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| Andy Serkis |
By the time you read this post you'll probably have seen or heard that people around the world asked Andy Serkis why he's not casting any actors of color for The Hunt for Gollum. Serkis dismissed these points of view as "political correctness", completely ignoring the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien described Middle-earth's peoples as very diverse in ethnicity and skin color. And that includes the Shire hobbits, most of whom were brown-skinned.You can read Serkis' words in Variety.
Now, anyone can be forgiven for ignorance. But Andy Serkis was the narrator for the authorized audiobook of The Lord of the Rings. He can't say he hasn't read the parts of the book where J.R.R. Tolkien literally describes brown-skinned hobbits, including Samwise Gamgee.
For someone with Andy Serkis' background to blithely say something completely ignorant and stupid about how "white" the Shire feels is to pick a fight with anyone who really cares about J.R.R. Tolkien's words.
This isn't about so-called political correctness. This really isn't even about being faithful to the book because any cinematic adaptation is going to take liberties with the story and the world.
My objections are strictly about Serkis' invocation of Tolkien as a defense for a point of view that Tolkien himself denounced and objected to.
The Shire is not "white". The Shire is diverse by all definitions of the word, in all of its modern contexts. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying or completely illiterate.
The last thing any film-maker who wants to proclaim his (or her) "faithfulness" to Tolkien wants to do is glibly talk like a white supremacist.
Serkis' words will be used by people who have misrepresented Tolkien's world and views about race for years. They will cite what he said in appeals to authority.
What Andy Serkis said perpetuates the toxic myths about Tolkien's fiction that white supremacists (or self-styled Nordicists) have circulated about The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien detested these views.
And he spent over a decade working on The Lord of the Rings. He also revised it in 1965 to secure new copyright protection. At no time did J.R.R. Tolkien revise any part of the story to diminish the diversity he created for Middle-earth and the Shire specifically.
Contrary to what some people still say, J.R.R. Tollkien was not a racist. Furthermore, although there is racism in The Lord of the Rings, it's a book that actually condemns racism.
By digging in his heels and dismissively arguing a pro-whiteness position, Andy Serkis undermines Tollkien's own message against racism.
There's no escaping the fact that Andy Serkis has trampled upon Tolkien's legacy and essentially dragged him through metaphorical mud by implying that Tolkien supports racist views he openly condemned.
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