I'm black, and think the idea of black elves is cool. You know what I don't like? I don't like the idea that black elves can only succeed if we just haphazardly add black elves in places they weren't before, and then accuse people who have an issue with that of being racist. I've been working for years only my own race of African elves, so you can imagine my annoyance when people accuse me of racism for not liking the way they handled black elves here.

@Nopeasaurus

Жыл бұрын

The elves and hobbits are too small of a population to have the ethnic variety that humans have. If Amazon wanted diversity, they could easily done so by introducing the Haradrims and Easterlings, who are the modern equivalent of Africans and Middle Easterns. The Numenorans were said to establish colonies around the world, they could have easily have come into odds with the native inhabitants of these countries. They could have somehow tied this to the fall of Numenor alongside the pride, envy, and arrogance of its people.

@TheOnlyKingBee

Жыл бұрын

I think dune is the best diversity movie I've seen just because they integrate actual culture. Not just making a skin complexion plot armour or whatever. I love new cultures and I want to see it but yeah corporate likes to shoot these cheap shots and people just goble it up and u can't say anything because they have a racist button really to press. Ffs

@elanordaerofgondolin8247

Жыл бұрын

@@Nopeasaurus Facts.

@Nostripe361

Жыл бұрын

Honestly, if he had just been played as just another elf with no reference to his race, I would have been fine with it. What got me about him was that his entire arc was just an allegory for modern American racism.

@luckyducky7819

Жыл бұрын

@@Nostripe361 I do find it bizarre to see people using fantasy stories as vehicles to talk about modern day politics. I know ROP didn't invent this idea, but other stories do this in a way that's more subtle. So, if you want the message, you have it. But if you don't, you don't need to worry about it. They could have used different ways of thinking as an allegory for racism. Or the fact that one elf wasn't as skillful as another. Instead, they said "We'll make an elf black! Genius!" as if what they're doing hasn't been done a hundred times. I certainly hope my own African Elves are received better.

As a BLACK person growing up in a poor place where there WASN'T that many Black people: I DIDN'T need to see "myself on screen" to feel like I could do something because I was raised by intelligent and moral people

@iamtheexaggerator2760

Жыл бұрын

Amen to that. You hit it on the nail. I was raised in Ghana, watching cartoons and reading comics. My favorite hero to date is Batman. And I have nothing in common with Batman, other than both of being human. I don't need to see someone that looks like me; I just need to see someone I can see myself in. Their motivations, morals, values, strengths, and weaknesses. Any time they put a black person in modern media to represent and reflect the modern world, the character lacks any personality other than their skin color. It's condescending and pandering.

@Greshgore

Жыл бұрын

I've spent my entire life in a wheelchair. Sometimes I still struggle with representation, especially considering that characters in wheelchairs or with other disabilities are too often portrayed as bitter and one dimensional or just an outright burden. One of the worst offenders in recent decades was Avatar in my opinion. The actual human character involved was meant to be disabled, but he spends nearly the whole film in this superpowered athletic healthy alien body. As far as the recent cries for everything to tick boxes, I'm still waiting for somebody to cancel Patrick Stewart for portraying Professor X instead of an actual disabled person. /sarc

@Walamonga1313

Жыл бұрын

I'm mexican (live in Mexico too) yet I loved watching Everybody hates Chris and Malcolm in the middle as a kid. I didn't need to "see myself" to relate to the characters or to be entertained. I have no clue when media changed to "representation" over quality.

@AntiCookieMonster

Жыл бұрын

From this intro about race swapping in media, being accepted and race mattering in forming bonds with society I figured this must be one of those white supremacist videos. No joke.

@thelilyfarrell

Жыл бұрын

as a latina/Hispanic and Puerto rican im infuriated what these white showrunners keep on screaming on us tolkien fans how we should feel. i called amazon out on their disgusting shit. the books of Tolkien was very accessible as is.its crazy how they didnt even bother to introduce us POC in the right storylines. we could have been a blue wizard or show our kingdoms before the fell to morgoth/sauron etc

House of Dranon had diversity but they did not advertised it like : look we have the first black Velaryon. People don't have problem with gender/race swapping if it happens organically and based on choosing the actor for his skill and fit in the role, Sam Jackson as Fury is one of the best example of race swapping done right.

Good job. I’ve read LOTR probably 20 times. I’ve watched the movies quite a few times. Love them. Never for one second did I ever feel unrepresented because there weren’t any short Hispanic women in the books or the movies. Fell in love with the story, the language, the beautiful world Tolkien created. I wish people would just STOP the nonsense and idiocy.

@ZeroOmega-vg8nq

Жыл бұрын

Hispanic here myself. Never really identified cuz there were hispanics in anything. Hell my favorite green lantern was jon stewart. I liked him because he was a military veteran and engineer and chose to live in the ghetto to save boys from choosing gang life. When he was tricked thought he destroyed a planet he accepted his "crime" and let himself be tried. He was a good honorable man.

@h-deck

Жыл бұрын

@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq exactly. All this woke stuff is disgusting. It’s really the manipulation of the masses to further divide and conquer.

Tolkiens story is a story of hope, friendship, strength and the fight against true evil. It is timeless. It is something we all can identify with as it's very human behavior and believes we share.

@Nopeasaurus

Жыл бұрын

Amazon lacks morality. They are a corporation too blinded by greed to treat or make anything with love.

I can't express my heartbreak enough. Especially if this is true. As a fan of Tolkien's work and as a black person. I kept wondering "kanti who is this for?" and this is a compelling answer

@aramisone7198

Жыл бұрын

Amazon will call you a racist lol but when white people critisize the white actress playing Galadriel they r not racist anymore but sexists. Why couldn't they do something like Peter Jacksons movies.

@doomsdaybooty1072

Жыл бұрын

These Hollywood weirdos naively betray their own bigotry as they try and atone for past sins ... they tokenize the black actors and clumsily force them into roles without any context, as if they're daring us to say something about it ("why does the black queen have a white father? How does a small, close-knit nomadic tribe end up as ethnically diverse as downtown LA?") just so they can call us racist; it's fan-baiting 101 and it's meant to deflect and distract from the very legitimate critiques of the writing and production. Frankly, they're using minority actors as a human shield, and it's absolutely disgusting.

@Clement-yt2nw

Жыл бұрын

Awe, you make a good point

@kzhou5839

Жыл бұрын

That "kanti" just screamed HOME.

I've spent far too many hours watching the commentary surrounding this series. Today the algorithm offered up this video, the first from a new channel, with a few thousand views and around a hundred subscribers. I truly believe that of the content I've watched, this video has come closest to exposing the true nature of Amazon and this series, and the corporate strategy animating the entire project. Great job!! I really hope that there is more to come in the future.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

I haven't a clue how YoutTube and the mysterious algorithm work, but I'm certainly grateful to it for showing me such generous favor and attracting such incredibly kind people, such as yourself. I've been really impressed by what others were saying on the topic, so can't say how much I appreciate the praise. More videos will be on their way... eventually! At the moment they're in the early stages. I love making them, so I'm glad you enjoyed watching. Thanks again!

If they wanted diversity in the show, they could've easily explored the story of harad/umbar, the easterlings etc

@Translucent73

Жыл бұрын

The word 'diversity' is used instead of the proper word 'integration'. Kind of an orwellian 1984 doublethink thing like 'war is peace', 'freedom is slavery', 'integration is diversity'. ;-)

@manoz6194

Жыл бұрын

@@Translucent73 They seem to have forgotten that white people are the most diverse of all!

@greenskull3384

Жыл бұрын

There r 4 problems with that suggestion: 1. It's a good idea. 2. It would require creativity 3. It would require effort. 4. It might not make as much money .

@manoz6194

Жыл бұрын

@@greenskull3384 True, given how much they ripped off Jackson's trilogy they were heavily relying on what people find "familiar" in the screen space

@jaybadhorse5096

Жыл бұрын

Exactly

I came across a really good analogy that someone made to describe Amazon's approach. It's like being given a fantastic 200 room mansion that's move-in ready, then proceeding to tear it all down, building a shabby, crumbling, piece of shit shed in its place, and claiming that that's better.

@johans634

Жыл бұрын

Haha. :D

@rice_rice_baby

Жыл бұрын

Sad, but very true

@doomsdaybooty1072

Жыл бұрын

And then, when someone comes along and observes that you ruined a perfectly good mansion, you just call them a bigot and continue bragging about the brilliant architecture of your shabby, crumbling shack

@chuckwaltrip7020

Жыл бұрын

@Lisa Plambeck but at like 100,000% markup in cost.

@KrolKaz

Жыл бұрын

Well was that mansion built by slave labour and stands a symbol for white supremacy? Was the shack built by a multi cultural group of builders?

fair and accurate. Too bad the people in charge of the ROP can't hear any criticism.

@Greshgore

Жыл бұрын

They hear it just fine, they just wave it away as irrelevant because fascism or something.

This is the best essay on the Amazon destruction of Tolkien. And it is sad how destructive and intentionally blind Amazon is behaving. It is destructive at all levels .

It became very evident to me, even prior to Episode 1, that "polarization" of the audience was something the showrunners (I'm not talking about Payne & McKay alone here) very much wanted. It seems to be as of late, that Hollyweird and the majority feeding from its trough, are of the impression that in order to get a production discussed and therefore popularized by word of mouth (especially when you have little faith in its merits), there's benefit to initiating audience conflict (aka, ANY press, is good press). A mindset I find tragic and feeble. Not every show does it. House of the Dragon (for example) to my knowledge did not feed that fire (though the Media made attempts) but Amazon double downed and triple downed on it, during cast interviews, Press releases, Shill attacks, etc. Why one and not the other? Because HotD knew they had a strong, engaging story, with characters and plot that would entice people to view it. Amazon had so little faith in their product, they initiated assaults even before the show launched. This is most telling. The results of which took the better path is quite, again, evident. This show is garbage but considering the Production House, not surprisingly so. Thanks for an excellent essay dear Sir.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

And thank you for your excellent comment. Your take seems absolutely spot on. These attempts to initiate audience conflict certainly are tragic and feeble. Good quality, like House of the Dragon, speaks for itself!

@mostevil1082

Жыл бұрын

​@@lowtemperaturehands I suspect there was thinking in HotD that they could use such attacks as a fall back position. It does seem to require extra suspension of disbelief without giving any benefits to race swap in a world where it's so easy to bring in people of other races organically. The need to represent the L.A. or London of today in period works is a strange phenomenon that shows an exceedingly narrow worldview. If history had looked like this we'd all be the same mixed race beige and it would all be moot, but I guess for social constructivists genetics along with the rest of reality is merely an inconvenience. The new religion is very strange to me.

@doomsdaybooty1072

Жыл бұрын

@@mostevil1082 amen brother. You phrased that exactly perfect. I also think these Hollyweirdos actually hate and fear diversity... I grew up in Vancouver; it's a very diverse city, with little to no racial tension. It's pretty awesome, you meet folks from all over the world, and everyone has different perspectives and worldviews. But this cosmopolitan 'city of the future,' with all its diversity can only exist as it does because we all evolved - physically, linguistically, and sociologically in isolated environments, competing and sometimes cooperating with rival groups and neighboring tribes and villages. This is the nature of diversity, and the conflicts and friction between different groups are the seeds that eventually germinate into the 'global village' we enjoy today. So, when adapting a story set in a prehistoric version of ancient Europe - fantasy or not, it truly makes zero sense to portray an isolated island nation or a nomadic tribe as diverse as LA. It breaks the immersion and interrupts the willing suspension of disbelief. It would take courage and elegant writing to show us why the Haradrim have come to hate and fear their colonialist Numenorean overlords, or why the people of Rhun opted to side with Sauron against them. As fans, we are willing and ready to explore the root causes of racial tension in Middle Earth, and how these relationships develop and evolve; this show is such a missed opportunity. These cowardly simpletons don't have the balls to show us true diversity: diversity of opinion, diversity of cultures and motivation. Because, deep down, they fear real diversity; the world they show us is a bland monoculture, where the only diversity is found in the varying levels of melanin in the actors' skin. The characters may look diverse but it's superficial and means nothing; all they've done is tokenize Tolkien. And they have the nerve to call us bigots for pointing it out.

@cy-one

Жыл бұрын

@@doomsdaybooty1072 Spot on. I have no issues and even like it when future works show a diverse cast of characters. Shows like The Expanse, Foundation or all the different works of Star Trek or Star Wars are good examples for this. But it breaks my immersion and is often a too-on-the-nose sign of agenda-pushing when you have (or would have) the same kind of diverse cast of characters in things like The Witcher, Lord Of The Rings, Merlin, Braveheart or A Song of Ice And Fire/Game of Thrones. It's not even a thing about eras necessarily. I totally don't mind a mixed crew on a pirate ship like in Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Hey to the 1 or 2 people that will see this video, thank you for checking it out. What started out as an idea for a small written piece, evolved into this 30 day project that was my first KZread video. Hope you find it insightful and enjoy. Edit: Wow, thank you for all the kind words, everyone! You've been not just more supportive than I imagined, but I've read so many really well thought out, interesting takes in the comments too. I'd love to have the time to be a content machine but, as a tiny creator, that won't be feasible at the moment. That said I have many ideas for future content so it will come with time.

@viktordoe1636

Жыл бұрын

It's a well made video you can expect many more views than that!

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

@@viktordoe1636 Thank you for the kind words. Appreciate it.

@davek00

Жыл бұрын

Every channel has to start somewhere. Keep producing content like this and you'll be much bigger in no time. Great job.

@adamtr1026

Жыл бұрын

You just got auto suggested to me at the end of another video, so the algorithm gods must be smiling on you

@DreamsOfLegend

Жыл бұрын

I'm sharing the shit outta this video bro, it's HIGH QUALITY and I've spent the last 2 months furiously watching the Rings Of Money Laundering commentary videos 🔥

The entire "if you don't see yourself represented racially" position is idiocy. Especially when it starts with "I'm a huge fan, but I never related or identified with any character..." That means you weren't a huge fan. You can't be a fan without enjoying the characters and story, so not seeing yourself is either something you got over, or you are lying. They can't have it both ways.

@WraithReaper09

Жыл бұрын

Yeah. "I don't see myself in 'X' character" ... If you want a story where 'you' are a character then go read a Self-Insert fic. And if skin colour is the only thing stopping you from identifying with any of the diverse characters in a story ... Then I'm sorry but you're shallow as fuck.

@medalgear654

Жыл бұрын

Not only shallow but racist as fuck. Or just racially obsessed as fuck I can’t tell which is which lol

@anaussie213

Жыл бұрын

I want a remake of the lion king but have simba played by a white guy because I can't identify with a lion.

@lux-vacui

Жыл бұрын

You can enjoy a story and its characters without necessarily relate to them.

The implication that the Tolkien legendarium attracts "fascist adjacent" (lol) admirers is such obvious nonsense. In those stories, good is unequivocally clearly the only side acceptable. Deception, treachery, encouraging conflict and manipulation are very clearly evil. Having pity on Gollum even though he truly does deserve to die and it would be extremely easy and probably safer is the most pivotal event in LotR. You can't tell me that the people who wrote this show could honestly say that taking an oath actually means something.

"Culture war we never wanted to be a part of" Nobody does, problem is, being passive and just wanting to be left alone isn't good enough anymore. You're in the war whether you want to be or not, even if it's on the side of the passive victim. Whichever side is the aggressor will still paint you as "the other" if you aren't wholeheartedly on their side.

@theghostofbabanovac7069

Жыл бұрын

there is this great quote from someone on twitter : "The side that wants to win will always beat the side that just wants to be left alone".

@Thor-Orion

Жыл бұрын

@@theghostofbabanovac7069 That sounds like how Napoleon surely felt leaving Russia...

@j-skullz

Жыл бұрын

"War" oh my god please go outside

@Greshgore

Жыл бұрын

@@j-skullz I assume you're directing that at the person who made the video, since I was literally using the phrase they did.

@KrolKaz

Жыл бұрын

Not really a culture war anymore, the left has won that many years ago.

One of the best analyses I've seen on this behaviour of companies until yet! I didn't know this quote of Morgan Freeman on racism, but it hits the nail. Nicely done! 👍

Brilliantly said. I despise that companies are engaging in a culture war to sell their lazy, badly written garbage, but I'm proud of fandoms for putting their foot down. We don't want this and we were never excluding anyone. Nerds are among the most welcoming people I know. There is no ulterior motive, just a genuine excitement to share in art.

Everything about Amazon and it's treatment of Tolkien fans are disgusting. In the immortal words of Frank Miller: "Give them nothing, but take from them everything."

"Their claims of hate will be silenced with love." That's beautiful. I needed to hear this.

I owe the horrendously bad KZread algorithm a thank you for bringing me to this channel and to your well thought out and measured content. You got another sub.

Regardless of the break with the lore and the wokery, there's only one reason needed to legimately criticise the ROP. For a 1/2 billion dollar budget, excluding the not too bad visuals, I don't think there is one of the many aspects of a production that wasn't poorly made.

@WraithReaper09

Жыл бұрын

It's only "woke" in the same way that the Nazis were "socialist". Use it to control the most disenfranchised so they get what they want.

For such a well thought out, well constructed discussion about how the current climate of discourse has clawed its way into the very stories we tell both for ourselves, and for future generations, you get a sub, a like, and my respect.

Wow, great analysis my dude. Videos like this might seem easy to make but as someone who's giving it a shot a few times I can safely say it is not. lol Well done!

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Exactly! I have a newfound appreciation for the effort it takes to make videos. I've been quite impressed with what others out there are doing.

Have a read through the section on Casting in the Amazon Studios inclusion policy statement - you'll see all their quotas there for all the demographic groups, not just in who must be cast but also even how much they get to speak. I'll try to paste some sections below but often they get edited out.

@guygadbois3010

Жыл бұрын

Here is their rationale - 'invisibiility' - "To reduce invisibility in entertainment, and where the story allows, we aim to include one character from each of the following categories for speaking roles of any size, and at minimum 50% of the total of these should be women: (1) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming / non-binary; (2) person with a disability; and (3) three regionally underrepresented racial/ethnic/cultural groups (e.g. in the US, three of the following: Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Middle Eastern/North African, or Asian / Pacific Islander or Multi-Racial). A single character can fulfill one or more of these identities."

@guygadbois3010

Жыл бұрын

Here's how much you get to speak based on your demographics - "Where it doesn’t compromise the authenticity of the story, the minimum aspirational goals for casting across speaking roles are 30% white men, 30% white women and non-binary people, 20% men from underrepresented races and ethnicities, 20% women and non-binary people from underrepresented races and ethnicities."

@guygadbois3010

Жыл бұрын

Got to love that part "Where it doesn’t compromise the authenticity of the story" - somehow race-swapping a character described as white in a story written about and for a population that was majority white didn't compromise the authenticity of Tolkien. Kind of a meaningless standard tbh.

@sam52054

Жыл бұрын

How wonderful! Affirmative action for Hollywood. Can’t wait to see Matt Damon play Malcom X in his next movie. What, that’s not happening?

@Thor-Orion

Жыл бұрын

So a show cannot consider having more than 50% of the cast and characters be men, but likewise a show cannot have less than 50% women. So a show can be 100% women as long as they're different races it's considered diverse, but the same is not true for a show of men, it's only diverse if it ALSO has half the roles be female. I wonder what their definition of woman is for these policies...

As a HUMAN person growing up on ground level and raised by my human parents- my absolute favorite movies were ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja TURTLES’ who Iived in the city sewers and were raised by a Nin-Jit-Su Master man-sized mutant Rat -and yet no other characters were more relatable to me than Leo, Donnie, Mikey, and Raph.

@Thor-Orion

Жыл бұрын

I'm an extra terrestrial who was placed on this planet and i support your love of these pizza eating adolescent anthropomorphic turtles.

@Leo-ok3uj

Жыл бұрын

As a being that once accidentally said that it was from Jupiter, Leo is one of my 2 principal role models

@elijahhayter3026

Жыл бұрын

Turtle power, my dude.

@yelsahblah3270

Жыл бұрын

Raphael has been and always will be my favorite sarcastic character. The grumpy guy trope is easily my favorite because of him.

Damn dude. You are my new hero. This was the best analysis of the dumpster fire that was this show and it’s promotion I’ve ever seen. May you get 1 million likes!

Here's an idea. Legolas is a short man of Mexican descent. He also isn't afraid to express his love to Gimli in a physical way.

That's exactly why I dislike the social politic trend that's going on. Instead of opening a real discussion about the social issues, media nowadays is more likely to push people into a frenzy where they feel that the demographic they're not part of is actively trying to harm them. That is not true. Majority is not the opponent of minority. Feminism is not the enemy of men. Or at least it shouldn't be the case. One of my friends studied sociology for a while, and there was only one thing she took away: "Once social justice starts to support you, you've lost. It will convince you that you're an oppressed victim, and when you feel awful and attacked from all sides, it will leave you alone. "

A lot of people feel repulsed and angered and betrayed by this show; and are willing to fight against it. You have done a much better job than most of analyzing the immorality, mendacity and pure manipulative cynicism of this vile effort. Thanks.

So very strange, I remember not only ten-ish years ago talking with colleagues that Amazon is evil due to their cruel and unethical business practices and worker conditions, everyone largely agreed. Pretty sure nothing has changed in that department either. Now they make an absolutely awful show that has even less black people in it than your average movie from the 80s and suddenly they're supposed to be the paragons of virtue? How does this work..

"It gets better" "You have to watch the episodes more than once" "That last episode was a little slow, but that one part was crazy" "It went over your head" "I actually liked it by the end" - The mental gymnastics and pure cope from the "fans" of this show speaks volume. They sound like they're in an abusive relationship with the franchise, defending it and mindlessly lapping it up. It's quite sad.

Guyladriel "you would turn me into a tyrant" Sauron "bitch you wanted to leave your soldiers for dead, make demands from kings and queens who's shores you just washed up on, took over their armies after beating up a few teenagers, and right here right now you're telling me I don't deserve a second chance at life?"

Good video. Often people get lost in the "culture wars" narrative, some for easy views, other for naivety, but you did good on pointing out the root of the problem is much deeper. Diversity of representation never should've been the topic of discussion, the topic should be how these corporations are using these causes in the most insincere way to farm attention from all sides. I wish people would stop complaining if a character was race swapped or not and started to discuss WHY it is being done.

VERY WELL DONE. THIS is probably the most insightful and balanced presentation of the evil of Corporate Greed in all the editorials I have heard, and I've heard A LOT OF THEM. Never had any interest in watching ROP. Never will, because of the dissection of The Body Politic here. It should be published as a full page editorial in newspapers everywhere.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

That is incredibly kind of you. I've had a few nice and supportive comments now, but each one continues to mean a lot to me. Thank you!

After watching most of the bigger YT channels take on R.o.P, your's is, in my humble opinion, best break down so far! Thank you! Have shared to my FB page. Hope to see more.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Your humble opinion means much to me. Thank you! More will come... eventually. I'm in it for the long haul :)

As a Mexican American, never have I read a book, a comic, a graphic novel, watched a show or movie, and then said to myself: “this person doesn’t look like me. I’m not represented. I don’t feel included.” That’s some weak-minded, self-righteous, and entitled BS.

The problem isn't just allegory, as Tolkien himself admitted that symbolic things in his story bordered on allegorical language when it comes to religious aspects. The problem is that the allegories and messages in the show go directly against Tolkien's beliefs. All the 'good guy's in the Rings of Power act by the philosophy of Tolkien's villains. Gil-Galad lies, Elrond deceives, Galadriel does all of these and more. Hell, Galadriel even rejects returning to the Valar so she can go back and win physical victories against Sauron herself, which contradicts Tolkien's views that only God can deliver the final blow to evil (hence why LOTR ends with what Tolkien called a eucatastrophe). Something ACTUAL lore Galadriel knows, who is not some warrior military leader. Tolkien was a traditional Catholic, moral objectivist who abhorred modernism. For Tolkien, the ends did not justify the means; he did not believe in the anti-hero or that human complexity equates to moral complexity. That's not even to mention the gender roles (or lack thereof) in the show. Elves also act like humans, elves arent just a long-living humans with pointy ears in Tolkien's world- they are angelic beings of a whole different wave length to humans. Another reason why the elf-human relationship in the show contradicts the lore of Beren and Luthien, or Aragorn and Arwen being so special. None of the elf characters invoked elves.

WELL PUT. Thank you for sharing. Let us unite when these evil corporations desire to monetize division.

I'm Ecuadorian, latino and when i watched The Peter Jackson's trillogy when i was a child I didnt even care about the race or skin color of the cast, what made me fall in love with Lord of the Rings was the story and it's message, I actually dissagree not me or my brothers never cared about being "represented" because although I can't speak for everyone when we were kids that never was something on our minds never and that never was a problem to love Tolkien's work which is universal and beyond politics or race.

This is an excellent review. It is sensitively written and offers many valid points. Thank you.

This video is just facts after facts and it honestly deserves to be seen by MUCH more people so fantastic job showing the truth of what's been happening with this show, honestly tho only people I think still defend it are people either doing it for politcal reasons or the shills, it's a shame so many great lore channels got turned into shills, we can only hope the show fails and gets its next season cancelled

Wow! I haven't even finished this video yet, but your opening comments are helping me so much with an issue I've been having with "girl power/battle of the sexes" mindset that I grew up with (90s/00s) and I see with concern in my daughter as she constantly pits herself against her brothers simply because they're boys. Why do I always have to relate to the female character? It's like a knee jerk fraction to "look for the girl, like me" instead of the person with a personality or struggle like me that I can relate to more. This hyper fixation on shallow, superficial definitions of identity is childish, infantile even, and deeply ingrained. I gotta think about this...

@Thor-Orion

Жыл бұрын

Well they've been working specifically on girls to have that mindset for at least 4 generations now. It's how they've managed to convince damn near every woman under the age of 50 that they're a "feminist" even if what the modern feminists do is miles and miles away from their own personal goals, perspectives and opinions. Especially considering modern feminism is truly misandry under a different name, I find it sad that they have women like you convinced that superficial surface level similarities are more valuable than the deep personality related similarities.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing, I'm so glad to know it helped you! I have been fortunate enough to have significant exposure to strong women in my life who have been of great inspiration to me in many ways and that's certainly not due to a lack of strong male figures either. From my perspective, it seemed like they were less concerned about the battle of the sexes and more so about being great at what they were doing in general. All the best to you and your family!

You have put into words some feelings and thoughts that are hard to communicate under todays modern maniacs trying to twist everything. Thank you. Especially the CS Lewis quote.

This was a really nice breakdown of how this show, the show runners and Amazon used black people as tools, and as a shield for criticism. The vast majority of Tolkien communities only want to know one thing about you as a person, it's not your colour, or your gender, it's whether you are a fan of the works. I mean, they called the fans "patently evil" yet what they're doing is truly evil, people of different melanin levels are most definitely not tools to sell your badly written series! Great work on the video, it was concise and well articulated.

Very well said! I agree with you completely. Amazon decided to make race the anchor of the series as a simple money grab and it's exhausting. The whole media trend of representation is exhausting to be honest. As a queer person, I never was bothered by lack of rep, but rather by bad representation because it worsened the divide and perpetuated the harmful stereotypes. Now Amazon is holding a magnifying glass to the skin colour of each person, content creator, critic or fan, and just making everyone feel how different they are than those of other races, which is so stupid and I've no idea how any activist, whether of POC or women's rights, can be supporting this nonsense.

I just had a realization... Rings of Prime is so desperate to make you like a character, that you instantly dislike... but LOTR doesn't ever try hard to sell you on a character right away. Bilbo is just some grumbly uncle writing a book about a past adventure, Frodo's just a dude (a fellow even) enjoying a book in the woods while he waits for the party to start--not the bravest purest heart among all his peers, Gandalf is the cool grandpa rolling in for a good time... we get a glimpse of his wisdom and knowledge and but his power is only teased a few times but we are unaware of his actual OP Boss status until he escapes Saruman and falls in Moria. He isn't introduced by slaying a troll right away. Merry and Pippin are goofs (a questionable departure from the books but it works) not ready to ride into battle for the shire, Sam is one of Frodo's friends and gets a bit shy around Rosie and not yet the ride or die brave heart we know and love. Aragorn is shrouded in mystery and not revealed to be a legendary king raised by elves. Elrond is seen once as a warrior long ago but is now established as a healer both welcoming and wise. Legolas is noble and majestic, not yet the awesome bowman and loyal friend. Gimli is proud, not yet seen for his strength and heart. Boromir is bold and determined and perhaps cunning, but not yet succumb to full temptation nor recognized as a noble warrior.... We get these insights from regular interactions and conversations. We are not given a sympathy setup scene of them getting bullied and then being better than all the bullies to establish they are The Protagonist. We don't need them to show off or single-handedly slay a troll right away. Rather they are just people with a natural personality living in a complex world and interacting with others in a normal way.

I think your analysis is a good one. Contention and anger is what Amazon wants. They know full well what attacking the fanbase means and what it leads to, and that’s WHY they’re doing it. Good cannot happen in a world filled with anger. The fact that Amazon and other studios are perpetuating it, THAT is the reason they are corrupt

J. D. Payne: “We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit,” Payne says. “And that is IT. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.” Then why is it that 100% of the storylines in RoP are not in The Hobbit or LOTR? They specifically don't have the rights to Tolkien's Second Age narratives in The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. Yet the main two storylines in RoPs first season are from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Yet the A Plot storyline, the forging of the Rings with Celebrimbor, Elrond, Durin, etc, is told in The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" and in Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn". This tale isn't in The Hobbit and it's not in the LOTR trilogy. RoPs B Plot storyline is the fall of Númenor, with Pharazôn, Miriel, Tar-Palantír, etc. Also not part of The Hobbit or the LOTR trilogy. It IS told in the fourth part of The Silmarillion, “Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor”. This tale isn't in The Hobbit and it's not in the LOTR trilogy. I just absolutely do not get it.

Really well thought out video sir . Its so sad that we get more and more of these "shows" purposely created to spite their fans and people in general . Love the ending of your video - wish we can really become one human race and less just a bunch of tribes constantly at war at each other over one resource or another !

I would rate this video as one of the top 25 videos I have watched on KZread. I was wondering where you were headed at girst but decided to push on and watch the whole video and am glad I did. What a well thought out, well spoken, interesting, informative and entertaining video. And to me - well worth the sub.i am looking forward to your next offering.

Glad I found this. You speak so much truth and it's truly sad the world has come to it. Common sense has left the world and many empty shells of angry bumbling idiots took its place.

Wow, I'm stunned at how excellent of an analysis this is. Thank you!

"Write the novel Tolkien never wrote!" Yeah, there's a reason he didn't write it.

Show Runners: “S2 will follow the lore. Trust us! watch it.” Me: “Fool me once (S1), shame on you. Fool me twice (S2), shame on me. I’ll pass on S2.”

@keungwan5901

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, more lies. They have so corrupted Middle Earth, I don't think it is possible to get back to canon at this stage. I am not confident the writers are skilled enough to patch holes and turn it around. Therefore I expect more of the same, except worse, given where their writings led them to.

@WraithReaper09

Жыл бұрын

The only way they could have it follow lore is by completely retconning it. Otherwise they would need to do an overhauled reboot.

You hit the nail . Seeing the incredible cruelty of the Ukraine war, I don't want more hate between groups of humans, whatever their differences are. Of course humans aren't angels, but most people are capable of having empathy, of doing good things. But not all, to state it clearly. As long as the mighty people don't frame our mind by noticing primarily the differences. Morgan Freeman is such a fine guy, I can't agree more!

"Those who address race the most, are usually the most racist". -Mveronikas

None of those superfans actually watched or even posted about the show since that video either. They were entirely a false flag fandom

Very good. Thank you for your well presented and expertly argued video. Labels indeed - When you define any person in terms of a label you display to the world your bigotry and so lack of empathy, while at the same time attempt to rob that person of their humanity having reduced everything they are to a single characteristic - a characteristic of your choosing, not theirs. Another quote: “Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy” - Captain G. M. Gilbert, Nuremburg trials.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

That quote is so true!

@keungwan5901

Жыл бұрын

Evil is when you start treating people like objects - Granny Weatherwax, Terry Pratchett

Absolutely THE best commentary on R of P. Other commentaries skillfully criticise aspects of it, but yours goes right to the insidious, evil heart of the problem.

Go deeper. The prime directive is always to fight Socialism (a broadly shared economy). To fight a thing they must distract from a thing, because people will only take issue with things that occupy their mind. So the myriad of 'social issues' that we see all the time in media exist primarily for that purpose, to fill peoples minds with 'alternative' thoughts, thereby fulfilling the prime directive. With Amazon, look at it as a strategic long term investment as well. The cost of these shows as measured in earnings losses will pale in comparison to the politically induced public relations profits from the Liberal political group in the U.S. and it's equivalent political groups elsewhere. These profits aren't just measured in power and political capital, but monetarily as well from reduced taxation and greater store profits.

@sam52054

Жыл бұрын

It wouldn’t recoup the cost it would take to master a Blu-ray, not that anyone would seriously pay for this bad entertainment.

Wow, I didn't expect that. Post the transcript of this everywhere. Instant sub.

On the Depp/Heard trial. I don't think it just hurts women, I think the problem was the belief (very common among feminists) that women *cannot* be abusers and men cannot be victims. Speaking here as a victim of a female abuser myself. Such attitudes were hurting people like me and the many other victims who didn't fit the narrative. You might wonder how this relates to ROP. In a way, it does. Galadriel in the show is incredibly manipulative, employing all kinds of emotional and pyschological blackmail, manipulation and gaslighting to bend the Numenorians and other to her to her will and make Halbrand do what she wanted. She even used the typical abuser's ploy in one Episode of threatening to cast Halbrand as the abuser, saying she would tell everyone he was "using" her, rather than she him. She provides a fascinating case study in how abusers and manipulators operate, certainly, but that's not how the fans respond. After the "big reveal" ROP fans will refuse to accept that Galadriel was being manipulative in any way, and just seek to cast her as the poor, innocent, naive victim of Sauron's manipulation. Or better still, they try and justify her actions by saying she is a "trauma victim" and so obviously, isn't responsible for her actions. She just manipulated an entire country into a proxy war because she was sad about her brother's death. It seems people still largely refuse to accept women can be abusive or actively manipulative. Even when those women are female characters openly advocating genocide whilst using racialized slurs against captives (I'm referring to the "piked ear" remark she made to Adar whilst threatening to wipe out all orcs for being lesser beings.)

The idea that you have to "see yourself onscreen" in order to identify with a character can be immediately torpedoed by bringing up Optimus Prime.

Damn this video needs way more views

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

It's already surpassed expectations, so I'm grateful for each and every one!

The comments you made at the end were very moving L.T.H. and hits the nail right on the head. Thank you so much, sincerely.

Even if we ignore the changes in Tolkien’s life work; the story itself is very generic, predictable, problems are solved right away and events that could build up to something interesting end up being meh at best (if they indeed ended up being something). I bet many artists working on this show knew what the public would think of this. They had basically infinite budget, and possibly in the end that was its doom. It was too much money to play it risky. And by playing extra safe they shoot their own foot, creating a bland mix of scenes and tropes that people are tired of seeing. And the worst offense of all, they insult the true fans of Tolkien and the public; instead of learning from their mistakes.

Exceptionally well-said, please keep up the great work. You earned my sub today. I wish more criticism of this trash addressed the real problems the way you did here. The dehumanization and manipulation perpetrated by Amazon is anathema to the very heart of Tolkien's work, which has united and inspired love and passion in millions of people all over the world for decades. It was the absolute wrong franchise to try and pervert in a cynical money grab like this.

I know I don't need to intellectually preface this sentiment in any way, but for my own OCDesque nature, I feel it appropriate: There are many reasons one might look at Erandir(?) and go: "ain't no blacks in Middle-Earth, nor Medieval England." I personally was of that idea foir M-E until I heard darker-skinned elves were a thing, and that changed my entire perspective on the actor's color in the role to not matter at all. Turns out, I just needed a reasonable answer to why he looked different than a other elf I'd heard of and seen before, and then my head-canon took care of the rest, given elven factors and the lack of explanation for his presence in that particular place in the show. If they had, howver, told me his kind was of the pale elf variety or an established pale elf had been race-swapped, whether within the elven races or outside the show, that would to me be a different matter. Point is, since Erandir is someone I haven't heard of before, I take him as a ROP original character within the lorical darker-skinned elf races, and problem solved. In this case, it's not about me "seeing myself" in him to make him relateable to me because I recognize he is supposed to be ... well, human, so to speak, just like me, and when I see him struggle, I may sympathize. Same with female characters regardless of their color. I believe it's about staying true to a previously established character more than being whiny at one that doesn't "look like" me, and sometimes that difference isn't so clearly given or received. That's why explanations are in order. Diversity and inclusion, Black Lives Matter, MeToo - all these are absolutely good messages but it's how you handle and integrate them that matters. "The Summer of Love" didn't exactly put BLM in a good light, so to speak. "Diversity and inclusion" has been and continue to be such a large focus in modern entertainment that everything else deteriorates, the paying people leave, and those included are left wondering what they did wrong while their bosses and cast members shell customers, rightful critics and would-have-been fans with all sorts of insults because they made sure not to cater to the people who ultimately pay them for being entertained. MeToo was perhaps one of the most needed concepts today, but that, too, got abused by egocentrics, liars and other unsavory characters who ended up destroying the system and completely shatter the validity and believeability of those whom the system was set up for in the first place - people in actual need of support. Sorry, didn't mean to blow the door off the hinges and make this political, but I needed to vent.

I dunno who you are but you certainly made a strong first upload. Some things noted here that you rarely hear in examinations and critiques which are nonetheless key to understanding the trouble at hand; too many people just go for lower-hanging fruit and limit themselves to that. The Heard signalling comparison was a clever way of highlighting the issue in particular. Hopefully you'll upload more interesting things with this deeper cut approach in the future.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind words. I did my best to add something unique to the conversation instead of repeating all the same sentiments people have already heard. Takes a bit of extra time and thought, but it's fun. And yes! I do still plan on doing the same in the future. Things are in the works :)

Wow. You DESERVE AND WILL EARN 1. MILLION SUBSCRIBERS. LOOKING FORWARD to your next videos.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, that's so incredibly kind of you! I have many ideas for new videos based on ideas I've thought of and noted down over the years. They may take some time, but they will definitely come. I hope you enjoy them when they do

I sadly think that a Tolkien story being told by corporate Amazon couldn't have gone any other way than it did.

This diet fascist corporate peddling has gotta stop working eventually. Ita already starting to wear off with the Disney trash. With 2 years between now and season 2 of Rangs of Prime; I'd be very surprised if all the all the sheeple come back 2 it. It's not like any of the other woke excretions of the last decade have aged well. Once the self-righteous commie saviour hype dies down and the critics move on, people start to realize they've been eating garbage.

I ordered a package from Amazon, and it never showed up, I had it delivered to a business address, someone is always there, it just never showed up. Amazon needs to get their sh*t straight before they start making TV shows.

I always felt that lord of the rings and the hobbit was about having strength even if your small. The hobbits are as small as you can get but they end up saving the day. And the army of man, was tiny compared to Mordor. But they endured and won. Amazon can’t possibly comprehend the idea of being small and struggling.

As a POC I never needed to see myself onscreen or anyone that looks like me. In fact I rarely see anyone like me on screen, as I look ethnically ambiguous and don't easily fit into any single race box (White, Asian, Black, Latino, or Asian.) I need to feel that the characters would welcome me as a friend and comrade if I were to visit their world. It isn't writing diverse looking characters but making the heroes actually act like heroes that makes all the difference in the world.

the show just take a piggy back ride on orthers work. When you make your main charracter over power, there is no room for grows or devolement. the show would probably not get so much backlash if they just had made a fantasy show without any connection to tolkien, but would probably not have the same budget.

Here's food for thought on representation and being able to relate to characters: To this day, the vast majority of protagonists I've encountered are male. Granted, some have female counterparts or companions who spend most of the time by their side, but the character whose story we follow, the one we're supposed to root for no matter what, is almost always male. I'm female. Does that mean I can't relate to male characters? Of course not.

Honestly, actors are hired to entertain the audience. Instead, actors have been touting themselves as activists. That was the marketing of this series - to push Woke Ideologies. They had been focused on rewriting Tolkien's Lore for the modern audience instead on having the talent and experience for good story telling. To write the novel Tolkien never wrote demonstrates the sheer hubris and self delusional narcissistic mindset both McKay and Payne possess.

If Grima Wormtongue existed in our world, he'd be a huge fan of ROP.

I just discovered your channel, good video, gonna follow you to see your channel growing up . Cheers.

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for coming along for the ride

Great video essay. Glad I found your channel. Looking Forward to more of your work showing up in my feed

Very nice and deep thinking. What you (and everyone else, actually) need to remember is that conditioning viewers, slandering and demonizing opponent groups and sowing hate towards others have been successfully done by the media in geopolitical topics (i.e. not domestic, but international politics). Thus, what worked so well before they brought to the domestic politics and to the sphere of entertainment. But naturally, in these areas it's much easier for people to notice dishonest narratives, lies and manipulations - since many have the first-hand experience there and can learn about things from other interactions than listening to what media say.

16:25 Ironically, this narcissism is very Tolkienian. It's what turned a Vala named Melkor into the first dark Lord Morgoth.

Best review of what is happening in our world. Yes this is our world and the corporate and media EVIL we face. This is the fight of our lifetime. Want it to stop? Stop funding it... It really is that simple.

I grew up loving all-black shows like Good Times, What's Happening, Sanford & Son and was glued to the television when they broadcast Roots. Eddie Murphy was my favorite movie hero at the time and Mr. T was the baddest man there was - and, believe it or not, I'm not black. To suggest that a person is only capable of identifying with the nobility or tragedy or humor or villainy of a character is if they also happen to share the same skin color is about as shallow and racist as can be imagined. That excuse for so-called 'representation' is either a straight up lie or an outright insult to the very people they claim to be championing. Any time an adaptation is developed and, from the outset - casting, writing, promotion, everything, focuses primarily on having a 'diverse and inclusive cast' they are telling you from the outset that story and character development will be a distant second when it comes to priorities. There are many reasons for this but the simplest is the very curse of representation - characters included for representation purposes cannot have legitimate depth because they can not have legitimate flaws, otherwise you're projecting those flaws onto the entire group that lone representative is a stand-in for. That's why we see so few villains of color these days, much less LGBT villains, as just two examples. The truth is, what happened with Rings of Power was but a mooncast shadow when compared to the abomination that was Wheel of Time, and similar attitudes over at Disney and elsewhere have been systematically destroying franchises left and right, from Star Wars to Marvel to Indiana Jones to Star Trek, sacrificing these beloved IP's on the altar of mega-corporation virtue-signaling intended to distract from how they gleefully seek to curry favor with some of the worst human rights abusers on the planet. Collectively there are few things more worthy of fans' ire than that, so to me it seems 100% justified.

''Consume Product, then get excited for Next Product.''

I don't care about skin color; I grew up in one of the most racially and culturally diverse parts of any city you could possible imagine. My next door neighbor as a child was a man who had been interned at Manzanar. I'm white and was a minority in every school I attended through high school. So fine: hire actors of whatever color or background you want. I'll watch so long as I am not endorsing how advanced and modern and cool you are for doing so. To quote Bill Belichik: "just do your job"

You made me cry! And that is a hard achievement, believe me. Thank you for giving form to all my thoughts in such a beautiful way. Enough of this "woke" nonsenss and excuses: it was allways been about money.

KZread channel In Deep Geek did an interesting discussion about this portrayal of Galadriel and how TO A CERTAIN POINT, it is faithful to tolkien's writing and how he described her when she was younger. Ambitious, athletic, unusually tall/powerful, wanting to rule, and how that tied into how we see her in The Lord of the Rings when she's able to refuse the offer of the Ring and give up that part of herself. Naturally, the creators of rings of power cranked it to 11 and ripped the knob off for the sake of neofeminism kudos. She went from ambitious elf who could hang with the boys to Atomic blonde.

@theghostofbabanovac7069

Жыл бұрын

That wasn't Galadriel in the 2nd Age, that might have been Galadriel before spending time with Melian from which she learned wisdom & magic.She married at the start of the 2nd Age and shortly after (in elvish years of course) she gave birth to her daughter Celebrian. You would assume that maturity & some degree of wisdom would have been acquired by then.

@meganhuggins7494

Жыл бұрын

Athletic didn’t mean kick ass, sword wielding, beast destroying, revenge fuelled psycho!! Who was also extremely….short ( for a 6ft 4” Galadriel) 😊

Reminds me of what Disney did to John Boyega….used him, abused him, then threw him away…..

I have watched many many videos on this show, you sir, take the crown. A brilliant insightful and very thoughtful narrative. I truly look forward to future videos from your channel. Excellent .

@lowtemperaturehands

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! I have seen quite a few videos too and have been very impressed with a lot of the content out there, so your kind words really mean a lot to me. I have many ideas for future videos, but fleshing them out into an end product takes me time. I love making them though and they'll come eventually.

I'm starting to think CS Lewis was a prophet. Not only has a man that's been dead for nearly 60 years perfectly encapsulate the state of modern entertainment, but he said other things that have come to pass. As far as black dwarves and elves go, I'd have not cared one bit about it if they didn't make it a selling point. Casting actors that happen to be black is fine, but that's not what they did. They went out of their way to make it "diverse", and that's the problem.

@1:00 Just realized they're stabbing daggers into icicles to climb. Icicles.

[EDIT: I typed the following TED-talk as I was still watching your video. Then I got to the last segment and realised I'm basically saying what you've already said, up to and including the "divide and conquer" angle! Oh well. Love the ending of your video!] What annoys me is that Amazon (or generally creators of these awful "modern" adaptations of beloved works) very clearly cares about diversity AS LITTLE as they care about the IP they're adapting. They just think it's a PR failsafe in case the series is bad - exactly the way it's played out. If they REALLY cared about those values, they wouldn't present them in such a sloppy, heavy-handed way (and maybe... dunno, maybe they'd make sure that there's more diversity in the writing and production team as well? No? Tokenised diversity but just on screen so we can brag about it, meanwhile behind the scenes it's business as usual and the show gets written by two guys with almost no experience, because you _really_ couldn't find anyone better equipped? Got it!). They can't comprehend that when the audience says: we want strong (female, male, ethnic etc.) characters, they don't mean "we want the same old brooding male action hero as always, but make it a girl" - they mean "we want well-rounded complex characters of all kinds, with strong and weak sides, and we want to see that there are different ways to be a strong person, not just a warrior with a sword in their hand". They don't understand those other types of strength and complexity, because they don't value them. That's why they don't even see them in the books they adapt and they think "oh no we need to change the character completely because people will say it's weak, we need to change the message because it's not openminded" - except that the readers already know it's NOT a weak character and that the story IS openminded (it wouldn't be so beloved otherwise). I'm pretty sure that most of us audiences either don't mind or actively want to see more diverse characters on screen. But most of all we want to see good, well-told stories, and respect given to the original works (I really think that even the audiences who don't like a random black elf etc would soon get over it as long as the story itself was well told and coherent. At most it would become just a side criticism to an otherwise liked show). So let's not allow ourselves to be artificially divided into "book fans" vs "progressive brigade", because most of us, at least to some degree, share the same values, and it's all a "divide and conquer" ploy by corporations that really don't care either way. They're just trying to squeeze more money out of the viewers, by dint or by stint.

I appreciate referencing that 60 minutes interview with Morgan Freeman. I've seen him make that point a few times before and it seemed to be the only solution I ever thought would work.

Very clever analysis and presentation! I'm going to brood on this one for a bit 😎👍

the desperation for this show to be "Epic" is pathetic, even the music is regular and does not feel tolkien alot of the time. The only positive thing i heard ppl who claim they "enjoyed" it say about it is "the visuals r stunning!" which i do not agree with nothing felt real everything looked video-game-ish so not impressive besides a couple shots of nature landscape. Thank you for this video its well done keep it up💕the amount of gaslighting used in their marketing showed amazons true colors

7:00 Yes but elves born in Valinor are a cut above regular elves. And elves in the books are a lot more impressive than those in the movies. Legolas is not the greatest hero of the elves he's a fairly young elf of a relatively unimportant bloodline. And yet he's an increadibly impressive fighter. Glorfindel drove off several Nazgul at the same time.

Most of the ordinary denizens of Middle Earth had never seen an elf. Elves were very good at moving among others and not being noticed, very like the Hobbits. So I doubt the speech in the tavern would have even happened. What exactly IS a 'superfan'? Tolkien would have been appalled at the notion that his work was vaguely political, as we know politics today. All Bezos is interested in is whether it will make him lots of money. The only ethnicity visible in Tolkien's world is between Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, and Man, colour has bugger all to do with it. Tolkien admirers don't give a crap about what colour the actors were, all they wanted was a story about the Second Age which made sense and didn't ignore the lore. I don't see colour when I meet someone, I see a human being.