exactly, and when did Tolkien mention that hobbits were of varying skin color? now, he didnt exactly mention that they were all white, either, but it will raise some questions when Bilbo's cousin turns out to be black, if you get my meaningGiantRedButton said:
Hobbit Casting Agent Fired For Dismissing Non-White Hobbits
- Thread starter Elizabeth Grunewald
- Start date
Don't really see the problem, it's more geographical, from all I can see middle earth seems, like fable, to be based in a medival england, and due to our geographical location we have light skin, it wouldn't make sense if characters were black as there would be no explanation for the pigmentation of their skin.
It's good that they put a stop to this, and even if they hadn't they could at least tell people up front so they didn't have to wait. I don't think they should exclude anyone, especially since this is just casting for extras, it's not like it would ruin any "authenticity" anyone could claim from a little diversity in people in the background.
No, what I'm more disappointed about is that this is the most news I've heard about the production of the Hobbit for a while. I hadn't even heard it was being made again. What's more, at 5' 4", I could have been an extra if I had known about this. Oh well.
No, what I'm more disappointed about is that this is the most news I've heard about the production of the Hobbit for a while. I hadn't even heard it was being made again. What's more, at 5' 4", I could have been an extra if I had known about this. Oh well.
I do have to agree with you. And that they wouldn't rely on the character's coveting of a material object (i.e., the ring) as obvious support of the proposition of Gollum's Jewish roots doesn't say much in support of the quality of their scholarship.teh_gunslinger said:
I know I was outraged! Just because I'm 6'3 doesn't mean I don't have the same rights as 8 inches shorter then me to play a Hobbit. Sure I don't fit one of the basic criteria of the character, but that's not the point!darthzew said:
But in all seriousness, if she knew enough to read that "Hey, the auditions will be here and you must be at least this short and light-skinned" why did she stop reading before the end? Probably decided before hand she would go anyways and just start shit if it came up. Some people just go out of their way looking to be offended so they can make themselves feel better about the world not being rainbows and cookies.
On certain medieval dramas set in England, there are a lot of non white people, I'm sure this is highly unlikely and removes the plausibility of the show, perhaps it would do the same to the Hobbit
You're all missing the point..
If the production team had decided that the hobbits were all going to be white and passed that on to the casting agent, it would have been fine.
What this person did was to make an individual decision based on a personal interpretation of the book/universe and enforced it without the support of anyone else.
It's like if the guy who colourizes the frames decided that middle earth was actually all a bright pink colour and colourized everything pink without telling anyone else.
This person is being fired for making a stupid independent decision, not out of political correctness gone mad or any of that other Daily Mail bullshit.
If the production team had decided that the hobbits were all going to be white and passed that on to the casting agent, it would have been fine.
What this person did was to make an individual decision based on a personal interpretation of the book/universe and enforced it without the support of anyone else.
It's like if the guy who colourizes the frames decided that middle earth was actually all a bright pink colour and colourized everything pink without telling anyone else.
This person is being fired for making a stupid independent decision, not out of political correctness gone mad or any of that other Daily Mail bullshit.
Do non-white people really want to be represented in Middle Earth? A Peter Jackson Middle Earth at that. Think about it.
So you need to levy your opinions on others in order to encourage their viewpoints? I think people have opinions on news whether its flavored or not.Virgil said:
I wish I could remember where I read it, but there was a piece that went through the individual hobbit families, and explained who they were based on. Being scottish I remember the Tooks, 'cos they're based on us apparently; that's why Pippin is ginger. I'm pretty sure the Brandybucks were loosely based on folks from Yorkshire or somewhere nearby.Karma168 said:
I love that people are getting offended by this, but not the Christian influences of Tolkien's works. Oh, wait, that'll be the next thing, someone complaining they can't possibly play their role because it goes against their religion.
These things always attract trouble, especially when people don't read the works first; yes, the LotR movies were pretty good, but they miss out on explaining a lot of stuff that was in the books. People need to do their homework.
/sigh
Race Card played yet again over bullshit reasons. The hobbits in the book were all light skinned IIRC. I don't doubt that if Middle Earth was like the real world that there were other Hobbit enclaves were different ethic Hobbits lived, but Jesus this is like complaining about a movie set in 5th century Japan only had Japanese people in it.
Race Card played yet again over bullshit reasons. The hobbits in the book were all light skinned IIRC. I don't doubt that if Middle Earth was like the real world that there were other Hobbit enclaves were different ethic Hobbits lived, but Jesus this is like complaining about a movie set in 5th century Japan only had Japanese people in it.
Tolkein never said that all of the Hobbits were white, we just assume that. I think that's the main issue, is that we all just assume that all of his characters were white, when it was never stated.electric discordian said:
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...
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...
Its a pretty safe assumption as he was writing in Britain in the 1950's that hotbed of racial diversity! You could have thrown a rock and not hit a Black person and if you did no one would have cared! As we were horrendously racist!DuctTapeJedi said:
electric discordian said:
It's not a safe assumption. Matter of fact, it turns out to be a dumb assumption.zala-taichou said:
It's about as dumb as suggesting that Britain in the 1950s wasn't racially diverse (at least regarding its larger, more metropolitan cities). Never heard of a West Indian immigrant (who, racially, were for the most part Blacks)? They started appearing in large numbers on the shores of Britain in the late 1940s and by the late 1950s had established entire neighborhoods in which they were the dominant racial group.
