Updated 1 year ago
Everyone doesn’t have to like everything.
The Amazon series looks, walks, and talks like a Marvel Universe franchise. Not going to jump on this bandwagon.
I’m a center-left, well-meaning, open-minded Tolkien fan. I don’t see this as art. It is obviously a financial instrument designed to make money off global audiences. For that reason I won’t even watch it, because nothing can compete with the simulated imagery in your brain while reading it.
(But let’s be real, Silmarillion was like reading the parts of the Bible where you had hundreds of begats all in one endless string. Anyone who says they enjoyed reading it for its own sake, and not because they were in the residual haze of Hobbit/LOTR, is straight-out lying. So anything that can be made watchable from it is going to end up being fanfic, and this qualifies.)
Back to the global audience: all those races mashed into lore inspired by ancient European mythos is jarring. The ads look like parody cringe videos from 4chan.
This isn’t about me believing in white supremacy, but about a somewhat smooth road to suspension of disbelief, which has always been hard for me. I was 9 years old when I saw Star Wars, and my first thought was, Why are they speaking English? I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It bugged me.. I didn’t want to “go along with the crowd and just enjoy it.” I eventually did, and loved the first three films. But then my initial concern came roaring back and I realized it was all about marketing fucking toys and George Lucas’ penis size.
In Rings of Power, I can’t get over my brain trying to decode how people from the same clans have radically different genetic features. While my brain tries to process this, a big beeping buzzer in my brain is blaring: GLOBAL AUDIENCES! BILLIONS AND BILLIONS IN REVENUE! AMAZON STOCK! JEFF BEZOS’ PENIS SIZE!
You have to make your brain do pretty involved gymnastics, and sorry, that is too much to ask: If the producers and creators don’t care, why should I?
I’ll say this: if they made everyone all one race, such as Black, or Asian, it wouldn’t be jarring. It would have been awesome, think about it – all the humans are black, the elves are asian, and the dwarves paleface.
But instead, making it a Benetton ad is, again, global marketing.
And for all of this, I refuse to watch superhero movies as well. Alan Moore and Martin Scorcese were right. They aren’t cinema. They are marketing vehicles.
Amazon did an excellent job with Foundation, must be said.
