So you think that because Tolkein “had in mind” a largely white, European vision for LOTR, it would be inappropriate to mess with that in the name of ethnic diversity. I’d be interested to know, as a general matter of principle, when the intentions of an author are, and are not, important to you in the casting process.
For example, about 18 months ago was had a thread about a Pennsylvania college that was forced to cancel the production of a play after the playwright objected to the fact that white actors were to be used in roles that the playwright had intended for people of color. In that thread, you were critical of the playwright’s decision, and you said:
If you believe that this is true, why would you be at all concerned if LOTR had, indeed, been populated by a multi-ethnic cast?
Why is it “not a bad thing” for us to have an almost-all-white LOTR because that’s what Tolkein envisioned, but a bad thing for an actual living playwright to enforce a condition of multi-ethnic casting in the licensing of his own intellectual property?