Commercialization Of Sports - Research Essay

Time has changed a lot for human beings. There were times when people used to live in caves and cover there bodies with leaves. Although, it took centuries for man, but still the caveman has managed to enter the modern life of super computers and super conductors, today. Over the course of history many things have changed significantly for human beings. The ways of thinking as well as procedures of doing various things have changed incredibly, for example, the way of living. Like countless other things, an immense transformation can be seen in the field of sports today. In the beginning, main form of the sports was to show bodily strength and compete with others on the basis of this. Ancient Greeks used to play these kinds of sports, since they believed that their gods liked the powerful and strong men (kidipede 2). Then gradually more and more types of sports came into practice. Today, we see millions of people in the world playing thousands of games involving bodily strength like wrestling, boxing and karate etc. Many sports are there which need different techniques besides bodily strength like soccer and cricket etc. Then, there are games that involve only brain power like chess and solving various kinds of puzzles. Many people in the world follow their favorite sport and sport stars crazily. Markets are full of shops that sell sports uniforms and goods. Fans love to buy shirts which have names of their favorite players. People are getting more and more into sports, and it can be analyzed by looking at the profits made by different sports clubs of today. Soccer clubs make hundreds of millions of dollars annually (clubs 5). This revolution in sports was not possible if there wasn’t the commercialization of sports.

Commercialization has taken sports to the level where they are today. It has brought lot of changes to the sports, especially by making sports a big and profitable business. Sports can now be followed by everybody, everywhere, and every second. More competitions are held every year as compared to past. For example, in tennis there are a number of tournaments played every year like Grand slam, U.S. open, French Open, British open and various others. Money is rained over player of these tournaments. A website usopen.org says “The 2009 US Open purse will top $21.6 million, marking the third consecutive year that the tournament's prize money has increased by $1 million (1).”  It further states that this prize money can reach up to $24.2 million (5). More and more people want to participate in the sports because of this shower of grand prizes. It has helped sports in getting quality players. The sports have become much more exciting, interesting, and competitive because of commercialization of sports, and it has brought a very positive change in sports.

Commercialization means to apply methods for gaining profit. Commercialization of sports means to use sports in order to make a financial gain. There can be various ways of using sports in earning money. Like millions of dollars can just be made by selling it broadcasting rights. The shirts having monograms of different teams are bought extensively by fans all over the world, and a big amount can be earned by this mean of business. These are just few of the numerous ways in which sports is making big cash. Sports’ stars themselves make a lot of money by advertizing products of different companies.  Ashraf tells on a website that a cricket star, Sachin Tendulkar, used to make Rs. 20 million ($ 0.25 million) by promoting products of a soft drinks company (10). More and more ways are being introduced to make money in sports, like displaying banners near the playing field and giving advertisements on T.V. while a game is being broadcasted.

 “Sports” have become a new concept than it used to be few decades ago. Many people give it as importance as matters of life and death. Trends and traditions have changed big-time over the years, and it is all because of commercialization of sports. People used to go to the playing fields them selves to see a game, but now it doesn’t matter whether one can go to a playing field himself or not. Games are broadcasted all over the world. Nowadays, fans just gather around a big T.V.  screen and enjoy a match as they are in the actual field. Young and old are equally observed in cheering their favorite teams, though they are in front of screens. The spirit of these spectators is no way less than the crowd witnessing the game live at the actual place where the game is being played. People color their faces according to the color of the uniforms the teams they are supporting. This craze and excitement has been given to game by commercialization.

Commercialization of sports has been there from almost ancient times in one way or the other. A website historyforkids.org tells us that ancient Greeks used to compete for prizes, but there is a great difference in commercialization of sports in the 21^st century. Earlier there used to be just small prizes like it was said earlier, but that just involves paying the payer. The only common thing in today’s commercialization and ancient one is that these both are a mean of player’s pay. However, sports are commercialized to far greater level now. More money has been brought to the world of sports now, and players get highly paid. Today’s commercialization has made sports a full time job for players, while in earlier times it was only a part time job.

Sports have evolved and have become a very big business today. Many big businesses are heavily involved in sports too (Trevor 10). A professor of University of Otago, New Zealand, Slack, said, “Athletes in the major spectator sports are marketable commodities, sports teams are traded on the stock market, sponsorship rights at major events can cost millions of dollars, network television stations pay large fees to broadcast games, and the merchandising and licensing of sporting goods is a major multi- national business.” In sports there are usually some big names like Cristiano Ronaldo in soccer, Shahid Afridi in cricket or Mike Tyson in heavy weight boxing. These are called superstars of their respective sports, and they have an enormous number of fans who love them very much. Such people are picked by different companies, contracts involving heavy money are signed, and love of their fans is cashed. That is why; mostly big companies want to use these big names in order to promote their merchandise. It has helps the economy of countries. Companies are generating a lot of profit in this way, and will definitely create job opportunities in many countries. So, commercialization of sports has positive affects besides the good it is doing to sports.

            Commercialization of sports has served sports in many ways. It helps in organizing big events. Without money given by the sponsors it would have never been possible to arrange and organize events like world cups of cricket and football. The biggest event of sports all over the world is Olympics. It is an event that is arranged after every four years. Billions of dollars are involved in making arrangement for this event, like building suitable stadiums for the event of this magnitude, to provide accommodation for players, and security issues etc. This money comes because sports are commercialized. Dr. Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympics Committee is quoted by Monroe in his book, and he says, “Without the support of the business community, without its technology, expertise, people, services, products, telecommunication, it’s financing -- the Olympic Games could not happen. Without this support, the athletes cannot compete and achieve their very best in the world's best sporting event (75).” The event like Olympics involves almost all the countries in the world, and it creates a gesture of goodwill between all. The participation of so many countries is possible because the money for player’s travel comes from the sponsorships due commercialization of sports.

Today, sports’ events have become part of life style of many people. It has become a solid business as well. It is very helpful in generating profit in the world of today, the world of marketing, promotion, and advertisements (Lee 5). Today most of the university sports are sponsored by various companies. This trend in sports has enabled a number of emerging players to display of their skills who might not have got any chance otherwise. It has made easy for colleges and universities to hold different competitions to give a chance to students participate in co-curricular activities. Like in Beijing, the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, track team is sponsored by a tire company (Washington 6). It is helping the students to groom well. Commercialization is proving to be very beneficial in this regard too.

            Some of the sports have become famous all over the world because of the colors and excitement given by the commercialization. Cricket, for example, used to be a longer game, but now it is has been given a new name, T20, and shorter format. Like in India, a T20 tournament, champion’s league, attracted a sponsorship of Rs. 1700 million ($30 million) (Airtel 1). Another revolutionary change can be seen in the game of soccer. In England there are various clubs which make hundreds of millions of dollars in a year. That’s why these clubs get the best players in the world to play for them, and it improves the quality of the game too. Best players mainly get attracted because of the big incentives given by various clubs. It is the main reason soccer has become best in term of quality, and it is the only game that is played by every country in the world (library 10). Sports thrive if they are getting good sponsorships, as it helps to get and hunt the best players in a country. For example in Pakistan, Cricket is becoming better and popular day by day, while hockey isn’t showing any sign of life in the same country. Although, there are many reasons, but the availability of sponsorships is the main cause of the present situation of these sports. Cricket is the most successful sports in generating good monetary support from marketing and private sponsors, but hockey is unable to have sticker of even a single sponsor on their shirts (dawn 11).

Commercialization has also helped sports’ fans very much. It is due to commercialization that so many TV channels pay millions of dollars to buy the broadcasting rights, it enables the sport viewers from all over the world to watch the sports they love. “NBC paid well over $600 million for these Olympics. The games have long been a favorite for viewers and the network says more than 170 million Americans have seen the games on NBC and its sister channels” (NBC 10). If some body likes to follow a game, then there are many channels which help him in this regard, and it is all because of commercialization. Now, most of fans don’t have to travel long distances in order to enjoy the thrilling moments of their favorite sports rather they can watch it very easily and comfortably in their homes. A broadcasting company made a deal of Rs. 82000 million ($1200 million) to get the rights to broadcast a T20 tournament of cricket (cricinfo 5).

Although there are so many goods done to sports by commercialization, however there are some issues which are not liked by most of the people. Some people think that it is because of commercialization that the problems like mach fixing have become more common. Many people talk about fair play these days. An interesting survey was done on the use of word “match-fixing.” It tells us that the use of this word is more common than any time in the past, and it has increased up to ten times than last year (match-fixing 5). Kuang, an instructor, at Taipei Physical Education College thinks that modern sports have lost its ethical stance. He also says, “Commercialization has damaged the concept of fair play and led to the priority of profits over good sportsmanship; and that sports are no longer the honest competition they used to be” (11). UNESCO Education’s Code of Sports Ethics (1992) defines fair play as “much more than playing with the rules”, a notion that “incorporates the concept of friendship, respect for others and always playing within the right spirit”. It is very clear that money from above facts that money has some got priority in sports over every thing because of commercialization, and it is not acceptable to many sports’ fans.

            Sometimes players have to play more than their stamina to satisfy the sponsors. A report that was published in gulf news, recently, told us that European Tour members might be participating in more events in to please the sponsors (1). If players will start caring more about sponsors than the sports, then it will affect the quality of the game of many players. This is something that isn’t noticed very much by the fans, because they love to see their stars more and more in action, and they forget the fact that it can spoil the game of their heroes. Wrestling can serve as a very good example of the negative impacts of commercialization of sports. When there was real wrestling gong on in the past there weren’t many people interested in watching them. Since, wrestling is being shown all over the world by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), there are many people who not only watch but also follow it with great enthusiasm. Here, commercialization has spoiled the real spirit of the game, but it has made the “fake” wrestling a good business though. Michael says that WrestleMania, an organization that arranges the wrestling tournaments, is close to make almost fifty million dollars (5). In these ways commercialization can prove to be very harmful to the sports, but there are many goods that commercialization has done to sports, so its pros outweigh the cons.

           

            Well, commercialization, the way sports is transformed into business, has proved to be extremely beneficial for sports in many ways. It enabled team management to pay their players a handsome amount, which in turn helped to look for better players, and it improved the quality of the game. It has also helped big companies to promote and advertise their goods using the fame sports’ stars, which has been helpful to economy of various countries. Because of the availability of money better stadiums have been built today, which have made sports more colorful, fun, and exciting. Since, advertisement pays off the TV channels, so they broadcast the various matches all over the world, and it has made easier for fans to witness the excitements of the sports coming from all over the world. Commercialization has some negative impacts too, like it appears that it might be the cause of increasing match-fixings. It definitely has prioritized the money over sportsmanship, and that is somehow against the spirit of sports. By looking at both sides of the picture, one can easily go in the favor of commercialization of sport. Although, there are some negative impacts, but the benefits of commercialization outnumber its harms greatly. So, commercialization made it easy to see more and better quality players, and it has also made the sport much more fun than they use to be.

Written By:  Sultan Mehmood ( LUMS )

The “I Have a Dream” Speech; A Critique

This is the speech delivered by the great black leader Dr. Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963 on the occasion of the Walk on Washington for Jobs and Freedom against racial inequality. He along with other Black men marched and protested against the tyranny of the government officials who were biased against African Americans. This speech was made a part of 1964 Civil Rights Act.    

Martin Luther King was a clergyman, prominent activist and leader of the African American civil rights movement.  In his speech he contested the brutality of American Government towards African Americans who were deprived of their basic rights. They were not even free to observe their religion and their culture. According to King’s speech, they were living a life of poverty and were being discriminated against in the arena of Government jobs and education. In his speech he made the point clear that the State of America cannot progress and prosper without taking African Americans into account. He specifically emphasized on their right to vote in states like Mississippi and Alabama where black people were living their lives in the valley of despair.

          For any analysis, it is essential to analyze the relevance of the topic at hand. The speech is primarily focused on the struggle is one that the human race has faced since time immemorial and it is words and speeches like these that have helped change the course of history. In the 1960’s, this speech was pertinent to the rights of the Black population, it is evident that the words that initiated a movement were successful in making their mark. As a result of such powerful rhetoric, the movement gained full swing and an entire race was given its rights.

      In the speech King pointed out that black children should be allowed to pursue higher education in the same schools and colleges as white children. They should be allowed to “sing the songs for their nation’s welfare” along with other people. He ended his speech with the hope that one day “all the valleys of America would be exalted and would be given the status equal to that of other states of America”. King had the dream that one day they would be allowed to work together, pray together and struggle together for their nation’s stream of progress. He concluded with the dream that there would come a time when little black boys and girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and girls as brothers and sisters. He had the dream that one day freedom would ring from all over America.

The title given to the speech “I have a dream” shows that the orator wants to tell his desires and wishes to the people. It holds immense poetic appeal. The title depicts the dream of freedom dreamt by every innocent prisoner. It depicts that the speaker is trying to persuade the audience about the need for equality and egalitarianism of all people. Martin is addressing the people of America and the bureaucracy. He has described the dream of every black man to live a peaceful life without any injustice.

         Firstly Martin started his rhetoric by demanding racial justice. He builds this by taking the historical background of black people into account 1). He mentions that previously they were deprived of their basic rights and were living a miserable life. Then he builds a parallel scenario to describe the oppression on the African Americans. In his speech he brilliantly describes the consequences of unfairness in America and by the classical technique of pathos, he appeals to the emotions of the audience. He also explains the goals and solutions of the problem which the black population was facing consistently. Later, he gives the opinion that the fate of white people is tied up with the destiny of the black and their peaceful coexistence is essential for the progress and prosperity of the state.

He then moves on to describe the potential of the population that has not been allowed to participate in the progress of the country. He argued that if given respect, opportunity and responsibility, the African Americans would be capable enough to be active participants in nation building. The use of flowery language is epitomized when King gives the title of “veterans of creative suffering” to the Blacks because they work with the faith that unjustified suffering is redeeming.  He beautifully told that it is the duty of the government to uproot the racial discrimination between the blacks and whites. In his iconic speech he urged America to fulfill the promises of democracy- those of provision of equal rights and representation which are the fundamental need for having justice in a country. Finally Martin visualized and concluded the main goals by the use of similes, metaphors, images and repetitions.

Stylistically the speech is written as a work of poetry 2).  The repetition of the word “I have a dream” narrates to us, the hope of the Black people as silver lining.

The text of the speech is clear, well-organized and easy to read. It is well researched and the speaker has used the accurate facts supported with examples from the different states of America. The whole speech is based on the theme that all people are created equal; no one is superior to other on the basis of color and race and is the key message of the speech. This is not only the key principle of democracy, but also a social principle upheld by most major religions of the world. The tone of the speech is critical yet imploring, which is ironic. But considering the political agenda of M.L King, it falls in perfect unison with his strategy of peaceful resistance.

The words of the text like “sweltering in the heat of injustice” clearly show that the speaker is against the government at that time. The whole speech seems to be delivered in order to fuel the emotions of the audience. The words like “we cannot turn back and we can never be satisfied” used by the speaker show their demands from the government.

The speech is characteristic of the grievances and reservations faced by any oppressed population. The use of flowery language and parallelism is the perfect blend to give emotional appeal to the entire speech. It was because of this, and use of other rhetoric like this that the African American civil rights movement was made a common cause. Hence, this speech has rightfully earned its place in the most powerful rhetoric of our times.

Written By: Aleem Haider ( LUMS )

Tolkien mythology: Racist or unintentionally Eurocentric?

   It goes without saying that the human fascination with myth is an enduring one despite the rise of scientific reasoning over the past three hundred years or so. Today children and adults alike still hurl together in front of camp fires and more recently, their television screens to be transported     out   of  the  real  world    and   into   more   “enchanted”      realms    where    there  are   no assignments to submit and nomemos from the accounts office. As the world at large becomes ever more ordered and more civilized, many concoct their own kingdoms where even the laws of science fall from their elevated pedestals. Put simply, myth has never been more popular. Whilst it is true that as a tool for explanation of natural phenomena, myth is slowly becoming redundant but as an escape from the daily hustle and bustle of modern life, it has gained new significance. The   mythological   world   created   by   J.R.R   Tolkien   is   perhaps   one   of   the   best   known   in   20th century literature, a refuge for the modern day dreamer. Tolkien did not take the real world as his backdrop but went about creating his own. He devised new languages, races, territories, cultures and histories and did away with ones that existed in the real world. What resulted from Tolkien’s abour was to become the stage for his now famous sagas: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 

The Lord of the Rings has gained immense popularity over the years. Its rebirth as a three part motion picture from 2001-2003, sent the popularity of Tolkien’s work skyrocketing. As a result, the concern that was at first tabled by only a few began to be voiced by a much larger audience: that of racism in Tolkien mythology. Some in the literary world have dubbed Tolkien a racist due to content in his mythology that would be deemed inappropriate in this day and age. However Tolkien’s letters to his friends and his publishers suggest otherwise. Tolkien was not a racist however there is ample evidence to suggest a very strong albeit unintentional Eurocentric bias   in   his   work.   The   presence   of   white   racial   ideals,   demonization   of   aspects   of   Eastern   and South Asian culture and the presence of an East versus West typology suggest that Tolkien was, after all, a product of his culture and his times. 

          One   of   the   many   charges   bought   up   against   Tolkien   is   racism.   Indeed,   it   is   true   that Tolkien mythology does contain racial hierarchies which conform, at least loosely, to those made by white supremacists in the Modern world. However a close study of some of Tolkien’s letters to his friends and publishers negate the fact that Tolkien was a racist and was using allegory to express his allegedly racist beliefs. For example, one can argue that Tolkien’s battle between the forces   of  light   and   darkness   is   in   fact   an   allegory   to   the   Second   World   War   (Garth,   “J.R.R Tolkien Encyclopedia, 455). But Tolkien, in fact, hated the use of allegories and even stated so in one of his letters: “I dislike Allegory-the conscious and intentional allegory-yet any attempt to explain   the   purport   of   myth   or   fairytale   must   use   allegorical   language”   (Letters1,   145).   For  Tolkien then, the use of allegorical language was a necessity, something that was required so as to create a worthy mythology. 

          Similarly  there   is   a   criticism   that   Tolkien   echoed   the racist  sentiments   of   the   Nazis   in Germany in his works. Many see Tolkien’s elves and his dwarves as examples of Aryan men and racial Jews respectively. However Tolkien’s letters reveal that Tolkien had little interest in Nazi ideology. After viewing a letter by his German publishers inquiring as to whether Tolkien was of the Aryan race, Tolkien wrote to a friend regarding the issue, 

"I   must   say   that   the   enclosed   letter   from   Rutten   &   Loening   is   a   bit   stiff.   Do   I  suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic   laws   require   a   certificate   of   arisch   [Aryan]   origin   from   all   persons   of   all   countries?   ...  Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any Bestatigung [Confirmation]…and let a   German      translation    go   hang.    In   any   case   I  should    object    strongly    to   any   such

declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour   to   the   notion   that   I   subscribed   to   the   wholly   pernicious   and   unscientific   race- doctrine” (Letters, 29).

In fact Tolkien denied that he knew what his German publishers meant by the term Aryan.  He replied   that   he  was   unaware   of   the   definition   of   the   word   as   used   by  the   Nazis  and   was   only familiar with the meaning ascribed to it by scholars of eastern civilizations .In response to his German publishers he wrote, 

          “Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch  [Aryan]. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors   spoke   Hindustani,   Persian,   Gypsy,   or   any  related   dialects.   But   if   I  am   to  understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people” (Letters, 30). 

The text also clearly hints at Tolkien’s admiration for the Jewish race. However many have still raised charges of anti-Semitism on Tolkien based on his comparison of the Dwarves in his works to the Jewish race. Tolkien is known to have said in an interview, “The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic” (“Interview”). The criticism is that Dwarves, in Tolkien mythology, are known to have a love for riches and precious metals. Many have hinted this   quality   of   the   Dwarves   to   be   a   symbolic   representation   of   the   “money   hungry”   Jewish stereotype.   Although   the   point   raised   is   an   interesting   one,   Tolkien   clearly   hinted   towards   a similarity between Semitic languages and the language he created for the Dwarves. In another letter Tolkien highlights that both Dwarves and the Jews were similar as both had been stripped of their homelands and forced to adopt an alien language: “I do think of the 'Dwarves' like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue.....” (Letters,  176). There is no evidence to support that there was any intentional linking between the Dwarves love of precious metals and the Jewish stereotype. 

         Therefore   the   claims   that   Tolkien’s   elves   were   a   symbolic   representation   of   the   blue eyed, blonde haired, Nordic torch-bearer of Nazi Ideology and that the dwarves were a symbolic representation of the Jews are unfounded. Though Tolkien was greatly inspired by Scandinavian folk lore, he viewed its use to support the Nazi race doctrine as deplorable. In a letter to his son Michael Tolkien he said, 

         “Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge – which would probably make me a   better   soldier   at  49   than   I  was   at  22:  against    that  ruddy    little  ignoramus     Adolf   Hitler…Ruining,         perverting,    misapplying,     and    making    for   ever   accursed,    that  noble  northern spirit [referring here to Nordic culture that Hitler marketed as the culture of the Aryan master race], a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried  to present in its true light” (Letters, 45). 

Also he had referred to Jews as a “gifted people” and was friends with many people of Jewish descent. The argument that Tolkien was a racist thus does not have weight. 

  

                 However   does       that   mean   that   the   clear   indications   of   unintentional    Eurocentrism  in Tolkien   mythology   be   ignored?   Where   there   is   ample   evidence   to absolve   Tolkien   from   the heinous   racism   of   the   early  20th century,   there   is   also   strong  evidence   to   suggest   that   Tolkien viewed the notions of beauty, wisdom and goodness in purely European terms. It is no crime on Tolkien’s part since he was but a product of his own culture and his own times. What is reflected n his works is a mindset that is no way intentional and is not reproduced consciously. In fact Tolkien’s world view has been ingrained in him by the larger society in which he lived (Chism, “J.R.R Tolkien Encyclopaedia”, 558). He, of course, does not intentionally try and cast European characteristics in a good light whilst demonizing those of oriental cultures for that would mean conforming   to   the   race   doctrines   that   he   so   often   expressed   a   hatred   for   but   indeed   does   so without realizing the implications of his attributions. Emile Durkheim was the sociologist who suggested that religion (and perhaps myth) is often constructed by civilizations around their own horizons and in their own image (Paden). Myth is but a reflection of the society that valorizes it. Or in other words, there is a reason why Zeus, the King of Gods in Greek mythology, resides in Mount Olympus in Greece and not on Everest in Nepal, the tallest peak in the world. Thus it is definitely not farfetched to suggest that Tolkien mythology, quite apart from the fact that it was always     intended    to   be  an   addition   to   Anglo-Saxon   mythology,   is   a   reflection   of  European  conceptions not uncommon in that time. 

 The first of these conceptions is the view that European racial characteristics are heroic characteristics. Indeed a reading of The Lord of the Rings shows how all heroes in this epic are white. From the Elves and Men to the Dwarves and Hobbits that constitute the forces of light all are racially white. Elves, in particular, are described as the fairest of the creatures of the creator and are the “firstborn” race of Middle-Earth (Tolkien, “Silmarillion”, 35). Their characteristics are very European in nature: fair, tall and slender, with grey eyes and hair that could be silver, golden or dark. They were also custodians of “greater wisdom, and skill, and beauty” than men

(Tolkien, “The Silmarillion”, 117). On the other end of the spectrum the forces of darkness are comprised of Orcs and of evil men from the south-eastern lands of Middle-Earth. The Orcs in Tolkien   mythology   are   beastly   beings   that   service   the   forces   of   darkness   and   originated   from elves that were captured and then corrupted by “slow acts of cruelty” by a sinister spirit (Tolkien, “The  Silmarillion”,  50).   They  are   described   as   “black”   and   “black-skinned”   by  Tolkien   (“The 

return   of   the   King”,  408  and   237,   “The   fellowship   of   the   Ring”,   425).   The   evil   men   of   the Haradrim and the Easterlings are also dark-skinned men (“Silmarillion”, 391). Tolkien describes Haradrim  soldiers   as  “swarthy     men    in  red”  (“The     two   towers”,    331)  and    also   provides  a description of a dead one:   “He came to rest in the fern a few feet away; face downward, green 

arrow-feathers sticking from his neck below a golden collar…His brown hand still clutched the hilt of a broken sword”  (“The two towers”, 332). At one place the men of Far Harad are also described as, “black men like half-trolls with white eyes  and red tongues” (“The return of the King”,   136).   It   would   thus  appears   that   heroes   and   the   forces   of   light   are   “white”   and   “fair” whilst the forces of evil are “black”, “swarthy” and “brown”. These attributes are probably not given with the intention that they symbolize anything in the real world but do provide a glimpse into Tolkien’s perceptions of what heroism and goodness should look like. 

Secondly, Tolkien mythology does not only attribute qualities of good and evil to certain racial characteristics     but   also  to   certain   cultures.   The   forces   of  light,   for  example,     are  heavily influenced   by  Norse4     and   Anglo-Saxon5      mythology.   For   example,   Anglo-Saxon   epics   such   as the   epic   of  Beowulf  have   been   a   great   source   of   inspiration   for   Tolkien’s   heroic   epics, The 

Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (Colbert, 22) and the wizard Gandalf the grey is described by Tolkien as very much like the Norse god of thunder, Odin (Letters, 107). The languages of the elves,   namely   High-elven   (Quenya)   and   Grey-elven   (Sindarin)   are   also   based   on   Finnish   and Welsh   respectively   (Colbert,   85)   and   their  most   beloved   star,  Earendel,   is   inspired   from   an Anglo-Saxon        star  of  the  same    name    (“J.R.R    Tolkien    Encyclopaedia”,      490).   Similarly,    the language   of   the   hobbits,   namely  Westron,   is   basically  English.   Regarding   poems   and   the   oral traditions    of   elves,   men   and   dwarves,   David   D.   Oberhelman   notes,   “Tolkien’s        expertise   in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, and even Finnish sagas and alliterative verse shaped the poetic forms and depiction of oral cultures found in his legendarium” (“J.R.R Tolkien Encyclopaedia”, 484). These European influences are not found in the cultures of the “swarthy” men of the Haradrim and the Easterlings. The portrayals of their culture are unmistakably eastern in nature. The brown men     of  the  Haradrim     for  example     conduct    war   on   elephants    called  Oliphaunts     in  Tolkien mythology       and   are  undoubtedly      inspired    from   Indian    culture.  Concerning      the   Easterlings, 

Straubhaar notes, “As (sometimes) mounted tribal invaders out of the east, and the harriers of western,   more   urbanized   peoples,   the   Easterlings   are   probably   based   partly   on   historical   and legendry   images      of  the   Huns”    (“J.R.R    Tolkien   Encyclopaedia”,      140,    141).  Thus    what   one observes is a valorization of European culture and the demonization of South Asian and Eastern 

cultures, though perhaps not intentionally. 

  Thirdly, Tolkien’s assignment of good and evil is not only done on a racial and cultural basis but a geographical one as well. The presence of an East versus West typology is strong in his works. This typology is definitely not something new. Clashes between the civilizations of the East with those of the West have been constant throughout human history. Events like the Crusades or Holy wars, fought between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle-East over the possession   of   the   holy  land   from   the   9th to   the   12th centuries   AD,   may   have   proven   to   be  an inspiration for Tolkien given the fact that as a professor of Anglo-Saxon, he would have spent a great deal of time sifting through Medieval writings on the subject (Straubhaar, “J.R.R Tolkien Encyclopaedia”,  558).   Therefore,   it   would   come   as   no   surprise   that   Middle-Earth   is   also   the stage of an epic confrontation between East and West. The forces of Evil, namely “the black land of Mordor” as well as the lands of the evil men of the Haradrim and the Easterlings lies to the Eastern     side  of  Middle-Earth.      The   lands   of  the  free  peoples    of  Middle-Earth,      namely    the Mannish Kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan, the elven realms of Rivendell and Lothlorien as well as the dominion of the Hobbits, all lie in the western regions. These kingdoms, in the story, are forever haunted by the “menace of the East” (“The return of the King”, 18) and “for the Hobbits of Middle-Earth, as for western Europeans in real life, east came to mean danger because that’s where foreign enemies and armies lived” (Colbert, 95). However there is a lot more to Tolkien mythology than references to suspicion and fear of the East. There is also active aggrandizement and canonization of the West with phrases like, “And so, since many men had already been left at the Cross-roads, it was with less than six thousands that the Captains of the West came at last to challenge the Black Gate and the might of Mordor” and “The men of the West were trapped, and soon, all about the grey mounds where they stood, forces ten times and more than ten times their match would ring them in a sea of enemies” (“The return of the King”, 189 and 195). Even the   sword   of   Aragorn,   heir   to   the   throne   of   Gondor,   was   called Anduril,   “flame   of   the   West” “The   return   of   the   King,   138).   This   separation   of   East   and   West   is   also   not   intentional   but represents the natural orientation of any writer or any common European of the time, to associate himself with West and see the East as a mystery at best. These characterizations are harmless in 

themselves but indeed do point to Tolkien’s cultural influences. 

         Reading the works of J.R.R Tolkien, one is introduced to many tales, tales of love and hate, of kin and country and of war and blood. One is constantly reminded of the power of dark and sinister forces only then to be reminded of the resilience of those who remain steadfast to the cause of peace and justice. But most of all what the keen reader would observe is how all men are shaped by the world around them, how they are but lumps of soft clay,  easily beaten into shapes and forms of varying beauty. Tolkien was such a lump. He was not a racist and there is no evidence   to   prove   that   he   was.   He   was   only  a   product   of   the   colonial   era   and   thus thought differently than those who reside in today’s multicultural and highly globalized world. It is thus only fair that Tolkien’s work is viewed on less harsher terms and that it is not associated with something       that   Tolkien     would     not   have    had    it  associated    with.    Defending      this   literary masterpiece   from   defamation   as   racist   is   vital.   Indeed,   how   can   a   dead   writer   leap   out   of   his grave to defend his life’s work?

Written By: Rao Mohsin Ali Noor ( LUMS )