Posts by BenWilson
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The fact that the Onion zeroed in on that is symptomatic I think of how it could turn into unintended self-parody
Or that they're unoriginal. Flight of the Conchords got there first.
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Also, I'd like to point out that The Hobbit if reasonably true to the book, pits race against race again, over treasure. It shows a particularly poignant view of how it corrupts people, Thorin turns quite nasty, as does the Elven king. Add that into the summation of Tolkien's racism.
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The only bad humans are of Middle Eastern stock, just as the men of the West invade the Gulf? I don't know, you tell me.
That's all you've got? The men of the West in LOTR are actually from the west. That's why they're called that. The people from the South-east are described as bad only once, by Gollum, who also describes men from Gondor the same way, and he especially dislikes Elves. He dislikes everyone, that's part of the curse of the Ring.
They're fighting with Sauron, sure. But they've been hostile to Gondor for many centuries. As far as "evil" goes, they're about as evil as the Italian Army in WW2 - they're just fighting on the wrong side, probably because of corrupt leadership.
Indeed, Tolkien is quite keen to humanize them, having actually lived through the horror of war, he gives his own take:
It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies and threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.
Jackson has Faramir deliver this as a speech in the extended version as Sam stands near the dead body of a very handsome young "Arab"* solider, with the final note: "This war will make corpses of us all".
*Edit: Actually, he looked Maori to me, but there you go.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to giovanni tiso,
I think one could probably build a pretty good case based on Return of the King alone.
Go for it. As far as racial stereotyping goes, I think Jackson drew inspiration for the Corsairs of Umbar from Arabian styles. That makes him a racist?
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How do you get off living in a country where such presumptions aren't the norm, backed up by reams upon reams of historical precedent?
We don't have reams of historical precedent for anything here.
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Speedos went out of fashion when people stopped even pretending to swim at the beach. They're still the best garment for actual swimming.
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Kahawai !!!!!!!!!!
Thar she blows!
Sounds like your fishing skills rival my own.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 1: Beach…, in reply to ScottY,
We are going camping next week with our two pre-school children. May not be quite so relaxed by the time I return to work.
Heh, word to that. Just because you love it doesn't mean it won't shatter you.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to ScottY,
Bloody typical, isn't it? We finally have the chance to win the Rugby World Cup on our home turf after decades of pain, and then the End Of Days comes along and ruins everything.
If we win, then it's the perfect point to end time. If we lose, then judgment day will surely come anyway. Preferably before the final.
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I think the Apocalypse is suffering from scope creep. In the old days, just flooding some small region was good enough, now we won't settle for anything short of complete planetary destruction, with the associated difficulty of keeping the righteous alive somehow. Also, it's not really the Apocalypse if there's no warning. Sales, marketing, and development really haven't been working together on this one. It needs a decent project manager. A beast of a job.
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