I Have Seen the White City

[sakuratsukikage]

I know I've been saying I was going to make posts about sexism and feminism in media, and I am, in fact, intending to do so (as well as writing fics I need to write), but instead of that, today, I'm going to make a post about racism in The Lord of the Rings.

The Lord of the Rings is a major foundational work of the fantasy genre.  Now, I'd be the

Comments

[marimo_blogger]

It's been years since I read the Lord of the Rings so I don't remember much (time to revisit?), but this is definitely an eye-opener.

Also:
Tolkien described orcs as having "Mongoloid" features--so the (ugly) face of evil is Asian?
Eh, wow XD (is Mongoloid LOL). Though it could be just him saying that in his imagination orcs have the same shape of skull or nose as Mongoloids? If he had said something like, "The orcs in the story are representative of the Mongoloid in Middle Earth", now that's racist. I mean, the concept of trolls have existed since long before Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings. He just borrowed the concept and added a few dashes of his own. It's like how nowadays you can create your own breed of vampires with practically any traits for a story and call them vampires even though they don't burn in sunlight and drink from blood bags. Or sparkle in sunlight.

Though, other points above considered, he is pretty much racist. Can't say much since I haven't read his other works, though.

[sakuratsukikage]

I definitely think it's time to revisit--they're always worth a re-read, and everything I read them I notice something I didn't before.

Now, I have to give the guy credit and say that WAS in a letter where he was explicitly asked how he envisioned them, so it wasn't like he usually came out with that kind of thing.

This is the actual text of the letter:

...they are (or were) squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.Ouch

[celen]

This is indeed a worthy issue to consider, and for the most part, I agree with you in that in Tolkien's works, there is definitely a tone of racism to be found.

Concerning the "split" between the peoples and what you said as some being better than others, I have to confess I've never seen it exactly in that light. I've always thought that for example Noldor was considered as, how to put it, royalty amongst the elven races: not better in quality or character, but simply considered equal to our ancient noble families (who, in turn, were considered better than the others, but if we look at Noldor in that light, it is the problem of the society, not the writer, I should say). The part about the spiritual superiority is right, but does it make them better than the Sindar or the woodland elves? I don't think that's ever stated, and the spiritual potency does make sense, in a way. I do see your point, and there is definitely truth in it, but I hesitate to agree completely. What you said about the Númenóreans, however, I have to admit to be

[celen]

The reason why I've never been much concerned with the racism in Tokien's writings is because I can reason with it, little as I like it. And, more to the point, the racism present in his fiction is much less than in some other works of the time, or even times after that. Tolkien's works are strictly part of the white, male canon - a fact that might annoy me to death, if it were not for some of the parts in his writings that make me overlook it in the favor of appreciating what is surely the greatest tale ever told. It should be read in the genre of epics and mythologies, and as one, it's one of the least sexist, least racist ones. As a book, however, both are to be found and there is no doubt that as a whole, the Lord of the Rings is indeed racist

[sakuratsukikage]

A LONG COMMENT YAY. Since I know you love Tolkien's work, too, I was hoping you'd come over here and say something (even if it disagreed with me).

The reason I made this post is that overall, I just want people to be more aware. I don't want people to start hating Tolkien's guts and calling him a racist--I definitely don't want that! As you say, he was a part of his culture and his time, and he was a lot better than pretty much everyone else at the time, and much better about it than most writers today, as a matter of fact. That's a pretty good record. But I want people to be able to look at something, even something they really love, and go "hmm, maybe that's kind of racist." If people could critique the media they consume, we'd be in a much better place in terms of what media we get to consume, in my opinion--if that makes any sense. So that was why I made this post

[sakuratsukikage]

And yes! Exactly that, on the orcs. You can take the orcs as being a thematic statement on the results of evil on the spirit--they are definitely not an "evil race," in any sense of the world, except that being evil makes you into them. And . . . as unpleasant as his statements about them being Mongoloid are, I do think he grew out of that kind of attitude. Which doesn't make the fact that he made those statements any better. But at least he didn't stick with them throughout his life.

I agree with his never intending the implication that the men of Harad and the East were totally evil, rather that they basically got massively screwed by Sauron relocating there and didn't have much of a chance to get away from him. But . . . yes. I think the portrayal of them as Asians and a variety of darker-skinned ethnicities is incredibly unfortunate. I also think it makes sense, what with the attitudes of the time that you mention, because I think that was a major factor. But it's also racist, and I agree with you that no one can ignore

[tobu_ishi]

There is no way a black person is harder to write about than a dragon, thank you.

Amen. ♥

(Also, I was getting bored with the Tolkien copycat obsession in fantasy as far back as early high school. Neither elves nor dwarves will ever show up in my writing - the closest I've come to a Tolkienesque fantasy world so far is a world based vaguely on southern Europe and populated with various elementals - naiads, dryads, and a slew of entirely made-up peoples, my favorite of which might be hot-spring elementals, a subcategory of salamanders with some water and earth element in them.)