Is this really the reason?

[Yusuf Evans]

There is an article I was reading on the tounge tied website, that linked me to a London Times Op piece. I'm just wondering if you guys agree with what this writer is saying?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-1922429,00.html

 

[Mandevar]

Few quotes from the rational people. There were a lot of others who supported/agreed with what he was saying.

Kwame, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, well so is racism sometimes. To look for it in a kids' movie about a big scary gorilla is sad. I think it says more about you than it does about the film. And your comments invite others to see it racially, when it may never have occured to them to look at it that way. Peace brother. Colin Nicholas, Vernon, British Columbia

What a load of PC twaddle, it should be remembered that it was JRR Tolkien who wrote the books, not Peter Jackson, and it is from them that the charachters were cast. The books were written at the time of the Second World War, and it is that which the storyline reflects, followed by the Cold War, where we saw the West as being the goodies, and the East the baddies. I can't see any reason to make out that it is in anyway racist. Barry Davies, Stafford, Staffs

[i like this one]
It is this type of hypersensitive over-analysis that makes me wonder how we can possibly live in a harmonious multicultural society. A child watching King Kong would see a film about a giant gorilla; it’s only an adult’s prejudice that sees anything different. Eric Blair, London

Kwame, I am asolutely appalled by your suggestion of racist undertones in this movie. If you can draw racist implications from this film then I would pretty much imagine you must be offended by every film, book and play ever written, as I’m sure any overly PC halfwit could derive tenuous racist content from anything. Please silence your ramblings before you influence any other weak-minded souls. Paul Harris, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts

Kwame, Many thanks for your insight into the racial imagery which we are going to be subjected to when we go to see a big gorilla rampage across New York city. As much as I respect your comments, I cannot help but feel that by publishing this you have made certain that people will see things which otherwise would not exist for the average cinema-goer. The days when white men put on boot polish to imitate blacks are long gone. The majority of people do not think like that anymore and fewer would even consider it if it was not pointed out to us. I for one am looking forward to going to see this movie, not because I am thinking of “black sexuality”, but rather because I am looking foward to not thinking for three hours and eating popcorn at a high rate of knots. The same as most cinema-goers, regardless of colour. Lari Meyer, London

Wow. Ilussionary correlation? I would have never thought of it as racist... people who wont stop looking for these similarites or whatever you want to call them continue this chain of racism that I've found little of in my generation.

But seriously? Because the orcs are black they are referred to Africans? And black is evil? All the evil people are black? Black archetypical has to do with death, darkness, fear, the unknown. But to say since orcs/monkies are black they are referring to black people?

So no, I disagree with that crazy guy.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

Few quotes from the rational people. There were a lot of others who supported/agreed with what he was saying.

[/i]

Wow. Ilussionary correlation? I would have never thought of it as racist... people who wont stop looking for these similarites or whatever you want to call them continue this chain of racism that I've found little of in my generation.

But seriously? Because the orcs are black they are referred to Africans? And black is evil? All the evil people are black? Black archetypical has to do with death, darkness, fear, the unknown. But to say since orcs/monkies are black they are referring to black people?

So no, I disagree with that crazy guy.

I agree. People are always looking for an excuse to start an argument.

 

[Superpants]

this seems like nonsense to me

 

[Arnold_Philips]

I don't think he's crazy. I think he (and the tons of other people that are saying the same thing) has a valid point, though King Kong might not have been the best piece to unleash his ideas upon.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

I don't think he's crazy. I think he (and the tons of other people that are saying the same thing) has a valid point, though King Kong might not have been the best piece to unleash his ideas upon.

So you agree that the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong are just examples of subliminal racism? I don't know, I didnt' feel the need to go out lynching someone when I watched those movies, so I'm not sure where he's coming up with this information.

 

[Arnold_Philips]

So you agree that the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong are just examples of subliminal racism? I don't know, I didnt' feel the need to go out lynching someone when I watched those movies, so I'm not sure where he's coming up with this information.

I agree with the basic premise that the media at times promotes unhealthy and untrue images of certain groups. The movie doesn't help the stereotype of the hypersexual and beastly black man. It aggravates it and continues the myth. I know it seems really petty focusing on King Kong, but these images and stereotypes popping up over and over again in our culture aren't helpful in breaking down any racial (or whatever) boundaries.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

I agree with the basic premise that the media at times promotes unhealthy and untrue images of certain groups. The movie doesn't help the stereotype of the hypersexual and beastly black man. It aggravates it and continues the myth. I know it seems really petty focusing on King Kong, but these images and stereotypes popping up over and over again in our culture aren't helpful in breaking down any racial (or whatever) boundaries.

I'll agree that the media is all about making a statement with the "shock factor", but I'm pretty sure that Peter Jackson didn't intend to specifically target minorities with his movies. I agree to that adults are morons for buying int this paranoia the media likes to feed them. It's just recycled garbage, only now, instead of making a point, they are just trying to make a buck.

 

[Patzak]

I'll agree that the media is all about making a statement with the "shock factor", but I'm pretty sure that Peter Jackson didn't intend to specifically target minorities with his movies. I agree to that adults are morons for buying int this paranoia the media likes to feed them. It's just recycled garbage, only now, instead of making a point, they are just trying to make a buck.

Well, I'd kind of agree with Arnold_Philips above. I haven't seen King Kong yet nor do I intend to, but many movies subconsciously perpetuate certain stereotypes. I'd say finding such stereotypes (which might be hard, because we're so used to them) and discussing them is a very interesting thing - even more so when we're pretty sure the author didn't intend to perpetuate them with his movie as is probably true with Jackson. But to consider it a reason not to see the movie is probably an overreaction. I mean, with this kind of attitude, one could only sit at home and rave about "communist propaganda" or "racist bias" in almost everything.

 

[Eudaimonist]

The idea that there is racism in Lord of the Rings is pure tripe. In LOTR, all humans from all corners of the world are "fallen" in the Christian sense. Even the Numenoreans had become evil enslavers in the Second Age, and had been severely punished by the archangel-like Valar for their attempt to invade their realm and demand immortality. All of the races of Men exist on the same moral playing field.

Orcs are corrupted elves. They aren't even related to human beings. Any attempt to relate Orcs to people of African descent is pure conjecture and unsupported by anything in the Middle-earth stories. There are no "hints" in the story that Orcs reflect some race in our world (they seem to reflect a state of mind Tolkien encountered in WWI that he never attached to any race) and Tolkien should be given the benefit of any doubt here.

Moreso, racism IS explored and rejected in the story. The Elves and Dwarves had a long-standing distrust of each other from some nasty event way back in the First Age. Gimli and Legolas learn to trust each other and get over their respective racism. If anything, LOTR presents a positive message about how racism can be overcome.