I don’t know how many readers have been following that LOTR spin-off (‘The Rings of Power’) but from an Irish perspective, I can tell you that a lot of people are angry at the creators’ appropriation of Irish accents for their Hobbit/Hapfoot (or whatever they’re called) characters.
Misrepresentation of someone else’s culture has a longer-term detrimental impact on that culture when it occurs on a sufficiently large scale – definitely the case with Irish culture. The fact that the Amazon show runners have demonstrated such little understanding or appreciation of the Irish struggle to shuck off the impact from centuries of colonization (and the undermining of our culture) is incredibly disappointing.
I really get the sense that this one was really that ‘step too far’ and its going to come back and bite fantasy creators on the butt.
Irish people are often told by such creators that this misuse of their culture is ‘in homage’.
As a result, I’ve decided to make a little homage of my own with this short, sharp review of the Rings of Power Series.
“Téigh trasna ort féin, a Amazon!”
