An undercurrent of the Lord of the Rings seemed to focus on racial purity. The elves were supposed to have the purest blood, followed by the Numenorians, followed by common men, and then down to Orcs. Remember the scandal when Aragorn married Arwen? She was seen as tainting her bloodlines by marrying a "mere" man. Remember the scandal when Faramir married Eowyn? He was said to be diluting the precious Numenorian blood lines. There were also frequent mentions to the "thinning" of the Numenorian blood lines.
Does this obsession with "my race is purer than yours" show that Tolkien was a racist who believed in racial superiority?
|
|
Anonymous
posts on 2/14/2007 12:45:57 PM
if you were half the writer he was you would know how to spell "writer"
|
Motorecrut
posts on 1/1/2007 9:36:13 PM
Hi, my name is Recrut and I have a headache
|
lyds
posts on 12/11/2006 10:38:27 PM
he may have thought that fairer people are better looking but that doesnt mean he was a racist. some of the white characters were evil aswell like sauroman
|
|
windy march
posts on 12/5/2006 4:22:22 PM
Seriousely , do you really think , YOU have any right to question wich , IMAGINARRY ,race is his favorite?People , really , get a life.this is why your not a real journalist , this is a stupid question.these races are IMAGINARRY!
Any prefrance the books sugjest , are coming from the IMAGINARRY charichters.If you were half the righter he is , you would know an auther is not himself when righting. They are a charicter , they are all the charicters combined .There is actoully verry little you get to decide when you right , you may think of the storry , but you will never completely controle what you think.If you were half the righter he is , you would also know that your righting is your baby ,you made it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to change a single thing about your baby?How hard it is to even think , in any way , that your baby is not completely perfect?You just try and understand THAT, and then try to read that racist remark you made , without understanding my discust.
Stay in touch,
wm
|
Adnamarine
posts on 11/28/2006 11:44:22 AM
Really, who Cares?!?!?! This isn't some ancient novel, filled with hidden political meanings of the day, that you read in English class and tear apart with analytical theories!
You know, in every case of anyone thinking racially, Tolkien tore it apart. Hobbits would naturally not be thought of as strong by any means. Frodo proved differently and Gandalf believed in him. Legolas and Gimli at first resented each other, but became the closest of friends. Aragorn and Arwen, and Feromir and Eowyn married despite everyone’s disapproval. Tolkien was not racist, as anyone with intelligence who has read the books and knows anything about Tolkien’s life would realize And you know, all those different races, he was creating a world. A realistic world with real people and cultures which were different from one another. It's part of writing fantasy.
|
James
posts on 11/27/2006 11:39:29 PM
Oh, who knows what was in JRR's worldview, way back then? Probably all of us have thoughts that would surprise even ourselves if we looked in every hidden corner of our minds. But here is something I have never seen posted anywhere: the orcs, as Tolkien describes them, were never the horrific creatures with terrible skin conditions visualized in the movies. You may recall Treebeard tells Merry and Pippin he thought at first they might have been orcs. Throughout the book, Tolkien describes orcs as short and sallow, bandy-legged and flat-faced. Now what does that sound like, especially given the stereotypes prevalent during the years JRR did most of his writing? It is obvious, though nowadays politically incorrect to say so, that the orcs were... Japanese.
|
posts on 10/9/2006 4:11:25 PM
Tolkien was just pointing out that even through all the opposition, in the end, they still stayed true, that they didn't seperate just because people were saying, "marry to your own kind!"
|
|
posts on 10/5/2006 9:31:01 PM
good point Jim. that made me laugh, orcs that look like Brad Pitt... +dissolves into unseemly giggles again+ I'm so tired of all these 'hidden meanings' people come up with from Tolkien's books. They're all so STUPID!
|
posts on 10/5/2006 2:44:00 PM
Why can't you just enjoy a good film without making it out to be a nazi propaganda film?
Good guys have always been good looking, while the bad guys are rarely male models. Would you prefer the orks to look like Brad pitt?
In star wars, the stormtroopers (bad guys) were dressed in white, so how does your hidden message theory work out?
|
random_one
posts on 11/17/2005 7:22:30 PM
I don't think that the elves vs men vs orks thing is racis. However, there is a definite element of good vs evil - tall, darkhaired neumoeans are see as the natural lords of all other men, tall blond haired blue-eyed norhernenr's are seen as noble but uncultured, dark skinned southerners are southerners are seen as intelligent but evil, and asian skinned easterners are seen as perhaps not totally evil, but different and hard to understand with different morals and ethics. That makes the book seem as though it were written is an ancient Roman court, with their stereotypes, plus the addition of Tolkein's love of Germanic peoples. (The Romans considered them barbarous and as slaves) I'm not saying Tolkein was a racist, I'm just pointing out the facts.
|
|
| Click Here for Messages:
1 - 10
11 - 20
|
|
Click here to post a message to this forum
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the posters. |
|
Use our site!
Feedback
About us
Most recent discussions:
General Book Talk
Book writing discussion
Off-topic message board
Jean M. Auel
2:16:34 AM
George W. Bush
9:35:40 PM
Suzanne Collins
7:20:15 PM
Ray Bradbury
6:43:06 PM
Deric Longden
6:22:30 PM
Robert Segarra
4:02:18 PM
Anonymous
3:55:43 PM
Shirlee Busbee
12:25:06 PM
Sharon M. Draper
10:43:01 PM
Lois Duncan
6:47:12 PM
Henry James
5:20:17 PM
S. Morgenstern
12:16:54 PM
Anonymous
12:09:41 PM
Karen Armstrong
3:51:10 AM
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky
5:41:09 PM
Clive Cussler
5:22:14 PM
Ernest Hemingway
4:37:08 PM
Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer
2:58:47 PM
Neil A. Grauer
2:41:57 PM
Robert K. Tanenbaum
11:44:47 AM
More message boards
|
