A case of discrimination gone too far?
Quote:
A Hobbit casting agent who placed a newspaper advertisements seeking extras with "light skin tones" has been sacked.
Hobbit wannabe Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, drew attention to the agent after she said she queued for three hours only to be told her skin tone wasn't light enough.
Ok. There are more details that are likely pertinent--the agent supposedly had no reason or instructions to list the requirement for light skin tones (although it wouldn't surprise me if he was instructed thusly and is now made the scapegoat). In addition, there is mention in The Lord of the Rings (as noted in the article) of one race of Hobbits being 'browner of skin' than the others.
Still. Firing the guy, instead of just telling him he has to interview and consider everyone who applies for the role? It never occurred to me that there should be different colors of hobbits, and maybe not to that casting agent either.
I say give the guy his job back, and let the woman be a hobbit. I doubt this is really a case of intentional racism and sometimes, sensitivity needs to be toned down...no pun intended.|||I was thinking ...
...when I read that yesterday.I tend to lean towards the "scapegoat" theory, because not accepting a Pakistani actor might be considered racist and they wanted to prevent damage to the project.
Lets be honest, casting agents are typecasting....that's their job.
*after reading the article behind the link*
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....Humphreys said she posted her story on Facebook as a private prank to share with friends. A journalist came across the group and then called me .... I made clear that I did not want this to be a published story, but this was ignored," she said.
"It's 2010 and I still can't believe I'm being discriminated against because I have brown skin," she said.
Make up you mind woman or is this a chance to get attention now?|||Quote:
In addition, there is mention in The Lord of the Rings (as noted in the article) of one race of Hobbits being 'browner of skin' than the others.
Yeah, but that difference is supposed to be between really pale and what caucasian people would consider "pale to normal".
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The Harfoots are one of the three races of Hobbits.
The Harfoots were the most common of Hobbits, and in their earliest known history they lived in the lower foothills of the Misty Mountains in the Vale of Anduin, in an area roughly bounded by the Gladden River in the south and the small forested region where later was the Eagles Eyrie near the High Pass to the north.
They were browner of skin than the other Hobbits, had no beards, and did not wear any footwear. They lived in holes they called Smials, a habit which they long preserved. They were also on very friendly terms with the Dwarves, who travelled through the High Pass on the Great Road.
The Harfoots were the first to migrate westward into Arnor, and it was to them that the name Periannath or Halflings was first applied by the D�nedain when they were first recorded in Arnorian records around TA 1050 of the Third Age. They tended to settle down for long times, and founded numerous villages as far as Weathertop.
By the 1300s of the Third Age they had reached Bree, which long was the most western village of any Hobbits.
The Harfoots were joined between TA 1150 and TA 1300 by the Fallohides and some Stoors. The Harfoots took Fallohides, a bolder race, as their leaders.
When The Shire was colonized in TA 1601 most of its people were Harfoots.
So, the Hobbits from LotR in the Shire (other than the main ones) supposedly were the darker toned ones. Though there is indeed room for interpretation on whether the "darker toned" ones were indeed "black" or just "less pale". Either way, LotR depicted them all as having light skin tones, so I guess for consistency they'd go for lighter skinned people again.
Still, this should be fun when they cast for elves. Why no black elves? Why no black Sylvari?|||>_>
I don't recall seeing any black elves in the Trilogy. Quick, someone call a lawyer!|||At a casting interview for a Sylvari role:
"What do you mean my skin isn't green enough? DISCRIMINATION"|||I feel pail just reading this.|||It sounds like the casting agent was going against the wishes of the higher ups, sure fire way of getting fired. Doesn't sound like this woman was out for blood, just made some offhand comments and journalists took it from there and now she's just trying to set the record straight, w/e.
If I'm wrong though and they fired the casting agent as a scapegoat, that's pretty low. Especially since "discriminating" based on physical looks is important in movies, I mean what would people have said about The Chronicles of Narnia if two of the children were blonde, one had brown hair, and the last had black hair? Eyebrows would have raised, right? Movie studios don't get in trouble for that kind of thing afaik, so no reason to make the casting agent a scapegoat... that's why I like to think that the guy just didn't do what he was told.|||Quote:
If I'm wrong though and they fired the casting agent as a scapegoat, that's pretty low. Especially since "discriminating" based on physical looks is important in movies, I mean what would people have said about The Chronicles of Narnia if two of the children were blonde, one had brown hair, and the last had black hair? Eyebrows would have raised, right? Movie studios don't get in trouble for that kind of thing afaik, so no reason to make the casting agent a scapegoat... that's why I like to think that the guy just didn't do what he was told.
I don't think movies are excluded. You can't be biased in advance of an interview at all. Later on though, all the bias you want, but you call it a "profile", like "White guy, ginger, etc..." would favor applicants who are already white and ginger. Hair is actually a bad example, since it can be dyed easily. Changing one's entire skin tone, not so much. If you ever saw Tropic Thunder, why Downey Jr plays an Australian turned black man, that's pretty much the gist of it.
Couple of days ago, a similar thing happened in Belgium where someone called for sollicitants for a bowling alley on a show and said "preferably male and between 20 and 30". Can't discriminate against sex and age in advance, though I doubt they want 60-year-old women hauling around bowling balls all day...|||Quote:
I don't recall seeing any black elves in the Trilogy. Quick, someone call a lawyer!
You didn't read closely enough. But then, IIRC they were completely bad guys, much as with early 2nd Ed. AD&D, so there's probably a class-action against the Tolkien estate for an enterprising young ambulance chaser.
Say...|||Quote:
I don't think movies are excluded.
They're not completely excluded, but under US law artists (like movie producers) have broad discretion in casting. If a fictional race is supposed to look a certain way, they're entitled to cast it as such. It's why, for example, a white man can't sue for discrimination when he's rejected for the part of Gandhi. This is in NZ so I have no idea how it works, but I presume it's similar.
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