Something to consider, people with disabilities would appreciate a society that promotes the ability to go everywhere with a wheelchair rather than cosplaying as a hobbit. The cosplay thing is pretty much a non issue, accessibility is. Society taking into consideration the needs of those with disabilities is the first step. I say this not from direct experience but with being married to someone with a disability. My wife is very short and requires a wheelchair/crutches, let me tell you that getting around NYC is a real challenge.. getting around London on the other hand was surprisingly easy in comparison. We don't live in a large city btw just visiting. So public transport is bad... even for the non disabled. So not being stuck in a house or an institution would be nice... independence is something that my wife really tries to maintain. Having a modified car, a job, and being able to get groceries (covid actually helped in this with curbside becoming more common) is a big deal and it shouldn't be. Is It Ok To Cosplay A Hobbit? Yes.

@JustIsold

Жыл бұрын

As much as this is very true, as a disabled person I do want to say that we also need fun media that represents us, one doesn't exclude the other and I think they may actually be intertwined.

Recently I read Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones who was one of his last students at Oxford. Her comments in the section on JRR Tolkien basically (very broadly paraphrased) was that he didn't want any students and spent his lecture time facing the black board and mumbling. Maybe that attitude of his was why he didn't take on Stuart Hall as a student.

"over twenty years since the movies came out" ... oh. the disturbing passage of time aside, yes to all of this! some unexpectedly very emotional stuff here too.

Very thought provoking video. Well done! While you touched on the fact that no little persons were cast as lead hobbits in LOTR, i think that aside from the issues you raised regarding hobbit cosplay, those enjoying it should also consider the fact that none were cast in any major roles in the new series, either. Tolkien was obviously fond of the hobbits above all his other creations. His fictional creations. I find it upsetting that a group of real-world people who could and should be portraying at least SOME hobbits have not been allowed to do so in a leading role. I fear that terms like "hobbit" and "Frodo" have probably become low-level pejoratives. Something that Tolkien never considered but that fans, Amazon, cosplayers, and etc probably should. Anyways, very much enjoyed the video and look forward to more. this is just something that has bothered me for a while; though, i freely acknowledge my credentials are vaguely informed KZread commenter.

I’ve read TLotR every year for almost 40 years. My perception of Tolkien’s world was formed long, long ago. I have many beefs with the Rings of Power series but skin color isn’t one of them. Now sweaty elves? That’s a problem for me. 😂 I’m well aware that my skin color provides certain privileges, but I also have kind of a unique perspective. My dad was Native American. He was quite dark. He grew up on a reservation. He was discriminated against and harassed because of his heritage. He volunteered to serve in order to fight against the terrible racial crimes being perpetrated by the N*zi regime. The US government’s treatment of him during and after WWII was atrocious. He was a kind and wonderful father to me. He cared about his community and actively tried to make a difference. He was also a bit racist by today’s standards. He never went out of his way to insult or harm others, but he definitely made the offhand racial remarks now and then. My grandmother who is of an age with him is the same. (Dad was 20 years older than mom) At 95 she is at heart a kind person. She would never intentionally do or say something that would hurt someone else. But there is definitely a vein of unconscious racism. She loved my dad but would sometimes say things that were quite derogatory without realizing it. She still says things that make me cringe and correct her. Does that make her a bad person? I guess what I’m trying to say is we can’t judge our predecessors by today’s standards. We can look at their words and deeds, recognize they were wrong and learn from their mistakes. But we can’t broadly say they were all bad or all racist. WE can’t throw out great literature because our modern eyes see the flaws. What we can and should do is use it as a tool to teach those who come after us. We can look back and say never again.

Very thought provoking. I'm the Tolkien nerd out of my friends, but you touched on some new points for me. Our upbringings sound very similar, mine was in the Midlands, so those comments really hit home. I'm just curious on your thoughts about the fact that while the Easterlings and the Haradrim were generalised as evil, the source of that evil was corruption by Morgoth and Sauron respectively. Since the "source" of this evil isn't something inherent to these people, doesn't that just make then victims of circumstance? It's been several years since I last read the Silmarillion, so I can't remember if this is addressed, but I'm certain groups of both factions refused the Dark Lord's calls.

@AshLG

Жыл бұрын

Tbh it’s not great - the overall impression is still the same it just also takes away their agency. When it’s contrasted against Rohan and Gondor, who weren’t corrupted, it asks questions like why were the Haradrim able to be corrupted so easily? Were they weaker or more susceptible to bad influences? It would have been much better if we had been able to meet one of the people who did resist - if there was a character from one of these nations who got a speaking role. One of the things I think Rings of Power is actually making a good stab at!

@Canty117

Жыл бұрын

@@AshLG All good points, and I suppose it could be down to interpretation, if not for the fact that they are literally called a group of "lesser men" taught civilisation and art by the Numenorians on their voyages. Re-reading these bits makes me feel a bit yikes about the whole situation.

@koboldcatgirl

28 күн бұрын

There are interesting readings of it that try to soften it--like the fact that the Blue Wizards are, according to some writings, over there helping lead local resistance against Sauron (when do we get _that_ spinoff?), and the fact that by their perspective, the Numenorians and people of Gondor really haven't given them any choice _but_ to side with Sauron to avoid their own destruction. Nobody told them there was a plan with a Ring. Nobody answered their calls to aid when Sauron was literally at their door. But that's me doing the work as a fan to make it better.

I will always be so glad for the day I saw your speed run video & found your channel. I always look forward to your videos and you are one of my most favorite costubers. Another fantastic & thought provoking video that touches on things that I often find myself thinking about. Thanks so much Ash!

@lenabjork4312

Жыл бұрын

Yes! Found Ash through the speedrun too. That was awesome 😁

I'm enough of a Tolkien nerd and a bezos hater that I don't think I can watch ROP without being sALTY about paying money to amazon but I love. Every single take. In this video. You absolutely nailed it again, thank you.

@Rowan.Evander

Жыл бұрын

more thoughts: I'm not sure what it says about me that I still love dressing up and playing an elf (at 5'1'') other than that I'm in love with the concept of falling in love with and observing fleetness and mortality...and also sad things. Whoops.

Brilliant video, thank you. You got me think about alot of things for my own worldbuilding. Part of writing for me other than the exhilerating creative aspect is that I want to write stories that LOTS of different people can see themselves in, cus fantasy/sci fi is for everyone. Something you really made me think about is how much more I need to focus on my own personal biases, as well as making sure to include many different cultures and backgrounds for characters etc. Basically I want to create stories, that I know one day people will see flaws in, but are significantly less problematic then the ones that we depend on for enjoyment and escapism now. Quite often I find myself measuring up to Tolkien, in terms of worldbuilding especially. I look at how he created languages (as an adult linguist with degrees) and detailed history for his world and go "I'm not going to get as far as that." But I think I can give myself the goal of "write as detailed a world as Tolkien, only try to make it enjoyable for everyone first." Again, thank you, you've given me new layers to think about when looking at others works as well as while drafting my own. I like your work. :)

Ash you'd be the best kind of friend to watch RoP with, because you're basically the same as my friends that watch it with me hahaha. It makes watching it way more fun. My favourite thing about that kind of Tolkien nerd is that we still know who you're talking about even if you dropped a few syllables from an elven name. Great video once more, happy hobbit day!

I really enjoyed this video by you! It's very well researched & thoughtful!

I love your videos so much! Thank you for just being you. ♡

I always enjoy these videos. I first read Lord of the Rings in my teens nearly 50 years ago and it took me a long time to recognise the problems with it even though I was already on the left politically.

what an amazing video (essay?). Enjoyed all of it. Especially the appendix. Well done.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve said in this video except that I think you and your partner sound like the BEST people to watch with and I wish there weren’t an ocean + most of a continent between us because it would be awesome.

Thank you for an amazing video and a nice analysis of a state of things. I would like to believe we can at least "fix ourselves ", it's hopeful first step :) PS this outfit suits you!

This is such a delightful and wide-ranging overview. Thank you so much!

@JessicaLynJames

Жыл бұрын

Also I just have to say - we watch Rings of Power very similarly. I yell a lot when I recognize names from my childhood reading of the appendices...but then I don't remember what actually happened with said person and just speculate wildly about what's going to happen.

Back in the early 90's Carleton U used to have "The Faculty Wives Book Sale". Yeah. Oh my people... anywho. Basically it was a chance for the Prof's to destash the books, with the money going to somethingorother. For whatever reason there were always a huge table of late 19th, early 20th c books in all of their gilded glory. One of the books was a compendium of diagrams and descriptions of the all of the different "races". It's as bad as you think. I brought it home to keep it out of more dangerous hands (it was the 90's and the neo-freaks were active in the city). The one thing the book really speaks to is the morass of racism and colonialism that people of the time were marinating in. Yeah, 'don't study history, it's mostly eugenics'. Tolkien was a white, Anglican man who had tenure at Oxford where he was pretty much surrounded by other white men during the closing decades of ze empire. Very much a man formed by his time - part of LOTR is him dealing with loosing a close group of friends during the first war of the century. Was he racist - how could he not be? Unfortunately we're still living in the backwash of his, um, creative choices. I never knew there was a connection between Stewart Hall and Tolkien - that's an unspeakable loss to the field of Old English. My husband did his MA on "The legend of good women"... if you ever have some Tolkien questions... On a lighter note - I will challenge you to a spiritual thumb war that Lenard Nemoy's "Bilbo the Hobbit" song should be considered in your top three. Seriously. Our adults were stoned. Hunt down the music video... - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi

You make my head hurt in a good way - please keep posting ALL the content

"Don't study history, it's eugenics all the way down", "I'm gonna have to talk about Crowley in a video about hobbits", I sighed right there with you

Just discovered your channel and love it 🤩

Thanks for another awesome video. Can you please add the link to your kofi?

@AshLG

Жыл бұрын

Good catch! It's in the description now

@karinbaird2499

Жыл бұрын

@@AshLG I went into a previous video and found it💞

Well this was a delightful roller coaster! Thank you.

33:15 just started crying, but you’ve really hit the nail on the head with your description of the state of the world today. 35:56 yay, cat photos always make everything a little bit better.

Ah Thursday looks so cute. I read the Hobbit when I was 12 and the Lord of the Rings when I was 13/14 long before the films ever where. So my view of Middle Earth is far removed from the film view and whatever adult view I am supposed to have. Yes there is a magic in the story that is clearly lost and will never return. So I don't get the opinions of people who have only ever seen the film and would (I imagine point a finger at me), but I like to think that I turned out okay (I think). Such a great video Ash, thank you. Did I say that Thursday looks so cute.

@Orandu

Ай бұрын

We loose so much magic when we watch movies instead of read books…

This is such a well-measured consideration, and I think you get at the heart of why lotr evokes the sort of longing for a world that will never come back that it does. And isnt that just perfectly relevant 2 1/2 years into a pandemic

I was having a rough teaching day and feeling sorry for myself that there's too much wildfire smoke for me to spend time in my garden when I got home and I saw your video was up. INSTANT joy! I wanted to rethink my initial comment, though - and say thank you for both recognizing that Tolkien was "a man of his time" AND ALSO in modern times wrote some things that are problematic at best. I wish so much that we could reclaim some of the mistaken ideas from earlier times that were based on incomplete knowledge; we now know that "Vikings" were from many places, not just the area of modern Scandinavia, for example, so characters and cultures in storytelling based on Vikings for example can and often should be rethought, recast, and perhaps even rewritten. I would love to be able to engage in the fantasy without feeling like I am encouraging or enabling racism, sexism, etc. I also wish that those of us who do care about making changes like this could avoid the hubris of the past and acknowledge that as times change we should be prepared to update or get rid of today's literature (movies, etc) to reflect even more complete understanding of what it means to be human.

@fiftypizzas5815

Жыл бұрын

I only pray you have more bad days

“The Anglo Saxon’s don’t exist 😬 We don’t have time” Ash, it’s time for me to confess my love

Thank you. This was thought provoking and touching.

Fascinating!

"Don't study history, kids, it's eugenics most of the way down" WORD Thinking about a lot of the media I consume and how often (mostly white) authors try to bend away from racism by using the "noble savage" trope. "Native Americans have a mystical connection to wild life" and "Asians are all good at tech" and so on. And gog help anyone who points out how the reduction of someone's entire personhood to their cultural or ethnic origin *is racism*/rant

@azteclady

Жыл бұрын

Replying to myself to add: we are all product of our environment; even as we become aware of something and grow as individuals, we don't know what we don't know--like asking a fish if they like the water, that's all you know! So yeah, people are complicated, and even progressive people are "of their times", for good or ill. (same with us, today--re-reading or re-watching something I loved fifteen, ten, five years ago, and suddenly clocking all the shit that passed me blissfully by then, because *I didn't know*) ::takes breath:: Thank you, Ash, for all you do to help us grow.

Yes we all need to be more like the hobbit

Are we allowed to complain that rings of power is bad?

i recently read that the dwarves were meant to b jewish coded (in a good/loving way, not in a JKR way) and i kinda wish that would have made it into jackson movies

@PathOfAvraham

Жыл бұрын

They were coded as how non-jewish Europeans viewed Ashkenazi Jewery. Which isn't an actual understanding of Jews or Jewish culture as a whole.

fucking christ I did not expect to have an existential crisis at 7am.

Thank you for that

Thank you for the passionate defense of roleplay!

lol. Mirror mirror was a surprisingly decent movie. I always forget it existed then remember it was fun to watch.

Off to find me a pie! And a drink...

If only we had a completely immersive elves non combat evnts with cool costuming and in a castle like fairweather manor and jacobite and other larps

I still haven't seen the show your referencing Which is probably why I didn't comment the first time I saw this

Thanks!

@AshLG

4 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Oh this is once more so very very good. I am not a LOTR nerd but I am very into politics and history and sociology and I love roleplaying and all of these are insights that meant something to me. Thank you!

"It won't fix anything except you" hit hard. Thanks for an amazing video

Hello to Thursday On Thursday

Thank you for the cat 🙂

There's so much to say and comment on, but most importantly, thank you so much for sharing this video, your thoughts and views! Especially the aspect of growing up in a very rural community with all the good and sadly also all the bad things hits home. Literally. Everyone I know from my home identified with the Hobbits, the aesthetics in the films and their attitude are very similar to where I come from. sadly also the way they view outsiders and progress and anything challenging the way they live. It's one of the most beautiful places in Germany to grow up in, mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, a hobbitcore "dream". But it's also very sexist, racist and homophobic. So yeah... thank you again for the video. And excuse the long rant of a comment ^^'

💚💚💚💚

We shoud let more pepole with disabiltys wright moves

What ring do we have to throw in what volcano to fix the environment? And the all important question, is anyone strong enough to do it? Well, first you need to wrench it out of Sauron's fist, only then can you take it to Mordor...

I really understand that ppl don't want non-white elves (me too, i mean in official films; I know that Tolkien wanted to write a myth for England), but as an Asian with an embarrassing height (1.6m) I still really wanna cosplay an elf and I'm worrying about whether the others will gossip about me. It will be totally ok in my fatherland but here in Europe it will be a bit problematic. I hate ROP and sympathise that Tolkien and is works were limited by that period when he lived, but It's also kinda harmful for me to be "only able to cosplay the enemies", like Haradrims, Easterlings etc. I've never thought about such a problem that my cosplay has to depend on my born race...

@nightengalenorth6881

11 ай бұрын

The only people I've seen care about whether or not you are the "correct" race to cosplay a character are actual racists. Most cosplayers I've ever talked to, seen, watched, etc, don't really care about that. They're probably more interested in your costume and accessories. Cosplaying is basically about having fun and showing your love and dedication to something. That being said, when it comes to things like TV shows and movies that have a specific set of rules, canon, etc, people do tend to want things to continue to use those to maintain internal inconsistencies. If those rules are violated, it tends to create a huge dissonance and will start making people wonder about the dedication of the creators. It can usually be forgiven if seems to be a minor mistake, but if its deliberate, it often is done in bad faith. That is the biggest reason I see for why people don't like ROP.

@annazann7236

11 ай бұрын

Personally I wouldn't have any problem accepting dark skinned Wood Elf. But a Dwarf? No, they live underground, it would be just unnecessary and unnatural ( biologically).

@stillhuntre55

Ай бұрын

Yes, Tolkien really lamented that England didn't have an equivalent to the Roman or Norse Patheons and grand mythical tales...so that's what LoTR was supposed to be. They were all white people for the same reason any nation's mythology solely features their own people. But while a lot of people want films and TV shows of their favourite books to bring to life the author's vision... the BOOK is the author's vision. The best a movie or TV show can ever be is a piece of fan art, and should be viewed as such IMO. So, as a fan, anyone of any ethnicity should feel free to cosplay as anything because again, it's fan art. Tolkien's works are his books (which are not racist, they are his vision of a mythological history for his region), but everything else are other people's "riffs" based on his work. Have fun!

going to say something a lot will hate and disagree with. The truth is many larpers are absolutely oblivious to the reality that when their characters kill the npc enemies their character is a murderer and killed another person. Which is abhorrant to us as people of soceity who get absolutely upset when ever a murder happens but are apathetic to our characters behaviour as murderers and we behave like they are the good folks the heroes all the time but conveniantly choose to ignore the reality of our characters role as murderers and its wrong we do not acknowledge the reality of it.

Ah, LotR, the problematic fave that would be hardest to excise from my brain. I'm very glad the casting directors decided to piss off some snowflakes in the show, though I do get a lil' 😬 every time orcs come on screen and we have to ignore the whole "evil 'race' that only does bad stuff" thing, especially when they started kind of humanising them. I suspect our watching experience is pretty similar. "OMG look at that crest!" What does that mean? "I have no idea but I'm stoked I realised it was a thing!"

I watch Rings of Power with my girlfriend who is a huge tolkien nerd (2 wholes thesis papers and everything) and i dont think there's anything i love more than to see her lose her mind over little details in that show - during season 1 we would make brunch everytime a new ep came out and i would pause it multiple times an episode, so she could tell me all about the lore that was being alluded to. We are planing to watch the 2nd season with friends but i also dont know if they will be able to handle it - my sisters still havent forgiven us for ruining brigeton by discussing gender studies through out all of season 2, so I'm not sure it's worth the risk hahaha