Do we think the Woke Scolds will be all over this? You also get to expand your vocabulary. From The Irish Times. Rings of Power: The new hobbits are filthy, hungry simpletons with stage-Irish accents. That’s $1bn well spent
The vocabulary word of the day: Hibernophobia.
Hibernophobia a.k.a anti-Irish sentiment, may refer to or include persecution, discrimination, hatred or fear of the Irish as an ethnic or national group, whether directed against Ireland in general or against Irish immigrants and their descendants in the Irish diaspora.
In the past the Irish have been unfairly stereotyped as "thick Paddies", "alcoholics", "terrorists", etc, and whilst some Irish people may have looked upon this as a bit of banter, others object, viewing it as a form of racism.
So how does anti-Irish racism play in the new Rings of Prime series? It is right up front.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video, streaming from Friday, September 2nd) takes place centuries before the original Lord of the Rings, and the Harfoots are ancestors of the hobbits. If they don’t quite keep livestock in the livingroom, they are otherwise a laundry list of 19th-century Hibernophobic caricatures.
The accents embark on a wild journey from Donegal to Kerry and then stop off in inner-city Dublin. The Harfoots themselves are twee and guileless and say things like: “Put yer backs into it, lads.” One is portrayed by Lenny Henry, a great comedian and actor who deserves better than having to deliver lines such as “De both of ye, dis does not bode will” (in an appalling Irish accent). Scouring the internet, there is no evidence of any Irish actors having been involved.
The Irish Times goes on to ask if we are witnessing Irish-famine cosplay.
I don't expect the Woke scolds, who would be all over any other kind of -ism or -phobia, to even notice this. Because Irish people are white, and the discrimination they faced was a long time ago, so none of that counts today. Or something.
And the Scots get their share of shade thrown in their direction by the show.
The Scots get it too in The Rings of Power. Stand-ins for the dwarfs, they are portrayed as aggressive and argumentative. It gets to the point where I expect Durin, prince of Khazad-dûm, to whip out a deep-fried Mars bar. Every other “mad Jock” cliche has already been ticked off.
There is more; click thru.
The hat tip on this goes to Disparu, and his review of Episode 2 of The Rings of Prime: Rings of Power Review Episode 2 - She Did What?! In which he talks about all of the insane things characters did, the dialogue that wouldn't have passed muster in a low-budget SciFi film from the 1980s, and so much more.
The show itself is so cringe, that I am getting levels of cringe watching the reviews. Cringe-once-removed? Vicarious-cringe? I didn't think that would be possible. I haven't seen all of Disparu's review - it is 52 minutes long. I have only seen about 20 minutes as I type this. And it does include spoilers.
What is striking is how ugly most of the characters are, even the leads.
ReplyDeleteThe writing is really beyond belief in its wretchedness. Whoever wrote that "rocks sink because they look down" garbage needs to expelled from the planet, since it's such an insult to the notion of intelligent life on Earth.
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