White Washing The Last Airbender..
There has been an issue with many people ever since it was first announced that M. Night Shyamalan was chosen to write/direct/produce the live-action movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender (now just, ‘The Last Airbender’ to avoid confusion with another movie).
Like with almost every bit of news I hear about movies adapted from a story in an other medium that I love, I was already a bit apprehensive about Shyamalan being able to pull it off. But still excited all the same.
Personally, I really liked his earlier movies. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Stuart Little (he wrote the screenplay). I even enjoyed Signs and The Village, even though both were predictable and the ending of Signs as just.. Eh. The Happening was a bit of a disappointment and to this day, I can not watch Lady in The Water all of the way through. It just doesn’t hold my interest enough.
Shyamalan’s movies have not done well with box office sells not with critics.. He’s basically the “love-him-or-hate-him” type in Hollywood.
Yet, I still held on the hope that he would give The Last Airbender justice by sticking true to the world that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konitzko quite obviously put a lot work into to create.
Then the casting for the 4 main leads was announced.
Which caused an uproar from many of the fan base of the original animated series. Why? Because the 4 actors that were choice were supposedly all white. The original line up being: Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jessie McCartney as Prince Zuko and Noah Ringer as Aang. There is also the question of age appropriate actors to play the part. As Jackson Rathbone is 24/25 and the character of Sokka is a good 10 years younger.
And just to get the records straight: There are NO photographs of Ringer available on the internet so his ethnicity is a virtual unknown. Just because he has “white” sounding name and is from Texas does not actually mean he is white. For all anyone knows he could be purple with pink strips. And for better or worse, Jessie McCartney has dropped out of the role because schedual conflicts and the part of Prince Zuko has been given to Dev Patel. Who is British Indian. Besides Ringer he is also the only actor in the main cast who has previous training in a martial art. (But neiter are trained in any form of Kung Fu)
Even with the replacement of McCartney, people are still dubious on choice of Patel. Some stating that he would be better suited in the role of Sokka.
Now, I’m just going to go over some of the asshat type statements that I myself have seen while just browsing the many responses of people’s displeasure of the current roster.
1. Hows it racist when the Director is Indian you fool.
Okay. First off, ANYONE can be considered a racist. Not just Caucasians. Thinking that just because you’ve got a ‘token minority’ within a group doesn’t mean you don’t discriminate.
As one person who responded to this had said, Just because the Director is ethnic, doesn't make the casting decisions any less discriminatory.
(also I’m strongly reminded of this video. Watch it for the lols if anything)
2. It’s disrespectful towards M. Night and the creators of Avatar to send ‘hate’ mail about the movie casting.
No one is trying to encourage people to write flaming bags of verbal dog poop to Paramount, M. Night, the creators or anyone else involved in the movie.
What people are trying to say is that they’re tired of the American movie industry bastardizing their favorite childhood memories with crap scripts and horrible casting choices.
It’s disrespectful of production company to disregard the opinions and expectations of the established fan base of this show and other mediums adapted to film. It is also disrespectful to disregard the fact that Avatar: The Last Airbender is so heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit cultures.
Creating what appears to be an all Caucasian cast for a movie that is so immersed in that kind of setting is bound to be found offensive to not only hard core fans, but also to people who are of ‘ethnic’ backgrounds. Even those in the media have voiced their concerns and disagreement in the choices made.
However, the way that people voice their opinions is another matter all together.
3. Kids think the characters are white anyway. Aang has big eyes and pale skin. He must be white.
America is not the only country where Avatar: The Last Airbender has been broadcast. It has been broadcast all over the world and has been redubbed in several different languages. I’m sure that the children watching this show in China, Japan, India, Korea, Spain, Mexico believe that the characters are Caucasians too. [/sarcasm]
Kids aren’t stupid. They are much more diverse in their awareness and knowledge of other cultures besides their own. Especially with the influx of imported media and the wonderful thing called the internet. They are going to be able tell if a person doesn’t at least look like their favorite character. In fact, some kids may be even more obsessive about it.
As for the characters looking ‘white‘. Not all Asians have the same skin tone. Like not all Blacks have the same skin tone. Everyone comes in all sorts of different shades. As with not all Asians have the same typical narrow, almond shaped eyes.
In a strictly style aspect, the shape of an character’s eyes is usually an indicator of what type of character said character is. This is a big part of the ‘anime’ style of illustration. Big eyes = someone who is young and is a visual cue that the character is either somewhat child like or to portray a certain amount of ‘innocence.” Someone with smaller, narrower eyes with a lower set brow line is usually someone older or the ‘tough’ guy. When it comes to the size of the eye in this medium, it is not an indicator of race but of personality type.
4. Avatar is set in a made up world. It’s not really Asia.
Regardless, of the fact that it is not stated in the cartoon there is no way anyone could deny that that the world that was presented to us in the original animated series that DiMartino and Koneizko was heavily influenced by Asian culture.
I suggest taking a lot at this post and watching this video is you question that statement.
5. M. Night Shyamalan sux!!!!!!!1
Uh.. Okay? Sure M. Night's movies don't seem to being too well at the box office.. And he does seem to be the guy heading this big adventure, but he is not the only producer on this film. According the imdb website, Bryan Konitzko is also a producer of the live-action movie. In all honestly, people should be more disappointed with Konitzko because he was actually apart of the original process of creating Avatar: The Last Airbender. BUT neither of these guys are directly in charge of casting. That’s the casting director, Douglas Aibel’s job. Also, unless they wrote a contract specifically stating that M. Night, Konitzko or DiMartino have the final say on each decision made in the production of this film then it’s the head honchos at Paramount that have the final say.
And with all that said. I’m still going to end up watching this movie. Whether it’s in the theater or renting it or someone else buying and letting me borrow it.
I watched both X-Men sequels despite my utter disappointment in the first (and in doing that my X-Men muse quite literally went into a coma and just now started recovering). I still have hope that despite all the debate and the collective outcry world wide on this issue.
I am still willing to give this movie a chance. I just don’t have high expectations. Which kinda makes me sad in a way. =/
Here’s some interesting links:
ciderpress addresses three things about the casting decision that make it fail
vagabond_sal: Angry Asian Man: A break-up, of sorts.
glockgal: “Remember, the key is to not sound like a douche.”
- Be Pro-Active
- “I’m back, and still angry!”
- It’s all about publicity.
Race vs. Acting Ability
Avatar Casting Makes Fans See.. White.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation
Asian Culture in the Avatar World [video]
Perris Video Audition [the kid that could have been the Avatar]
Like with almost every bit of news I hear about movies adapted from a story in an other medium that I love, I was already a bit apprehensive about Shyamalan being able to pull it off. But still excited all the same.
Personally, I really liked his earlier movies. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Stuart Little (he wrote the screenplay). I even enjoyed Signs and The Village, even though both were predictable and the ending of Signs as just.. Eh. The Happening was a bit of a disappointment and to this day, I can not watch Lady in The Water all of the way through. It just doesn’t hold my interest enough.
Shyamalan’s movies have not done well with box office sells not with critics.. He’s basically the “love-him-or-hate-him” type in Hollywood.
Yet, I still held on the hope that he would give The Last Airbender justice by sticking true to the world that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konitzko quite obviously put a lot work into to create.
Then the casting for the 4 main leads was announced.
Which caused an uproar from many of the fan base of the original animated series. Why? Because the 4 actors that were choice were supposedly all white. The original line up being: Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jessie McCartney as Prince Zuko and Noah Ringer as Aang. There is also the question of age appropriate actors to play the part. As Jackson Rathbone is 24/25 and the character of Sokka is a good 10 years younger.
And just to get the records straight: There are NO photographs of Ringer available on the internet so his ethnicity is a virtual unknown. Just because he has “white” sounding name and is from Texas does not actually mean he is white. For all anyone knows he could be purple with pink strips. And for better or worse, Jessie McCartney has dropped out of the role because schedual conflicts and the part of Prince Zuko has been given to Dev Patel. Who is British Indian. Besides Ringer he is also the only actor in the main cast who has previous training in a martial art. (But neiter are trained in any form of Kung Fu)
Even with the replacement of McCartney, people are still dubious on choice of Patel. Some stating that he would be better suited in the role of Sokka.
Now, I’m just going to go over some of the asshat type statements that I myself have seen while just browsing the many responses of people’s displeasure of the current roster.
1. Hows it racist when the Director is Indian you fool.
Okay. First off, ANYONE can be considered a racist. Not just Caucasians. Thinking that just because you’ve got a ‘token minority’ within a group doesn’t mean you don’t discriminate.
As one person who responded to this had said, Just because the Director is ethnic, doesn't make the casting decisions any less discriminatory.
(also I’m strongly reminded of this video. Watch it for the lols if anything)
2. It’s disrespectful towards M. Night and the creators of Avatar to send ‘hate’ mail about the movie casting.
No one is trying to encourage people to write flaming bags of verbal dog poop to Paramount, M. Night, the creators or anyone else involved in the movie.
What people are trying to say is that they’re tired of the American movie industry bastardizing their favorite childhood memories with crap scripts and horrible casting choices.
It’s disrespectful of production company to disregard the opinions and expectations of the established fan base of this show and other mediums adapted to film. It is also disrespectful to disregard the fact that Avatar: The Last Airbender is so heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit cultures.
Creating what appears to be an all Caucasian cast for a movie that is so immersed in that kind of setting is bound to be found offensive to not only hard core fans, but also to people who are of ‘ethnic’ backgrounds. Even those in the media have voiced their concerns and disagreement in the choices made.
However, the way that people voice their opinions is another matter all together.
3. Kids think the characters are white anyway. Aang has big eyes and pale skin. He must be white.
America is not the only country where Avatar: The Last Airbender has been broadcast. It has been broadcast all over the world and has been redubbed in several different languages. I’m sure that the children watching this show in China, Japan, India, Korea, Spain, Mexico believe that the characters are Caucasians too. [/sarcasm]
Kids aren’t stupid. They are much more diverse in their awareness and knowledge of other cultures besides their own. Especially with the influx of imported media and the wonderful thing called the internet. They are going to be able tell if a person doesn’t at least look like their favorite character. In fact, some kids may be even more obsessive about it.
As for the characters looking ‘white‘. Not all Asians have the same skin tone. Like not all Blacks have the same skin tone. Everyone comes in all sorts of different shades. As with not all Asians have the same typical narrow, almond shaped eyes.
In a strictly style aspect, the shape of an character’s eyes is usually an indicator of what type of character said character is. This is a big part of the ‘anime’ style of illustration. Big eyes = someone who is young and is a visual cue that the character is either somewhat child like or to portray a certain amount of ‘innocence.” Someone with smaller, narrower eyes with a lower set brow line is usually someone older or the ‘tough’ guy. When it comes to the size of the eye in this medium, it is not an indicator of race but of personality type.
4. Avatar is set in a made up world. It’s not really Asia.
Regardless, of the fact that it is not stated in the cartoon there is no way anyone could deny that that the world that was presented to us in the original animated series that DiMartino and Koneizko was heavily influenced by Asian culture.
I suggest taking a lot at this post and watching this video is you question that statement.
5. M. Night Shyamalan sux!!!!!!!1
Uh.. Okay? Sure M. Night's movies don't seem to being too well at the box office.. And he does seem to be the guy heading this big adventure, but he is not the only producer on this film. According the imdb website, Bryan Konitzko is also a producer of the live-action movie. In all honestly, people should be more disappointed with Konitzko because he was actually apart of the original process of creating Avatar: The Last Airbender. BUT neither of these guys are directly in charge of casting. That’s the casting director, Douglas Aibel’s job. Also, unless they wrote a contract specifically stating that M. Night, Konitzko or DiMartino have the final say on each decision made in the production of this film then it’s the head honchos at Paramount that have the final say.
And with all that said. I’m still going to end up watching this movie. Whether it’s in the theater or renting it or someone else buying and letting me borrow it.
I watched both X-Men sequels despite my utter disappointment in the first (and in doing that my X-Men muse quite literally went into a coma and just now started recovering). I still have hope that despite all the debate and the collective outcry world wide on this issue.
I am still willing to give this movie a chance. I just don’t have high expectations. Which kinda makes me sad in a way. =/
Here’s some interesting links:
ciderpress addresses three things about the casting decision that make it fail
vagabond_sal: Angry Asian Man: A break-up, of sorts.
glockgal: “Remember, the key is to not sound like a douche.”
- Be Pro-Active
- “I’m back, and still angry!”
- It’s all about publicity.
Race vs. Acting Ability
Avatar Casting Makes Fans See.. White.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation
Asian Culture in the Avatar World [video]
Perris Video Audition [the kid that could have been the Avatar]