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It hasn't aged well in some other ways. I was a die-hard Tolkien fan from an early age -- I think I read LotR at around age 10 or so. But ... it's kind of hard
by JabavuAdams 4y ago
It hasn't aged well in some other ways. I was a die-hard Tolkien fan from an early age -- I think I read LotR at around age 10 or so. But ... it's kind of hard to read to your beautiful brown daughter when you constantly have to stop and do teaching moments because Tolkien goes on and on about how fair and beautiful all the good guys are, and how swarthy etc. the nasty Southrons are.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y agoTrue, it hasn't held up in that sense. Although diving deeper into the legendarium, there is the fact that the southrons and easterlings were corrupted by Sauron to worship him as a god. So you could choose to view those descriptions as consequences of that rather than perceived racial or cultural inferiority. And indeed the "fair and beautiful" Numenoreans were at one point corrupted by Sauron in very much the same way. But yeah, you definitely have to give Tolkien a lot of help on this one, and it's not terribly helpful in the context of reading to your children :/
- vxNsr 4y agoOr you could just explain that fair and beautiful refer to the content of their character and swarthy is a synonym for smarmy, or evil and has nothing to do with skin color at all.
- oblio 4y agoBut that's not what he meant and we both know it.
- DrThunder 4y agoOh look I found one of the "Rings of Power" writers.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y agoPretty much every letter Tolkien wrote that touches on racial issues was quite anti-racist. He condemned the nazis, and yet also condemned racist anti-german propaganda in England during the war. He also expressed sympathy with the treatment of black people in South Africa in a letter to his son Christopher.
- vxNsr 4y agoSince when does anyone these days care about the author’s intent?
- DrThunder 4y agoIt's not, unless you're pointedly telling your daughter she's a "dirty" Southron and should be ashamed because her skin color matches the descriptors in LOTR. I wouldn't be surprised though because this does seem to be the modern leftist agenda, to turn every brown person into a victim incapable of helping themselves. Maybe explain to your daughter it's based on Nordic mythology and turn it into a positive history lesson. OH! And you could tell her that her skin color really isn't the most important thing about her. Just a thought.