Racism in LOTR and Harry Potter

[Zoid]

I found this while surfing, makes you think, don´t it?

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We are in deep Pottermania. No child is without its thick spectacles, pointed hat and moon-and- stars cloak. Other fantastic creatures are banging on the gates, demanding to be let in: orcs, elves, ents and the rest of Middle Earth are about to break through into our consciousness when the Lord of the Rings marketing blitz gets under way.

Why this sudden bugaboo frenzy? And why now?

The appeal of the Lord of the Rings is fundamentally racist. Middle Earth is inhabited by races of creature deeply marked off from one another by language, physical appearance, and behaviour. It is almost a parody of a Hitlerian vision: orcs are ugly, disgusting, brutal, violent - without exception; elves are a beautiful, lordly, cultured elite; in between are hobbits, short, hairy, ordinary, a bit limited, but lovable and loyal and brave when they have to be.

Individuals within races don't vary from the pattern. To know one is to know all. The races are either dangerous or they are benign. An orc - any orc - is without question an enemy. A hobbit would never side with an orc.

Tolkien's entrancing vision has long been extraordinarily popular, not least with the far Right. If you have doubts, call up a few white supremacist sites on the Web. Tolkien is recommended reading for families hoping to bring up their children in a wholesome, racialist atmosphere. It sets the racist mental framework in an appealing and unchallenging way.

What about Harry Potter? Surely he can't be a racist too? He's just a kid going to school.

Well, no and yes. He's probably not recommended reading among the supremacists. They are often Christian fundamentalists, a group which is down on witchcraft and any form of paganism. The devil's work, you understand.

But ... but ... Harry and his friends are members of an elite. They are not a race, but their powers are handed down the generations from parents to children. The skills must be inherited before they are developed with teaching at Hogwarts. The reader quickly identifies with this genetic elite, the wizards such as Harry, and despises the talentless, boorish muggles.

How we laugh when the Dursleys get into difficulties! They deserve it. They are, after all, just muggles - hapless, fat, brutal and stupid. They're all like that. Go on, Harry, hit them again and watch them cry.

Our response is no different from our view of orcs in Lord of the Rings. It is a racist view of the world, and to that extent, Harry Potter's appeal is to the racist within us.

But it's fun. And only boring people want to criticise it or condemn or ban it. Millions and millions of children - and adults - all over the world love J.K.Rowling and all her works, just as they love Tolkien and all his.

Just because Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings can be seen as racist is no reason to ban them, restrict their circulation or protect the vulnerable from them. Far from it - they are wonderful stories. But we should see them for what they are, and know that that is their appeal. We should ask why their appeal is so great.

Our clever and amoral Prime Minister has just won a third term, against expectations, by appealing to the racism and insecurity at the heart of the Australian psyche. Can these two disparate things be related in some way?

Perhaps they are related this way. We have been so isolated in our little consumerist, suburban cocoons, being told relentlessly how important we are as individuals - not as a group. Multiculturalism tells us that no culture has primacy over another, no habits are superior. We must tolerate everything. We must esteem our own culture, our own values, no higher than others.

Globalisation tells us that nothing has a value unless it can be expressed in dollars, that flexibility, change and choice are all the highest virtues, that a hankering after tradition or group values is the worst kind of vice.

For many people, the consequences of this - communities destroyed or undermined, values set at nought, habits despised - have been profoundly dispiriting. One Nation has played on this sense of loss, offering racist policies with mixed success. John Howard took over where One Nation failed, and revived his political fortunes.

Harry and the hobbits, with their takeaway racism, offer the same comfort for the whole world: join our tribe, be special with us, despise our subhumans.

Chris Henning
Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0112/13/o.../opinion3.html

[HisMajestyBOB]

I don't like spiders, as they are not part of the human race. Therefore I am a rascist.

[BeBro]

Perhaps also the teletubbies are racist...

[BeBro]

Originally posted by HisMajestyBOB
I don't like spiders, as they are not part of the human race. Therefore I am a rascist.

No, you´re a spiderist

[HisMajestyBOB]

Originally posted by BeBro


No, you´re a spiderist

No, a rascist is one who makes judgements based on race. Since I am prejudiced against all spiders, I am a rascist.

[BeBro]

I think you make judgements based on the number of legs of poor animals...

[Saint Marcus]

Individuals within races don't vary from the pattern.

Since when?

Read Silmarrilion by Tolkien, it's the history of middle earth. Elves vary greatly, and have also evil traits.

And in LotR, humans are there in all sorts. Some evil, some good. Same with hobbits, as you can read in the books.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I don't have any problems with horses that have 2 extra pairs of legs nailed to their ass, I just don't like spiders. If they cross the DMZ of my front door, then they will be summaraily squashed. Sadly, in the last fight I had to cede them the room with the water heater A dark day for the Alliance of Rascists Agaist Spiders.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus


Since when?

Read Silmarrilion by Tolkien, it's the history of middle earth. Elves vary greatly, and have also evil traits.

And in LotR, humans are there in all sorts. Some evil, some good. Same with hobbits, as you can read in the books.

Well, yeah, I have read Silmarillion. But in essence he´s on to something IMO

[Az]

I don't have any problems with horses that have 2 extra pairs of legs nailed to their ass, I just don't like spiders. If they cross the DMZ of my front door, then they will be summaraily squashed. Sadly, in the last fight I had to cede them the room with the water heater A dark day for the Alliance of Rascists Agaist Spiders.

I recommend introducing a master predator, say , a couple of Iguanas. Remember , we humans are temporary allied with lizards and geckos against insects. But I suppose the day will come that we'll send the cats against those pesky buggers.

If all fails , call in the chem trooper


P.S. from a different persective , that spiders are great against both mosqitos and termites , so if you happen to live in a hot area, be smart !

[Juggler]

A dark day for the Alliance of Rascists Agaist Spiders.

How about we form an Anti-Insect alliance? (spiders included although they aren't really insects)

[Stefu]

I found this while surfing, makes you think, don´t it?

Yeah. It makes you think, indeed it makes you think. For instance, it makes you think "Why do ideological zealots persist in hitting their head against wall by going after causes that only make them look stupid?". It also makes you think "Why is it that every time there's something popular, some moron has to try to prove it evil?". Oooh, and then there's that thought "If both hard left and hard right attack something, then you just know it has to be good."

The appeal of the Lord of the Rings is fundamentally racist.

Wow. I didn't know that when I was a kid of, I don't know was it ten? that I was just looking for fodder for my malignant racist ideals.

Also, let's hear it from the horse's mouth:

Originally said by J. R. R. Tolkien to Stanley Unwin Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any Bestätigung ["confirmation"] ... and let a German translation go hang. ... I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.

elves are a beautiful, lordly, cultured elite; in between are hobbits, short, hairy, ordinary, a bit limited, but lovable and loyal and brave when they have to be.

That's right. We need children's fantasy to have shades of gray, always shades of gray. No clear good, no clear evil. Well, except for when leftist children book authors write their little ditties - then it's clearly good activists fighting the clearly evil businessmen. (The businessmen, who are fat and wear top hats, want to pollute the city, because they're evil and hate life. It's up to our perky heroes to stop them. That's about it for typical Finnish children's book in the enlightened Seventies.)

A hobbit would never side with an orc.

Thus, we leave whole portion of reclamation of Shire off the book. Well, there weren't exactly orcs, but I bet there were one or two half-orcs there with ol' Sharkey. Good thing people read books before they criticize them.

Tolkien's entrancing vision has long been extraordinarily popular, not least with the far Right. If you have doubts, call up a few white supremacist sites on the Web. Tolkien is recommended reading for families hoping to bring up their children in a wholesome, racialist atmosphere.

Does this mean that "Three Little Pigs" by Disney is a Communist film because Stalin liked it?

They are not a race, but their powers are handed down the generations from parents to children. The skills must be inherited before they are developed with teaching at Hogwarts.

Now we're getting completely ridiculous. It's pretty exclipitly told out that skills DON'T have to be inherited. Hermione Granger, for instance, was born to Muggle parents. This whole Harry Potter thing in this here article is, in fact, completely off-tangent. Rowling has specifically made the racism analogy in setting Draco Malfoy as bigot, who believed that "mudbloods" (ie. wizards born to Muggle parents) should be unqualified from Hogwarts. IIRC, Voldemort also believes to this. So, racism is specifically seen as evil. But hey, that would interfere with the cause, so let's not mention it.

How we laugh when the Dursleys get into difficulties! They deserve it. They are, after all, just muggles - hapless, fat, brutal and stupid. They're all like that.

...well, they're not all like that. It's just that we don't see too many Muggles apart from Dursleys, whose haplessness, fatness, brutality and stupidity are in addition to them being Muggles. And we also have Draco Malfoy, unpleasant nasty little git, who is about as "pureblooded" as can be.

Our clever and amoral Prime Minister has just won a third term, against expectations, by appealing to the racism and insecurity at the heart of the Australian psyche. Can these two disparate things be related in some way?

Perhaps they are related this way. We have been so isolated in our little consumerist, suburban cocoons, being told relentlessly how important we are as individuals - not as a group. Multiculturalism tells us that no culture has primacy over another, no habits are superior. We must tolerate everything. We must esteem our own culture, our own values, no higher than others.

Globalisation tells us that nothing has a value unless it can be expressed in dollars, that flexibility, change and choice are all the highest virtues, that a hankering after tradition or group values is the worst kind of vice.

For many people, the consequences of this - communities destroyed or undermined, values set at nought, habits despised - have been profoundly dispiriting. One Nation has played on this sense of loss, offering racist policies with mixed success. John Howard took over where One Nation failed, and revived his political fortunes.

Harry and the hobbits, with their takeaway racism, offer the same comfort for the whole world: join our tribe, be special with us, despise our subhumans.

Blah blah blah blah blah. Look, big words. I'm talking fancy! And I'm using keywords - Globalisation! Consumerism! Community! Why does every goddamn left-wing columnist have to write in same goddamn way?

[orange]

I'm an anti-dentite

[General Ludd]

These books are not rascist, if you really wanted to you could twist just about anything into having a racist undertone (or any other kind of message, for that matter).


But even if you did want to draw these parralels - the different races in loTR, despite having their differences, are all cultured and capable of working together.

Except for the Orcs, which in the setting of LoTR, are basically a slave race to a very evil person (demi-god?). In other settings which have branched from the LoTR series, Orcs can be cultured, and are capable of working out their problems in a civilized fashion. (although, they are more likely to be raised in a primitave or 'uncultured' society then the other races, and are thus not as likely to act civilized)



Of course, racist does exist within these settings, but that is hardly the equivalent of promoting racism.

[Velociryx]

Star Wars is inherently racist too.

After all, to know one storm trooper is to know them all, what, with their head-to-toe uniforms that make them all look exactly the same....all of them are HORRIBLE shots....yep. Star Wars too.

Sheesh....it's called a plot device, folks. Been around for as long as fiction itself.

In the first place, as has been pointed out already, to say that all orcs are smelly and evil and all elves are lordly and noble and good is a bit of an over-generalization and make it obvious that the author of the piece never bothered to read all of Tolkien's work. In the second place, anytime you're writing a sweeping epic type story, it pays to have clearly and easily identifiable good guys and bad guys. In a fantasy setting, since the archetypes have been long established, it's easy to do that along "racial" lines.

(and in the third place, since there aren't really any elves OR orcs living in the world, the story can hardly be described as being racist in any case).

-=Vel=-

[ranskaldan]

I detect a stretch here.

Harry Potter is clearly not racist. From the beginning to the end it is against "pure-bloodedness", by introducing good-hearted Muggle-borns (Hermione) and evil pure-bloods (Malfoy).

The real racism exists in Eddings' Belgariad series - the blonde and blue-eyed, brave and virtuous Alorians and the dark-haired and angular-eyed, evil and secretive Angaraks. And even he twisted the story around in the end by introducing good Angaraks and bad Alorians.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Stefu

Wow. I didn't know that when I was a kid of, I don't know was it ten? that I was just looking for fodder for my malignant racist ideals.

*sigh* If you can´t write anything worth reading, don´t write it at all...

Does this mean that "Three Little Pigs" by Disney is a Communist film because Stalin liked it?

Of, course not. Don´t be daft.

Blah blah blah blah blah. Look, big words. I'm talking fancy! And I'm using keywords - Globalisation! Consumerism! Community! Why does every goddamn left-wing columnist have to write in same goddamn way?

1) Cause what he says is essentially true.

2) It bugs the hell outta people like you...

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Kamrat X

1) Cause what he says is essentially true.

[Stefu]

*sigh* If you can´t write anything worth reading, don´t write it at all...

That's probably why you essentially left most of my post unanswered.

2) It bugs the hell outta people like you...

Yeah, people who think that people should read books they're criticizing before they criticize them and people who don't think word poetry can replace actual thought in a column.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Stefu


That's probably why you essentially left most of my post unanswered.

Not really, if you actually had written something worth responding to, I would´ve done so.

Yeah, people who think that people should read books they're criticizing before they criticize them and people who don't think word poetry can replace actual thought in a column.

You assume he hasn´t read the book just ´cause he doesn´t say things you like to hear? Really, Stefu...

[Stefu]

You assume he hasn´t read the book just ´cause he doesn´t say things you like to hear? Really, Stefu...

No, I'm assuming he he hasn't read the book (namely Harry Potter here) because he completely misunderstands the whole Muggle thing and thinks that wizardry, in Rowling's books, is inherited, when it isn't.

[Faeelin]

LOTR is racist, discriminatory, and just wrong. IT preaches that anyone who's black (such as orcs) is evil, and seeks joy through death and suffering inflicted on others. In addition, Voldemort lives in the East. Clearly you can see Tolkien explaining that the East is the source of all evil, while the West, where the elves are from, is the source of all that is good and decent.
In addition, both sides are painted in shades of good and evil. It's not like people have ever wanted to destroy all othe civilizations; only "cultural misunderstandings" cause such events.

Clearly, Tolkien took great joy in adding subtle methods of indocrinatin to his works, in hopes of keeping the British Empire pure. This is a racist bok, and I urge every lover of humanity to burn it and all copies.

And Harry Potter... don't even get me started.







Because someone here is going to take that seriously, I was being sarcastic.

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Faeelin
Because someone here is going to take that seriously, I was being sarcastic.

Thanks for adding that line...

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Stefu


No, I'm assuming he he hasn't read the book (namely Harry Potter here) because he completely misunderstands the whole Muggle thing and thinks that wizardry, in Rowling's books, is inherited, when it isn't.

Isn´t it possible that he´s read the books but still misunderstands the whole thing? I´ve read the books and I came to much the same conclusion he did. I´ll guess I´ll have to read them again just to make sure... After the Pratchett book I´m reading now that is (Thief of time)

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Faeelin

Because someone here is going to take that seriously, I was being sarcastic.

You could´ve fooled me

[- Groucho -]

Originally posted by Kamrat X
[snip]
Perhaps they are related this way. We have been so isolated in our little consumerist, suburban cocoons, being told relentlessly how important we are as individuals - not as a group. Multiculturalism tells us that no culture has primacy over another, no habits are superior. We must tolerate everything. We must esteem our own culture, our own values, no higher than others.

Globalisation tells us that nothing has a value unless it can be expressed in dollars, that flexibility, change and choice are all the highest virtues, that a hankering after tradition or group values is the worst kind of vice.

For many people, the consequences of this - communities destroyed or undermined, values set at nought, habits despised - have been profoundly dispiriting.

Have I got this right? It seems this guy is arguing that (a) multi-culturalism and globalisation are inherently anti-racist, (b) it is the reaction people have to the fact that these two trends take western culture down a peg that makes them yearn for something to fill their built-in need to be racist, and (c) Tolkien and Rowlings fill that need.

Is that the gist?

If so, I agree with (a) and think the guy is being autobiographical when it comes to (b) and (c) - to which I would respond: don't assume everyone shares your need to "us and them" the world, buddy.

I think it is more accurate to say that Rowlings and Tolkien both have created worlds, that while complex, are simpler than our own, and they in part help people fill their need for a world that is understandable.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Kamrat X


Isn´t it possible that he´s read the books but still misunderstands the whole thing? I´ve read the books and I came to much the same conclusion he did. I´ll guess I´ll have to read them again just to make sure... After the Pratchett book I´m reading now that is (Thief of time)

Let me save you the trouble. The author of the article is completely out of his friggen mind when it comes to Harry Potter. Everything--EVERYTHING--Stefu said is true, re: HP. (Having not read LOTR, I can't speak to that.) Indeed, even more so, Harry Potter himself is a "mudblood", with his mother being born to "Muggle" parents. The books are, quite explicitly, anti-racist and anti-classist. The author of the article is either a) dishonest, having not read the Harry Potter books, or b) an unbelievably stupid git.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

What a load of old cobblers. In LoTR, one of the wisest and most powerful characters (Elrond) is a half-breed. The most heroic of all turn out to be the humble little hobbits.

Lift me one section from Tolkien that equates Orcs with blacks. Just one.

[Buck Birdseed]

Where tolkien comes closest to a racist vision is in his description of various "decaying/degenerate" peoples within the Human race. Very much part of the Nazi canon and generally accepted elsewhere before the War, that kind of thinking permeates older Fantasy literature to a large extent (see below) and it is slightly surprising that Tolkien was allowed to get away with it.

Now, if you want real racist fantasy, I highly recommend Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian short stories, available in two excellent recently published volumes from Fantasy Masterworks. Besides being a whole lot better than anything Tolkien ever wrote in pure literary terms, they are almost viciously racist- half the stories involve broad, sweeping generalisations about various races (and we are talking races here, not species) and their supposedly ingrained metal characteristics. Plus al sorts of pseudo-Darwinist pap.

(P.S.- isn't Harry Potter and Star Wars more Monarchist than anything else? With a select few borne to rule the world or whatever.)

[- Groucho -]

Originally posted by Snapcase
Where tolkien comes closest to a racist vision is in his description of various "decaying/degenerate" peoples within the Human race. Very much part of the Nazi canon and generally accepted elsewhere before the War, that kind of thinking permeates older Fantasy literature to a large extent (see below) and it is slightly surprising that Tolkien was allowed to get away with it.

I don't get why depicting some people as decaying (i.e. the elves) is bad. I've always been intrigued by the idea that a culture could just "run out of steam" and no longer inspire its people. I'm not sure if it has ever actually happened, but I'm not usre what kind of negative implications writing about such a people could have.