marsincharge:

phoenix-ace:

diversetolkien:

arda-marred8:

The most annoying people are racist Americans who cry and complain because fantasy stories based on medieval EUROPEAN culture, EUROPEAN history, EUROPEAN people, EUROPEAN mythology, EUROPEAN folklore written by an EUROPEAN person don’t have many “POC” (read: black) people.

If you want fantasy stories about black people why don’t you write your own story about fantasy Africa? Africa has its own culture, fictional monsters, warriors, mythology and folklore. Combine these things, add cool plot and lore, create main characters and the result will be a decent fantasy story. 

Asians do this all the time, there’s hundreds of Asian fantasy movies and all the characters are Asian or look Asian, even their monsters look Asian, but everyone wants to force themselves into stories written by the Europeans.

They even go so far to try and change The Witcher and erase the Slavic culture and representation that appears in it. (Slavs are not welcome in western europe and trying to erase their representation makes you as bad as the racists who hate blacks. In Europe shades of white exist and Slavic people face harsh discrimination in “white” countries (ex colonizers) like France, the UK etc where they’re faced with racial prejudices and stereotypes..but go on, erase their positive representation just because you have american privilege and think politics in the world is exactly the same as politics in America) 

And they complain when there’s more than 1 breed of white-skin Elves. Guess what? Different European countries have different culture, it makes sense for white fantasy Elves, Dwarves and Humans to come in more than 1 type. Compare Polish and Spanish cultures and people: they are different. Compare South and North Russian regions: different. This is not racist. This is REALISTIC. 

I am European, I am not “white” (means I’m not from a colonizer country) I’m writing my own fantasy story based on my country’s culture and folkore, all characters in my story are european-looking. This is MY story and I doubt I’m going to change that anytime soon just because some privileged cultural imperialist american on the Internet insists that I have to. 

PS: America =/= the world and diversity as a result of decades of abuse, racism and oppression is nothing to be proud of. 

There’s absolutely nothing racist about demanding representation where it’s due? Especially when people of color historically existed in medieval Europe, and are included in European mythology. You act like Europe is one monogamous entity, when reality it’s incredibly multi-cultural, and has been for thousands of years. It’s been a center of trade and colonialization for ages, so it’s not hard to imagine why its so mixed.

And to be honest you did acknowledge this, but only when it concerned groups of white people. you conveniently refused to apply the same logic to the groups of poc that have history in Europe.

I mean taking into consideration that Medieval Europe was multi-cultural, and that Tolkien’s works themes are very multi-cultural, I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make? Also I didn’t miss your passive aggressive attitude towards African Americans either, which is concerning to say the least. Do keep in mind that we are not the only group that demands representation, other poc groups do as well.

And since we’re specifically talking about Black people, people want black people in fantasy such as Tolkien’s because historically Africans were there? Why should the African presence be erased in European history when it was there? It’s that sentiment that fuels a lot of anti-immigrant propaganda in Europe today? This idea that white people were the only ones who existed in Europe, when historically, that isn’t the case. Why is it okay for white Europeans who have history in Europe to be represented, but not Africans?

And yes…Black people can and do make their own stories, you just aren’t looking hard enough. You act like Black Panther is the only hallmark of the black film industry. However, scross the globe Africans and those apart of the diaspora have been making movies that put our culture at the forefront of the production.
As people have pointed out, Tolkien borrowed inspiration from non-white cultures when creating his world, and has coded several characters as people of color.

 So I don’t understand why people inserting their own races into Tolkien’s works are racist considering he does it anyway. You give a lot of leeway to white people and refuse to extend the same to people of color, and that’s concerning to say the least.

And in all honestly some of these notes are disturbing. 

OP needs to just say they hate black people and go about their business. The pitting black people against other groups isnt slick, and the attempt to make us seem US centric while failing basic world history is par for the course for these folks. Apparently its America (the place where black people cant get representation or justice for their own murders but apparently have all of this power…) forcing them to see black people in their media…and not…history…or actual reality.

The XENOPHOBIA along ethnic lines some Europeans experience from other Europeans is not the fault of Americans, especially us Black Americans and this looooong post should boil down to you being lazy and dishonest about where your resentment for Black people comes from while attempting to shield yourself by entwining this conversation with 1) popular media and 2) the “popular” take that Americans only care about themselves. I sincerely hope you figure it out how to be better because you come across as the type to bully Black people in fandom spaces.