Shire Sackposting

Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time, Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you. No comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death, an image of the splendor of the kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world. But you, my daughter, you will linger on in darkness and in doubt as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell, bound to your grief, under the fading trees, until all the world is changed and the long years of your life are utterly spent.

At this point I want to scream at people that we don’t HAVE to be faithful to the horrible beliefs of our predecessors. Like even IF Serkis was right (and he’s not) WE can choose to NOT repeat the mistakes of the past.

Tolkien wasn’t perfect and there is racism and bigotry in his works AND there was also a lot of anti-bigotry in his works but we’re not bound to the perspective of one man. We can choose to pick up where he left off and further correct the harmful tropes and inherent biases in his books.

No matter what Tolkien intended, Middle-Earth belongs to everyone and is home to everyone and we can choose to reflect the beauty of our diverse world by welcoming EVERYONE into our own interpretations and reimagings of Tolkien’s world.

When WE create something (even if it’s a reinterpretation or built off of someone else’s work) WE get to choose what values we want to imbue that work with. If we truly believe in antiracism and fighting against white supremacy, racism, fascism, etc. then we must actively choose to include the voices of people who historically have been pushed out for racist reasons.

By actively choosing to hide behind this weird logic that Tolkien wanted a pure whites only Shire so we just CANT cast people of color as hobbits, you are actively choosing to uphold the white supremacist and racist thoughts that are harming the world today. Then you’re using the dead professor as your shield to retain the goodwill of people willing to give you the benefit of a doubt (or who just don’t care). It’s insidious and a great way to cover your own troublesome beliefs. Additionally it creates this mental wall where you don’t have to question your own inherent biases.

Also, even IF that was truly Tolkien’s intention (which it wasn’t) WHY would you want to uphold that intention of all intentions? Why wouldn’t you want to dismantle that disgusting idea as soon as possible? You can love Tolkien and his world and also say you know what that’s a fucked up idea. Let’s not do that. Or yeah no professor that’s your bigotry/racism/biases popping up and I’m not going to tolerate that

There is this weird tension between remaining faithful to a book/comic and acknowledging that the mere act of adapting a work requires you to take someone else’s work and make it your own and by doing so YOU are actively choosing what to retain and what to reimagine. Your adaptation will NEVER be the book because the book is the book and your adaptation is YOUR take on the book. You, ultimately, are responsible for what is included and what isn’t and what you, either subconsciously or consciously, add to the adaptation.

For fucks sake! I can think of at least 2 Hakas filmed in the appendices off the top of my head. One of which Serkis was present for! The culture was ingrained into the set.

They could not have made that film without the help of Māori stunt people, actors, and crew, and to say that they could never lead or support a film unless they look white because of some made up rule that doesn't even have evidence to support it is truly next level evil.

tolkien in 1967: [after the interviewer says middle-earth corresponds spiritually to nordic europe] not nordic, please! a word I personally dislike; it is associated, though of french origin, with racialist theories