diversetolkien

[diversetolkien]

Glad to see you!

Thank you! I won't be back much on this blog, but I wanted to stop by and say hi. And just say to give the Rings of Power a chance. It's everything I've wanted and more. To see black characters--women especially--take such amazing lead roles makes it worth watching.

Please keep in mind it is incredibly different than the Silmarillion. There are still some things that are the same, but it's loosely based on it. So don't go into it looking for book accuracy. but I would be interested if there was a book series adapted from the Rings of Power.

I created this blog because I didn't see representation or a lot of discussions of racism, and I'm seeing them now, thanks to the show and thanks to the influx of more fans of color. I feel a bit like a self-imposed burden has been taken off of me, which is why I won't be as active anymore. It's nice to be able to enjoy a show knowing that if there's something racist going on, people are already talking about it and that these conversations are welcomed.

It's nice to not have to make long think-pieces about why said characters are black coded and why they shouldn't be treated how they are by the fandom.

I think Adar has validated a lot of my feelings about discrimination and coding experienced by orcs and elves like Eol and Maeglin, and honestly that's all I wanted. I feel incredibly validated and grateful for being able to have these conversations, and I'm also glad to take a step back and just enjoy things to enjoy them.

So if I'm not as active here, that's why. It's very rare that I can say that what I wanted to see happen in the fandom is happening, but it's happening!

Thank you for all the support! Now go watch Rings of Power :D

[diversetolkien]

Honestly I was completely wrong about how i thought Rings of Power would turn out, and I absolutely love it. 

[diversetolkien]

Hello! Would you mind helping us distribute a survey? We want to learn more about fan art that centers racially diverse depictions of Tolkien’s characters. We’re huge fans of your work and wonder if you wouldn’t mind clicking on our tumblr url and taking the survey pinned to the top of the page yourself, and consider reblogging the link to it and sharing it with your followers? Thanks!

Hope it's still going on! I'll go ahead and take a look at it.

[diversetolkien]

He looks like someone who'd play devil's advocate in high school. Why is his hair short?

Bruv not even complaining that he has short hair, it’s just way too much of a modern style, there are plenty of short historical styles that would have looked so much better than this?

#its giving i read the books but didnt give af about them #yall hes so ugly

[diversetolkien]

I'm KINDA back especially since this new tolkien stuff is coming out! So yay!

Kudos to Galadriel in her Feanorian armour. I'm really curious to see what this means for her

[diversetolkien]

Sorry for the pause! I wanted to let you all know there's been some life updates that's come up!

I've moved, literally! I won't say the state but it's no longer in the south, and I also started with a cool new writing program 😁! More changes to come, but my main research goal is analyzing text in order to find racist tropes. It's been a fast track program so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get a job :D

[diversetolkien]

Hi, I known you’re on hiatus and I’m sorry for bothering you, but the link to your Black Tolkien server doesn’t work and I really wanted to join. If you’re not too busy, is it possible for you to share a new link. I completely understand if the answer is no.

Here it is: https://discord.gg/fmTdxtAm 😁

[diversetolkien]

Hi Moth! If you're seeing this you can use my Galadriel meta!

#moth

[diversetolkien]

Is anyone else really angry that Amazon has the rights to LOTR? 

Content warning: mentions of genocide, slavery, and sexual assault.

A lot of people have expressed concerns that Amazon’s LOTR TV show will be bad, which I understand, but this is about something else which I haven’t seen any discussion of online. The show could be good—although I doubt it will be—and I will still be angry that Amazon is making it.

Amazon profits from the forced labor of Uighurs in China and has ties to a Chinese company that is directly involved in the Chinese Government’s ongoing genocide against the Uighur people (ASPI, LA Times).

Amazon treats its employees like slaves, forcing them to work in unsafe conditions, paying them poverty wages, preventing them from unionizing, and surveilling them around the clock (The Guardian, New York Times).

Amazon has supplied facial recognition technology to US law enforcement and helps ICE and the Department of Homeland Security track and lock up immigrants (ACLU, The Guardian).

Amazon has a huge carbon footprint that has been growing every year, along with the waste it generates, even as Amazon tries to portray itself as environmentally friendly (AP News, CNBC, Forbes).

Amazon has paid a fraction of the taxes that it should have paid over the past ten years, allowing it to become even richer and more powerful (The Guardian).

Amazon has done so many terrible things that it would take me too long to list them all.

Online discussions about the LOTR show, from what I have seen, have focused on whether or not it will be good, whether or not it will follow canon, whether or not it will have a diverse cast, and to some degree, concerns that it will be like Game of Thrones, with tasteless sex scenes and gratuitous violence. I understand why many Tolkien fans care about these things, and I do, too. We want the source material portrayed respectfully; we want a diverse cast; we don’t want an adaptation of Tolkien that feels like Game of Thrones. But since Amazon is making it, I think focusing on these issues risks losing sight of the bigger picture.

Even if the show is diverse—as many fans have been hoping—Amazon is still harming people of color in real life. Even if the show has beautiful visuals—and it probably will, since it’s being filmed in New Zealand—Amazon is still destroying the earth. Even if the show respects fans’ wishes and refrains from gratuitous sex scenes, Amazon is still helping the US Government lock up immigrants, many of whom are sexually assaulted by guards while in custody (Texas Tribune, New York Times). Even if the show follows LOTR canon, Amazon represents things that Tolkien and his heroes fundamentally opposed: cruelty, violence, destruction, and the acquisition of power to dominate and control others.

When the show comes out, there will be articles about whether it follows canon; articles about how fans are reacting to it; articles making predictions about the plot. There will be controversy about this or that writing choice. Some people will be upset that it’s not diverse enough; racists will be upset that there’s any diversity at all. People will talk about what they liked about the show and what could have been done better. And Amazon wants this. Because these headlines—even if negative—will distract from everything else Amazon is doing. 

Amazon wants to use the popularity of LOTR—the nostalgia of it, the comfort of it, the fact that so many people all over the world love Middle-earth—not just to make money, but to make you forget what Amazon is. Don’t we all want to let our imaginations take us back to Middle-earth, just for a little while, and forget about the real world’s problems? Amazon’s LOTR show will let you do that. And no doubt some people reading this are already thinking, “Why can’t you let people enjoy things?” Amazon is counting on you feeling that way. But real life is more important than fiction. 

If you understand why the peoples of Middle-earth resisted Sauron, you should see that Amazon is the Sauron of our world: it enslaves, exploits, and dominates vulnerable people, it increases the power of the surveillance state, and it destroys nature, all with the goal of amassing even more power so it can destroy, control, and enslave. That may sound melodramatic, but Amazon invited the comparison by doing what it does. In fact, I find it absurd that Amazon has the rights to LOTR at all, when it is so obviously the villain of the story it is now adapting.

Amazon profits from genocide and slavery and the destruction of the environment, and I find it grotesque that this company now wants to profit off of Tolkien’s works, when he would have abhorred Amazon and everything that it stands for, and when the values at the heart of LOTR are diametrically opposed to everything Amazon does. I am furious that this company, with all the blood on its hands, is allowed to touch the works of my favorite author. And I am furious that Amazon is going to use LOTR as a shield from all the negative press it deserves for all of the issues that I listed above, and more.

It doesn’t matter if the LOTR show is “good” or “bad” because Amazon is evil. If you want to enjoy things, then reread the books or rewatch the movies. I will not give Amazon a single penny for their LOTR show and I hope you won’t either. I don’t know if boycotting it will make a difference—I just know that I hate Amazon and they don’t deserve the money or press they may get from LOTR. So we shouldn’t give it to them.

[diversetolkien]

Hiatus Alert (please read the whole thing):

Hi followers! You’ve probably noticed i’ve been super inactive and only posting sparingly. Today I’m announcing a hiatus alert. There have been a lot of moving parts in my life, and being as active on this blog has been difficult. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, because all good things are difficult, aren’t they? 

And nothing bad happened XD For once this is my complete decision. 

But I just wanted to keep you all in the loop. I’m not sure when i’ll be “officially” back, just because there’s so, so much going on. But when I do come back you can expect a ridiculous amount of fanfare!

Thank you all though for your support and all of your kindness throughout the years, because hell running this blog hasn’t been easy at all! But I got a lot of support from you all and I appreciate you dearly. 

Anyway please keep on talking about diversity in Tolkien’s world. Talk about it in Star Wars. 

Never stop! Even when you annoy the white feminist fandom moms, even when you piss people off, fuck em’! Get people mad with it, and get on people’s hate list for it. 

Give them hell about it, call out hypocrisy , drag the hell out of people who are racist to you and invalidate your lived experience. Who tell you that white washing isn’t a thing and it’s all about fucking lighting. Who dismiss the slavery of the clones, who get offended at the mere implication that Galadriel has colonialist ties. 

Become that one obnoxious blogger that 99.9% of the fandom hates because they talk about racism in dainty little white characters and narratives. 

Be that bitch lovelies! Be the blogger that people get anxious about when they see you on their dashboards. 

Talk about racism unapologetically, scream it from the hill tops. 

Scream it so the folks in Valinor hear you, so Manwe hears you all the way from his throne. Be like Anakin telling Mace that he was outrageous for not making him a master XD 

Just be you. 

See yall soon (hopefully)! I’ll still peak on occasionally, giving my opinion on things and reblogging here and there, but it’ll be sparingly. 

And thank you for the awesome ride! 

#tolkien #the silmarillion #fandom racism #star wars #tcw

[diversetolkien]

Since I’m not writing meta like i used to, I really want to focus on putting out events and things to increase diversity in fandom sci-fi fantasy fandoms. Are there any ideas you guys have, or anything you’d like to see in terms of that? 

[diversetolkien]

AS someone who isn’t  bi-racial and not a Reylo, I do wanna give my opinion on why I don’t like Finnrey--I think i’m always sucpicious of a relationship with a black person and a white person when said black persons’ entire story line (or at least the majority of it) is written to develop the white character. Finn’s attraction and need to be there for Rey, and his eventual sidelining as a main character in order to shed the spot  light on Rey did it for me. 

And of course, this is primarily due to the racism in the writing room, but Rey seemed to care more about other things than she actually did Finn. While Finn’s character was at large a stepping stone for Rey (even Rey’s reveal as a Force Sensitive was due to Finn getting), her attention went to him and then eventually to Kylo, who she shared a relationship with. 

I don’t like when black characters put more concern and consideration into a relationship with white characters, and the same is not returned. 

I also don’t think Reylo’s should be the people discussing how racism plays in to Finn and Rey’s relationship considering they created that foundation of racism. 

And yes, Finn has his own agency. But a lot of it goes to Rey. 

Hey so this is how the Finnrey is racist thing was explained to me by a biracial Reylo. She said since Rey chose Kylo and has no romantic feelings for Finn, it's racist to assume that Finn as a black man will pine for a white woman who isn't interested, when there are WOC like Rose and Jannah who have demonstrated romantic interest in him. She said continuing to ship Finnrey after TROS is leaning into the "black men only want white women no matter what" trope. Don't agree, just passing along.

ok so first of all thank you for this explanation. I'm kinda... confused about a few things? This isn't directed at you btw just wanting to like talk this out.

First I'm not sure I've seen TROS enough times to say that for sure Jannah has any romantic interest in finn? WHich like... I guess I could watch it again to doublecheck but why put myself through that lol. I hate tros. but I digress.

If we're going by who has the most chemistry/romantic interest wouldn't that be poe/Finn?

I'm also kinda suspicious about a biracial Reylo saying this, clearly they ship a problematic ship and are biased.

Personally given that the sequel trilogy is centered around Rey that's like 90% why I ship FinnRey. (and to be totally clear I actually ship a quad of FinnReyPoeRose just to let you know my own bias).

IMHO I actually headcanon Devery Jacobs as my Rey because she would have been well better. Plus shes not classist and privileged like Daisy Ridley.

Anyways thanks again for explaining!

mod laina

#reylo #finnrey #tbh the sequels don't exist to me #but i thought i'd give my two cents about this

[diversetolkien]

People are starting to refute the Jedi mirror christians bc GL took inspo from other cultures and religions so you should probably bring up that whole 'he only used other religions and cultures for their aesthetics and a touch here and there' thing again. I think you had a whole post on it?

I did. His work clearly has a large Christian influence, and he's spoken about it. By that logic, us refusing to believe his work is inspired off of Christianity would mean that the other religions it was inspired off of would also be void.

I think people are just uncomfortable admitting that the Jedi order has anything to do with Christianity, because realizing they're racist and colonist writing becomes a lot more apparent.

The phrase, "may the force be with you, and also with you" Is literally a play off of the Christian phrase, "May the Lord be with you, and also with you."

To me, the Christian allusions to the Jedi Order and them having a clone army reeks of racism and colonial slavery.

And again, the flaws of the Jedi order were done intentionally, including this one. Even our 'moral' institutions have ugly, bad histories.

#jedi order #jedi critical #clone army #fandom racism

[diversetolkien]

I'm white but, everything is already about Race. You don't have to 'make' anything. If it's there, it's there. There is no, 'creating something out of nothing' it's just. Noticing shit and pointing it out.

Exactly! I think people tend to think when I and others speak about the racism in Tolkien's work and in Star Wars, people think we're making things up. But we're not. What's happening is that people of color are getting hold of these stories and picking apart the racism and issues that other readers couldn't see.

We're just varying our perspectives past that of white people.

#fandom racism #the silmarillon #tolkien

[diversetolkien]

I just got to Feanor's beginning chapters in The Silm again, your posts on him come at just the right time 😩😩😩I like how you say he was deeply traumatized and grew into a dangerous adult because of that. Also, the way the Noldor seem to blame Finwe for what happened to Feanor.... like.. his dad loved him (and loved his mom) and deserved to be HAPPY. Anyways, I'm only on ch.6 and don't remember what happens next so I would love some more of your Feanor insights

Yay for a reread!!! Yeah I think the trauma he goes through isn't really recognized, and if so, not as much as it should be. It plays an integral part of his character and the actions he commits later on.

Thanks for the message!

[diversetolkien]

Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021: Tolkien and Diversity

I am surprised I haven’t seen much about it on tumblr but on the 3rd and 4th of July the Tolkien Society will be hosting a free-to-attend Zoom Seminar featuring Tolkien Academics presenting their work on diversity within Tolkien!

There are sixteen speakers over the two days, but presentations I am PARTICULARLY excited about include;

Cordeliah Logsdon ��� Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings

Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien’s Worlds

Nicholas Birns – The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism

Cami Agan – Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth

Sara Brown – The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack’

Sonali Chunodkar – Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic’s Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm

Martha Celis-Mendoza – Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien’s scholarship and fandom

Hope to see you in chat! Word of advice though, don’t look at twitter about this. Though Will Sherwood is going off in replies which is rather amusing I admit.

[diversetolkien]

Since today is Juneteenth I want to reiterate that Feanor and his son's stories speak to me on a personal level, and I can relate to certain aspects as an African American.

The exile of the Noldor and the feeling of being completely homeless and spending years surviving and making the best of what have has always been an aspect of the Noldor that stood out to me.

The bloody battles to claim what they believed was and the continuous battle against Melkor and Sauron

#the silmarillion #tolkien #feanorians #Feanor #lotr #JUNETEENTH