New Read on 'Rings,' Double Standard on Slurs (Lord of the Rings is Racist)

Fox News ^ | Dec. 29, 2003 | Scott Norvell

[AppyPappy]

ping

[keri]

LOL. I suppose it does, if the (Un)learned critics are right. (but you're in good company, anyway:-)

[Deb]

We get this a lot.

[AppyPappy]

Perhaps it was the Jar Jar Binks scene?

[Aetius]

I have not read the books, so what I want to know is whether or not there is a showdown between Gandalf and the Witch King in RoTK book? In the movie the witch king tells an orc that he will break gandalf; then they don't even see each other in the battle. Instead he is killed by the ewyn after one of the hobbits stabs him in the back as he is about to kill her.

Why would you include the line 'I will break him' if there will be no confrontation? Is it in the book? That was the biggest disappointment for me, but it was still a good movie. At least eowyn killed that guy in a realistic manner, i.e. she got lucky. From any other production I would have expected her to go all 'Alias' and kicked the s&#% out of the clearly superior combatant.

But as to the original question of this thread: The guy is an idiot. And while I usually don't let the opinions of others influence my own feelings towards a movie, I must say that knowing some far-left nut actually feels this way makes me like the LoTR films even more.

[keri]

It was so in the book. Merry stabbed the Witch King in the knee from behind and Eowyn (Dernhelm) drove her sword into the Lord of the Nazgul between his crown and mantle.

I don't remember reading the line "I will break him" and doubt it is in the books anywhere. I didn't care for that line, but rather wish the Nazgul Lord had said this (from the book) to Eowyn : "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless eye."

But Eowyn killed him anyway. (She loved Theoden and didn't mind dying.)

[Cronos]

But as to the question of whether LOTR is racist or not I'd say:

The Lord of the Rings is set in Middle Earth in a fantasy world, which does mirror earth, but very faintly. It was written in the pre-WWII era or at least conceived then, so it does have slight traces of racism. For instance, it talks about Men from the East and th South as joining with Sauron. And hte men from the south are Elephant riders and corsairs -- Asians (they aren't described, so the book is not overtly racist). All in all this is not an overtly racist book, far less than Gone with the wind or a Twain novel. Since it is set in a fnatasy land, and it's racism is underlying (I suspect more due to the time when it was written rather than the author conscienciously putting it in), it doesn't deserve quite so much approbation.

[neutrino]

I'm glad I've purchased the LOTR DVDs. No telling when they'll be outlawed.

[Cronos]

Let's see if I can revive this thread!! Re-reading LOTR (9th time so far!), I think it IS quite racist and it has one nagging problem with it: Why didn't they send Gwaihir to dump the ring in Orodruin????