobbits in general (the closest he gets is 'red cheeked', which you can get with most ethnicities).

He does point out that they all have curly hair, though (and it's nearly always brown) - which is actually more common in people who aren't white.

He tells us that halflings in general come from sunnier climes (and so could well have a tendency towards being dark-skinned). He specifically points out that the Harfoot branch of hobbits are "browner of skin" (whereas the Fallohides are "fairer of skin and also of hair") - something that seems to indicate ethnic diversity within the Shire as well as non-white Hobbits.

If you assume the hobbits are white, it's probably because you are white; a reader tends to apply his own norms to whatever he is reading. You can point out that an author also does this - and that if Tolkien didn't see the need to point out someone's skin tone, he probably meant they were 'normal' (i.e. 'like him') - and Tolkien was white. But that's still an inference we're making as readers.

-

We also know from the history of the Dwarves that they tend to live underground - so they'd be pretty damn pale. But we tend to think of them (and cast them) as having a ruddy complexion. And being Scottish - even though Tolkien wanted them to be Norwegian, and gave them Old Norse names.

So it's not like the book is considered all that sacred when it's being turned into a film.

 

[The Stonker]

But all the hobbits which are described in the Hobbit are white?

....

I hate the policy which people have conjured up "There has to be one black guy in the movie or it's racist!!!"
Freaking idiocrasy.

 

[TheEndlessSleep]

Racism = wrong

However:

Hobbits = White


Also, if the casting call was for white people, It's kind of that Pakistani lady's fault that she was standing in line all that time because she didn't check the call.

Did you read the part of the article that states only women of brown skin were refused the opportunity to audition? If you were a brown-skinned male actor, you could audition. Explain that piece of nonsense with more nonsense like "Hobbits = White." Is it that "Female Hobbits = White but Male Hobbits =/= White?"

My bad, misread it.

Even so:

I don't condone the sexism, but what I said before still stands.

 

[JDKJ]

Racism = wrong

However:

Hobbits = White


Also, if the casting call was for white people, It's kind of that Pakistani lady's fault that she was standing in line all that time because she didn't check the call.

Did you read the part of the article that states only women of brown skin were refused the opportunity to audition? If you were a brown-skinned male actor, you could audition. Explain that piece of nonsense with more nonsense like "Hobbits = White." Is it that "Female Hobbits = White but Male Hobbits =/= White?"

My bad, misread it.

Even so:

I don't condone the sexism, but what I said before still stands.

If by "what I said before still stands" you're referring to the part about "the casting call was for white people" and everything which follows that statement, then you can let it stand all you want. But that doesn't mean it's not a false statement and that everything which follows it is not an incorrect conclusion.

And I suspect that you may have misread The Hobbit, also (assuming you've ever read it). It doesn't say that Hobbits are white. It says that the majority of the Hobbits on the Shire are of brown skin.

You should try to pay close attention to what you read. That's a good way to avoid looking like a complete moron.

 

[Furious Styles]

Its ridiculous to expect to be cast as a hobbit when you're dark skinned. Hobbits are white, its not racist to want white actors to play them.

But the whole thing about it only applying to women doesn't make sense, though.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

While racsism is bad, I have to agree with him dismissing non-white hobbits. I mean, aren't all hobbits white? Or at least the tooks?

It's like dismissing a white guy for playing a role as a slave in a civil war film, it's not discrimination, it's just what the role asks for.

This world is so stupid...

 

[Verrenxnon]

Did Tolkien expressly state that Hobbits are caucasianoid?

My argument is that, with books being a medium of imagination, wouldn't a person of color imagine the world with other persons of color and only use white people when appropriate?

I can understand everyone's point, but this is one of the moral challenges of adapting to film.

 

[Spartan054]

not pointlessly its to get free money. if people actully tooke half these so called discrimination case to court they would all be thrown out and the plaintiff fined for slander. but then again the legal system has failed...

 

[SadisticPretzel]

"Humphreys was understandably outraged, saying "It's 2010 and I still can't believe I'm being discriminated against because I have brown skin."

You weren't, lady. Tolkein's hobbits were white. You weren't discriminated against because the movie people want to be accurate. Play the race card more!

 

[Coltaculuss]

An ethnically diverse cast in a fantasy film destroys the medieval setting for me, I would have no problem with a handful of ethnic characters showing up as corsairs or merchants from far away lands, but otherwise it would just be silly. And I don't remember many merchants in the Hobbit.

 

[JDKJ]

Those books have been out for upwards of 70 years. People can't claim ignorance on this stuff anymore, theres a statue of limitations on this kind of stuff.

Hobbits are white. The whole thing is supposed to be an allegory for Europe. There are non whites in Tolkin land, but they're from the East and ride elephants and stuff. Try out to be one of those, cuz if you end up hiring non white Hobbits all you're gonna do is piss off the fans for not being true to the books.

In The Hobbit there are characters who ride elephants? Can you provide a citation to The Hobbit that contains this mention of elephants being ridden? Or is this something that occurs only in your own imagination? Like the white Hobbits?

And, FYI, the Moors (a people from Northern Africa of Berber, Black African, and Arab descent) conquered and occupied for more than 800 years the Iberian Peninsula (an area of Europe comprised of what is now known as Spain and Portugal) during the late Medieval period. The influence of the Moors in that area continues to this day and is clearly found in the food, architecture, religion, etc., etc. Western Europe, whatever you may think it is an allegory for, is hardly "white."

 

[Kurokami]

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but aren't all of the people of middle earth white? I have never read any of the books but the only black people I remember were the elephant-riding dudes from the last movie.

Nick Fury. =[

Now instead of playing Nick Fury, he's playing Samuel L Jackson as himself with a name change.

Sorry, I kinda detoured, I think it's their own risk if they wanna grab black hobbits and risk alienating fans in the process. Though I prefer that if they insist on being PC, that they at least have some main characters as black people. (That way it'll hit them worse imo)

 

[JDKJ]

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but aren't all of the people of middle earth white? I have never read any of the books but the only black people I remember were the elephant-riding dudes from the last movie.

Nick Fury. =[

Now instead of playing Nick Fury, he's playing Samuel L Jackson as himself with a name change.

Sorry, I kinda detoured, I think it's their own risk if they wanna grab black hobbits and risk alienating fans in the process. Though I prefer that if they insist on being PC, that they at least have some main characters as black people. (That way it'll hit them worse imo)

And you, my friend, have neatly summed up the true sentiments of many posters to this thread. It's not that Hobbits are white as described by Tolkien and therefore a non-white can't be cast as a Hobbit. Rather, they simply do not want to see a non-white Hobbit. Which, I guess, is their choice. But it'd be a lot more honest of them to just come out of the closet and say so instead of hiding behind all that "Hobbits are white, blah, blah, blah" bullshit.