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Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 11, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Interestingly, both shows have gone with ham-fisted diversity casting, but only Rings of Power is talking about the 'racist backlash'. I suspect that Amazon is using criticism of the casting as a shield against what is really just criticism of a bad show.

Having seen Rings of Power, I would say I dislike the diversity casting, but I dislike it much less than I dislike the clunky dialogue, wooden acting and characters that are hard to care about.

Seeing literally every culture of Middle Earth with at least one Black actor playing a speaking role is actually sort of hilarious. It implies that whatever Sauron did at Numenor ends up genociding ALL the Black people of each race.

On a more serious note, I wonder if there’s a clause in a union contract or a filmmakers guild handbook somewhere which requires a race or gender diversity hire, literally a token hire, on every show.

I doubt it's the unions. The Oscars brought in explicit diversity rules. I'm guessing other awards shows have followed with explicit or implicit rules.

Also Amazon is probably tracking the ESG rating for Prime Productions.