I just had a very good laugh at something I read on a forum. There were suggestions as to who would play Bilbo Baggins in the coming Th Hobbit film. Here is a picture of Bilbo, as portrayed by Ian Holm from The Lord of the Rings:

Someone suggested Martin Freeman:

Someone mixed them up with Morgan Freeman:

What was funny was that the mistake occurred at all. But hilarious was the argument that ensued, which finished with the forum continuing the idea, as a way of ridicule, of casting Morgan as Bilbo. Plot lines that revolved around Morgan’s often portrayal as the ‘token black character’ in films, such as a slave, porter, ruffian, or the ‘magical negro‘ (seriously, I didn’t make up that last one – check it out!). Then The Hobbit turned into a blacksploitation tale. Following this, the film Glory came up and suddenly all the dwarves were black too. It was the kind of entertainment and humour that you would expect online.

The line, which really started the whole alternative-plots, was “Of course, suggesting that a 71-year old black man play Bilbo makes complete sense” had me laughing for some time.

Thomas.