Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders

Black Hobbits and the Whiteness of Fantasy (Plus: What Are Abbi Jacobson and Chanté Adams Into?)

Sep 15, 2022

45:14

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Is It a Good Idea to Unlearn Right?

01:59

Is Tolkien Racist?

02:17

Are Movie Sets Haunted by Dead Actors?

01:59

Introduction

2min

The Queen of England - Is She a Cow?

2min

Queen Elizabeth Contributed More to the Culture Than Elizabeth Ever Could.

2min

Are Movie Sets Haunted by Dead Actors?

2min

Leo De Caprio's Latest Love Interest

4min

The Difference Between Black Women and Women of Color

2min

Masterclass

6min

Lord of the Rings

2min

The Hobbit Is Like Great Granddaddy Is Black

2min

10.

Is It a Good Idea to Unlearn Right?

2min

11.

Is Tolkien Racist?

2min

12.

Is Tolkien Racist?

2min

13.

Are Western Fantasy Writers and Cultures Different?

2min

14.

What's the Difference Between Black and White?

2min

15.

Are We Going to Get More Black Readers?

2min

16.

Is There a Black Barber in Middle Earth?

3min

17.

Culturegeist - The Things We Can't Stop Thinking About

2min

18.

Jurassic World Dominion Review

2min

19.

Listeners, Do You Have a Culture, Guys?

2min

Why does the outrage over people of color cast in fantasies feel so predictable? Sam chats with associate professor Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, author of The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games, about how fantasy writing in the Western world has become so entrenched in whiteness that the mere presence of a Black hobbit seems “shocking.”

We also ask Abbi Jacobson and Chante Adams of A League of Their Own if they are into Cher calling Queen Elizabeth II a cow. And we hear about the culture that's haunting us: Dave Grohl watching Taylor Hawkins' son drumming to "My Hero" at a tribute concert is a scene straight out of a Pixar movie.

Send us your culturegeist. What specific thing in the culture has been haunting you for days, weeks, or even years? Send us a short voice memo at intoit@vulture.com.

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