Can o' worms...

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by davem

It got me wondering - will we now see 'Hobbits of color' (notice I used to American spelling there, as I hold every single American personally responsible for the existence of Political Correctness) just because of this issue - will the Shire now be filled with a glorious racial rainbow simply so the producers can show the world that they are color blind?

Don't point fingers, Davem. You Brits decided to have Sharia law courts, and thus subverted your own judicial system in the name of political correctness.

This whole can o' worms is as indigestible as the aforementioned prepackaged annelids. Aside from parsing out text into indecipherable bits of evidentiary vagueness and monosyllabic minutiae, Tolkien is quite clear on the racial make-up of Hobbits, their place in the prehistoric Northwestern corner of Europe, and their pre-Edwardian proclivities.

Personally, I have no problem with an actor of African descent playing a Hobbit. Just use make-up to present him as an Anglo-featured halfling. Lawrence Olivier had to wear face paint to portray Othello, which is only correct, as Shakespeare presents Othello as a Moorish general in the army of Venice. If it was okay for Sir Larry, it should be okay for an actor with 15 seconds of screentime.

[davem]

Bit more on the issue http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10355/1112307-153.stm

All very interesting. A black Heimdall in the Thor movie is a bit of a surprise to me (recalling my teenage years reading Marvel UK's reprints of the US comics). Mind you, this new approach will at least open up the roles of Luke Cage, The Falcon & The Black Panther to white actors....

Any truth in the rumour that the White Council is now to be called the Rainbow Alliance & will go into battle to the strains of Blue Mink's 'Melting Pot'? Altogether now:

"What we need is a great big melting pot
Big enough to take the world and all its got
And keep it stirring for a hundred years or more
And turn out coffee coloured people by the score"

I'm sure if that was translated into Sindarin it would be truly beautiful....

[Morwen]

What? No mention of the casting controversies for "Prince of Persia" or "The Last Airbender"?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Morwen

What? No mention of the casting controversies for "Prince of Persia" or "The Last Airbender"?

Isn't that rather like a tree falling in the woods and wondering if it makes a sound? Can there be a controversy if no one has watched the movie?

[Morwen]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Isn't that rather like a tree falling in the woods and wondering if it makes a sound? Can there be a controversy if no one has watched the movie?

For a casting controversy no one needs to see the movie. Long before Shyamalan began filming there was discussion about the choice of actors for Airbender, particularly the lead role. Has anyone seen the movie "Thor"? It's not been released as yet but it's been mentioned here. If one set of casting choices can be raised why not others?

[davem]

Interesting tangent to this story:

Huckleberry Finn loses the 'n****r' he loves, thanks to a publisher's ethnic cleansing http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture...nic-cleansing/

I find this interesting - we're (apparently) about to see a multi-racial Middle-earth (on film at least) & a possible crackdown on any appearance of smoking in the films. Will we ever see this kind of 'ethnic cleansing' in the books? Maybe we'll see an edition of the books at some point with the smoking excised - not to mention all those 'negative' references to 'black' ...

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by davem

Interesting tangent to this story:

Huckleberry Finn loses the 'n****r' he loves, thanks to a publisher's ethnic cleansing http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture...nic-cleansing/

I find this interesting - we're (apparently) about to see a multi-racial Middle-earth (on film at least) & a possible crackdown on any appearance of smoking in the films. Will we ever see this kind of 'ethnic cleansing' in the books? Maybe we'll see an edition of the books at some point with the smoking excised - not to mention all those 'negative' references to 'black' ...

That is rather disturbing news, but in this case the "news" is not "new". There have been several attempts, mostly through library systems and public schools in the U.S., to exorcise the racist terminology from Mark Twain's literary works. It is ridiculous and a knee-jerk reaction to a piece of literature which accurately approximates that period of American history, particularly in the vernacular.

What is really humourous is that the publisher seeks to eradicate the N-word from a great piece of literature, while at the same time hundreds of rap songs contain the same word over and over in countless variations.

I guarantee more impressionable youngsters are getting their daily supplement of racial pejoratives from rap than, heaven forbid, reading a book.