“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, a series that was revived JRR Tolkien’s universe After its premiere on Amazon Prime Video last Friday, it is still the subject of racist and discriminatory criticism by groups of fans who express their dissatisfaction with the diversity between characters, although the cast considered that, from its origin, the story portrays “so many races joining forces and giving their best for a common goal”.
“I think it was time and that it is very Tolkien, although some conversations that arise about this always end up being very strange,” the Puerto Rican actor said in a dialogue with Télam. Ismael Cruz Cordovawho came to production to play Arondir, a new character created for the series and the first black elf in the adaptations of the English author’s work.
An almost obligatory question in an interview situation, the issue of diversity between actresses and actors – as well as the enhancement of some female roles in the plot – was a novelty for the audience and the specialized media in terms of representation on the screen. of Middle Earth, almost always dominated by white interpreters in the successful trilogies of the New Zealander Peter Jackson.
Your ancestors sided with evil and have paid for it ever since.
Meet the people of The Southlands at #TheRingsOfPower.Now available in #PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/brgrsasfM0
— Prime Video LATAM (@PrimeVideoLat) September 5, 2022
But although for many it was a welcome choice, other groups of followers of the legendarium they took the decision of the strip developed by JD Payne and Patrick McKay as an offense against the presumed fidelity and coherence that the filmmakers should have with the events of the Second Age which tackles “The Rings of Power”, in a universe that originated as an attempt to create a fantasy British or European mythology.
Social networks and forums such as the popular Reddit were then transformed into the platforms on which the most outraged brand the production -since the beginning of 2020, when Prime Video released the complete list of the cast- of surrendering to “political correctness” and they publish detailed texts about how Tolkien never included colored characters in Middle-earth (something that the author never really specified due to the negative, according to other faithful of his literature).
In response, those who embrace this adaptation for the small screen also realize how the writer’s work was always manipulated (in terms of characters, events or times) based on audiovisual narration, of the very timid incorporation of diversity that he tried Jackson in his “The Hobbit” trilogy and, more briefly, that times change and today the issue of representation is finally on the table constantly.
Of course, those who defend themselves against racist comments are also cast members of “The Rings of Power”, among whom are the actor of Jamaican descent Lenny Henry, the Ceylonese Thusitha Jayasundera, the Iranian Nazanin Boniadi, the actress of Ghanaian mother Cynthia Addai-Robinson and the young Tyroe Muhafidin, Australian of Indonesian parents.
“I wanted to highlight everything that I identify with as a woman, and that for me is being strong, bold, but also warm, loving and kind, but above all empowered and sharing a united, glorious, loving and respectful relationship,” she assured. by your side Sophia Nomveteactress of African and Iranian origins who in the series plays Disa, the princess of the great dwarf city of Khazad-dûm and wife of Durin (Owain Arthur).
“We too can be in a position of power, have a voice, like Disa’s, that comes from her soul to move mountains. It means that after hundreds of years of being silenced, we can finally now be heard.”Sophia Nomvete
Along these lines, Nomvete added in a conversation with this agency that for her, her character “represents possibility and ambition”, and she hopes that “Also be an inspiration to so many women and people of color around the world.”
“We too can be in a position of power, have a voice, like Disa’s, that comes from her soul to move mountains. It means that after hundreds of years of being silenced, we can now finally be heard.”
Cruz Cordovawho occupies one of the central roles in the plot as he is one of the first characters to perceive the return of Sauron’s evil over the world, said that for him “it was as if a circle had closed”: “I wanted to be a elf since I was very young, when I used to play with a bow made of a branch and a kind of rope, so it became like a life mission, not only because I wanted to arbitrarily embody an elf, but because there were no elves who looked like me “, he commented.
“That was integral to my identity journey, what I wanted to represent and in terms of activism. Being in the art world and the media opens up certain spaces for people like me to see themselves represented, and when I got the role it felt like ‘well, it’s time to play’. I took on the role with a lot of responsibility, but also with a lot of emotion and heart.“, Reflected the actor, who had previously gone through the HBO miniseries “The Undoing”.
In addition, the actor expressed that “Arondir is wonderful” and that he felt “very fortunate to belong to such a well-known universe but also to have the freedom to create and explore, because until now it had never been seen and we could do many things for the first time. stuff”.
“He’s a fighter, an archer, and I wanted to create something that was unique in the mythology, so I brought a lot of martial arts, a lot of training, and mixed it with some capoeira. In that sense, it was kind of rooted in my own heritage. “ended.
