Why is fear of a more diverse cast a “human” fear? That’s… quite some uneasy implications there.
Uh, yeah, that last paragraph is a little...
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Yeah, the Nordic fetishist that took mostly influence from the celtic and germanic mithology, based Numenor on Plato's legends about Atlantis, accidentally calling Numenor Atalante, the Egyptian influences on their aristocracy, the Kings Reckoning calendar being basically the gregorian calendar, him comparing Beren, Luthien and Feanor to Orpheus, Eurydice and Prometheus, and said Norse mythology actually being finnish, the Kalevara and basing Qenia on Finnish.
Other than the Atlantic basic premise I mention in the review, I was only aware of the Germanic, Viking and Old English inspirations for Gondor's and therefore Númenor's culture, so I accept Edwar's thesis and stand corrected on that point. Thank you.
Thinking again, the Mediterranean outlook might be actually great next to the Umbar corsairs if they ever introduce them. Throw in some galleys among those quaint winged ships and you will have Tolkien's Lepanto. Now that would be lovely. However, the whole point about enslaving the Haradrim would be too boring given that this Míriel is black. Moreover, isn't it racist to implicitly sideline the Haradrim's racial identity like that? Man, this series seems made of wasted chances for everybody.
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Bored out of my mind
First the elephant in the room: this is not LOTR. Not because it is an uninspired corporate money grab (it is, though), but because it doesn't feel like it in any field, be it aesthetic, plots, dialogues, characters, etcetera. I may be influenced by the Jackson trilogy, but if that's the case, it only shows Jackson nailed the story's style much better. If Amazon redubbed the series with new names and tried to make it pass as an adaptation of some off the shelf RPG, they would completely fool me and it would make more sense. Everything in this series looks new and shiny, but at the same time lacks a soul. Even the great landscapes feel like postcards.
About the politicky, I was surprised it turned out to be the least of the problems. Intentionally or not, Arondir is honestly the only elf in this mix who looks and behaves elven. The rest, WASP as they may be, are basically yuppies with long robes and ugly wigs, which was a huge turn off for me. As for the Numenoreans, but I cannot imagine a Nordic fetishist like Tolkien picturing his Númenor as Greek in style other than the basic premise, and this comes from a fellow Mediterranean. The Orcs had some intriguing Fremen-like imagery, but it turned out there wasn't nothing impressive under the robes. I like much more the portrayal of the dwarves and the hobbits, even if they still don't feel more Tolkienian than, say, Warcraftian.
Galadriel as a warrioress didn't bother me much either, it's rather her personality and characterization which I find absolutely grating and unrelatable. I'm also under the impression all the female protagonists of this series sound exactly like the same character, only with different disguises and ages, although that's hardly an oddity those days. Speaking about sound, there is nothing even remotely memorable in the soundtrack, which is shocking. Even the Hobbit trilogy had some songs I can still hum from the top of my head, but this product seems to have entirely forgotten about it.
I find many people complaining about the slow-as-molasses pacing, which I have to corroborate, although I would add it's not just the pacing which makes this series ungodly boring for me. The plot, twists, characters, and more or less everything are unengaging to some degree. I won't lie, I cannot honestly watch this series without multitasking, and it's a triumph of the will (geddit) that I'm able to soldier through it every week.
To conclude, I was convinced the series was going to be a 100% braindead story with excellent visuals and epic music, and instead found it a 70% with nice visuals and average music. And that's frankly much, much worse. I would have preferred human fears become reality and take the shape of transexual hobbits and obese elves fighting cisheterowhitepatriarchy or something, because at least I could have some chuckles a la good old South Park instead of spending one hour of boredom every week. But here I am, doing my duty. Keep struggling, strugglers.