The Rings of Power becomes the recent victim of the review bombing culture. As the first two episodes of the show premiered on Amazon Prime, it didn’t take too long for some people to fill its review section with illogical criticism.
The criticism could have been valid if they were directed to the plot or faults by the makers, but the point of logic took the back seat when it was found that the criticism was mainly towards the addition of colored people in the cast. Some think it is an act of pulling the audience by forcing diversity and representation by the company. But not for once did they put some research or dig out Tolkien’s work to find out that even any mention of skin color is there or not.
Also Read: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Review: Massive To A Fault
Are people of color not allowed in Middle Earth?
As the review bombing escalated, the streaming service had to forcefully take down the audience review section. While the show set on a humongous budget is also trying to do something new in the LOTR universe, according to some people that seems forced. Looks like some of the people are extremely threatened by the approach of a cast that comprises people from different cultures.
Also Read: LOTR: Rings Of Power Almost Connected To The Original Trilogy
Defending the Rings of Power, the THR Reporter Richard Newby said that most of the criticism which is directed to the point that J.R.R. Tolkien never mentioned any non-white character in his lore is completely illogical and unjustified. As he went on to reveal that Tolkien was himself an anti-racist and even mentioned Harfoots as browner skin while not mentioning much about skin color in maximum other places:
“The most common refrain is that Tolkien didn’t include people of color in his stories. Not only is this untrue, as harfoots are described as having “browner” skin, but Tolkien didn’t often make a point to describe skin color, though he occasionally leaned on the open-ended “fairer than …””
Speaking on the issue, the executive producer of the show stated that it only felt natural to the makers to base the storyline around realistic circumstances as that’s how Tolkien’s tale works. His works although fictional don’t fail to provide a real-life value to the story:
“It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like. Tolkien is for everyone. His stories are about his fictional races doing their best work when they leave the isolation of their own cultures and come together.”
The Rings of Power controversy has also shown us another example of our society still being driven by themes such as racism which probably shouldn’t even exist now. It is very unfortunate how people can be desperate in bashing a whole show without even going through more than two episodes and that too based on cultural differences.
Also Read: Rings Of Power Director Reveals The Most Vital Element In Tolkien’s Lore
The fans trash the Rings of Power racist trolls
While the Rings of Power trolls continued to present their distaste for the show, the fans also didn’t waste a single minute defending the show. We have collected a few tweets to show how they have come forward to defend the show from racist backlash.
Jesus, if you can accept orcs but not human actors that don’t share your skin tone…
— Ripcord (@Ripcord1988) September 2, 2022
What a shock that people do not want to see black people in LOTR. The movies were blindingly white. There are not enough racist frat bros to support a series with a budget this high. They have to be inclusive as a business model. Not to mention it being the right thing to do
— not_a_clever_username8000 (@mikekelly6301) September 2, 2022
Can we just watch the show and judge it on it’s artistic merit please? Getchyur racism out of my fantasy! #nuffSaid
— Dr. Remy Lebeau/ Gabe Axarlian (@XLair) September 2, 2022
"The vast majority of the criticism of this show has to do with the lack of respect shown by Amazon for the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien."
Right. Im sure thats why I see all the online conservative critics whining about it.
Starting before they ever saw the first episode.
— @bnormael (@bnormael) September 2, 2022
Based on the first 2 episodes i thought the show was great. People getting butt hurt because of skin color lol.
— steven (@combocaz1) September 2, 2022
The fans are very right to point out that living in the modern era, a judgment on a show should be purely based on the artistic merit instead of these issues.
Now set on the second age of Middle Earth, serving as the prequel to the movie franchise, it will be interesting to find out how the rest of the 8-episodes long series goes.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be streamed every Friday on Amazon Prime
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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