I think the majority of the backlash was not coming from a place of racism but rather a place of “conservatism”. A lot of people are sick of Hollywood sacrificing story, theme, and characters at the altar of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Tolkien was clearly creating a mythology based on European history. A point I’ve made before is this: if someone painted over Nighthawks by Edward Hopper and added people of color there would be an outrage. Not because people are racist but because changing a painting of such significance would violate the integrity and significance of the painting itself. And I do understand that when stories are told they often change (when we played “telephone” as kids this became very clear) but that “problem” was solved when humans started to write things down. We write things so the details and story can remain as it was in the beginning. Preserving the integrity and validity of a story or an idea is the point of writing. For Amazon to ignore the intent of Tolkien and his world and story is disrespectful and incredibly arrogant. If the writers at Amazon thought they could create a story better than the one Tolkien created himself then why would they buy the rights to the story? And I suppose they did try with Ring of Power and did fail miserably - but that proves my point even further.
I think the majority of the backlash was not coming from a place of racism but rather a place of “conservatism”. A lot of people are sick of Hollywood sacrificing story, theme, and characters at the altar of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Tolkien was clearly creating a mythology based on European history. A point I’ve made before is this: if someone painted over Nighthawks by Edward Hopper and added people of color there would be an outrage. Not because people are racist but because changing a painting of such significance would violate the integrity and significance of the painting itself. And I do understand that when stories are told they often change (when we played “telephone” as kids this became very clear) but that “problem” was solved when humans started to write things down. We write things so the details and story can remain as it was in the beginning. Preserving the integrity and validity of a story or an idea is the point of writing. For Amazon to ignore the intent of Tolkien and his world and story is disrespectful and incredibly arrogant. If the writers at Amazon thought they could create a story better than the one Tolkien created himself then why would they buy the rights to the story? And I suppose they did try with Ring of Power and did fail miserably - but that proves my point even further.