Representation of People of Color in "Lord of the Rings" (PDF)

Case Study from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,3, University of Bremen, language: English, abstract: The overall research question that this paper intends to answer is the following: How do Hollywood movies such as "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" represent people of color, and how does that influence our perception of reality? At the end of the paper, this question will be answered, and certain solutions will be discussed.

To exemplary analyze the under-representation of people of color and how they are stereotyped in Hollywood movies, a case study on "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" will be conducted. The paper will analyze certain scenes in which actors of color are involved, and will then examine how they are represented in comparison to Caucasian actors.

Furthermore, the paper gives some more background information about the current debate focussing on the non-diversity of the Academy Awards - better known as Oscars - and about casting practices that are performed by big Hollywood studios. In addition to that, it will present the most common stereotypes in which people of color are depicted.

The Academy Awards - most commonly known as 'Oscars' - are heavily criticized for their lack of diversity. In the year 2016, for the second time in a row, the Academy's 93 percent white membership had only nominated white actors for the respective awards. In addition to that, it has now been 15 years ago that the last actor/actress of color has won an Academy Award for best the best leading role. The under-representation of people of color in movies and the board's racist electoral behavior becomes even clearer when focussing on actresses of color.