Look What They've Done to the Official Web Site, Ma - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
There are PLENTY of dark-skinned people in the book. The Men of Bree, the Dunlendings, and many of the folk of Gondor are dark-skinned (Tolkien even went so far as to call many of them "swarthy", which means "dark" or "black"). So, to stay "true to the book" (which these movies are not likely to be accused of doing), there would have to be plenty of dark-skinned folks and light-skinned folks running around on both sides.
Nonetheless, I liked Peter's reply, which really addressed the core concern, and didn't get into who was dark-skinned and who was light-skinned. That is, he talks about what Tolkien was doing and where he was bringing the story from.
Some of the questions are actually quite interesting. "Will any of the Second Age from the Silmarillion be seen in the original movies?" intrigues me (heck, I might even have been one of the people to ask it -- I have long since forgotten what questions I submitted, but I'm sure many people asked this).
But maybe the most intriguing part of the site is the flash itself. Not the bells and whistles you are expected to click on, download, view, and preview, but the constantly rotating images in the masthead. They appear to be previously unreleased scenes from the movies. An image of Gollum may be included in the lot. It's very vague, but I think the corrupted face is Gollum's. It looks nothing like the very early CGI model which was leaked by TheOneRing.Net for a few tantalizing hours last year. That model didn't have all the final layers on it. Images of Galadriel with her maidens, a giant spider-like shadow, the Fellowship, soldiers in armor parade across the screen in slow, sonorous succession.
Most of the cast bios are accompanied by a small portrait picture of the character portrayed (Gollum has no picture) and a brief description of the character.
Of the text interviews, maybe Philippa Boyens' is the most revealing. She has received far less press coverage than Peter Jackson, has been under less pressure, and she just sort of unleashes a vibrant barrage of enthusiasm and no-holds-barred revelation about what she values in the female characters. She spends little time apologizing for Tolkien's light treatment of women, which may be the best response to questions concerning the male-centeredness of the story. That is simply the story he wrote. What she might have said could be stated, "Other authors write stories about female characters, and there is no remorse over the lack of male characters in them. Those are the stories that other authors have written."
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