(no subject)
AVATAR: MORE CASTING!FAIL
So remember how there were rumours floating around that the nations would be cast according to their lead actors? So in essense:
Air Nomads (heroes, victims of genocide): white people
Water Tribe (heroes, oppressed, canonically dark-skinned): white people
Earth Nation (good/bad, repressed): anything 'exotically Asian'
Fire Nation (evil, genocidal tyrants): brown people
Remember that? Yeah well it's all true. Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub and Cliff Curtis have joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER.
As much as I love - LOVE these guys, what's paining me so much is this:
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AIRBENDER: WHITE WASHED WATER TRIBE
This is killing me. Filming has begun in Greenland. What do you think about that photo? What do you think when you see that village? Hey, take a look at the people who live in Greenland!
I'd give you one clue: It's not white people.
I'm still trying to get over the fact that they've kept everything Siberian Yupik/Inuit based, except the people. They are blatantly whitewashing and they don't care. I CAN'T. I CAN'T WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THIS.
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Still in its rough stages, but it's functional!
So remember how there were rumours floating around that the nations would be cast according to their lead actors? So in essense:
Air Nomads (heroes, victims of genocide): white people
Water Tribe (heroes, oppressed, canonically dark-skinned): white people
Earth Nation (good/bad, repressed): anything 'exotically Asian'
Fire Nation (evil, genocidal tyrants): brown people
Remember that? Yeah well it's all true. Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub and Cliff Curtis have joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER.
As much as I love - LOVE these guys, what's paining me so much is this:
- some fans of colour saying "Well, Fire Nation ain't all that bad! There's...this one character and...oh this other one character." Yes, sure. And they only way they can be good is when WHITE PEOPLE TELL THEM THEY CAN BE GOOD. Give the brown character a cookie for turning on his entire evil nation!!
- some fans of colour are saying "Yay, it's so good to see brown representation! I'm so proud!" It's sad that PoC are reduced to saying "Well...at least...they're...visible!"
- fans saying racebending and aang-aint-white are 'fanwanks'. This is just wretched.
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AIRBENDER: WHITE WASHED WATER TRIBE
This is killing me. Filming has begun in Greenland. What do you think about that photo? What do you think when you see that village? Hey, take a look at the people who live in Greenland!
I'd give you one clue: It's not white people.
I'm still trying to get over the fact that they've kept everything Siberian Yupik/Inuit based, except the people. They are blatantly whitewashing and they don't care. I CAN'T. I CAN'T WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THIS.
--------
Still in its rough stages, but it's functional!