(no subject)
So I've watched Airbender for approximately five minutes. And I didn't get it. Never did, it never reached me, never effected me.
But for some reason the movie thing is really pissing me off. Maybe its because growing up in vermont most of the stuff i learned about minorities was from truly excellent films that were played at the Roxy (The namesake is the one I remember the most about, I devoured the book and the movie and was so excited to learn more about Indian culture) and that its only recently that I realized how incredibly important seeing people who you can look up to and look like you on tv is.
I know, I'm a white girl, hell I'm Anglo, I should see all sorts of people who look like me, and they do, thin beautiful blondes who no matter what their talent acting wise I always felt were beyond me. Until I started watching Criminal Minds, and I saw Kristin Vagness play Penelope Garcia. And for the first time there was a character who even though she provides the majority of the comic relief on a tough show doesn't do so by making people laugh at her because of ineptitude, instead she's genuinely funny, has an amazing relationship, and talks frankly at one point about the difficulty of meeting someone, and that it takes a while for people to get to know her. She is one of two characters that has a healthy relationship, and JJ is practically forced into revealing her's, and Penelope is the only character who is shown as having a healthy stable sex life.
Seeing her on TV made me happy, gave me someone who I could relate to, encouraged me to step out of my shell even a little bit.
So, suddenly I realized exactly how important it is to have people like you on tv that you can relate to. It had always been something I rolled my eyes at because I'd never really had it. So suddenly I'm angry about a show I never watched and a movie I had no intention of seeing. Because it robbed so many people of the ability to get that, of parents to bring their children to a movie that had people like them being amazing!
I remember when Mulan came out how important it was for the Paulsen's. They could show Claire that a girl who was Asian was a hero. And it didn't mean much to me then, but now I can understand it.
The fact of the matter is that no matter how great these actors are, are they better then every single Asian actor out there? When I first heard the Jesse McCarthy was cast I rolled my eyes, really, cast him instead of anyone with talent. Jackson Rathborne is the only actor who even looks a little like his character, and of course I'm not saying skin tone just his facial structure, so I don't even understand if they were casting that way. And also, Dev Patel was cast as the bad guy, as the evil one. And if that doesn't play into modern concerns I don't know what does.
It just angers me, colour blind casting can work, and it can work remarkably well, audiences can suspend belief that a person is white to play an Asian role so why can't they watch an Asian play an Asian. The fact is that I won't be seeing this movie, but I wasn't anyway.
I lived with two Asian dudes for almost a year, and I read a lot of for lack of a better term, Asian pride magazines, I listened to both of them talk about the stuff they'd gone through, and came out with a better understanding of racial issues. One of them talked about his father being refused service after coming home from fighting for the US.
It makes me angry, and I don't know what i can do. I can talk about my own experiences, but I will never be Asian, I will never understand what really was taken from a vibrant community when the studio and director denied them the true vision of this film.
But for some reason the movie thing is really pissing me off. Maybe its because growing up in vermont most of the stuff i learned about minorities was from truly excellent films that were played at the Roxy (The namesake is the one I remember the most about, I devoured the book and the movie and was so excited to learn more about Indian culture) and that its only recently that I realized how incredibly important seeing people who you can look up to and look like you on tv is.
I know, I'm a white girl, hell I'm Anglo, I should see all sorts of people who look like me, and they do, thin beautiful blondes who no matter what their talent acting wise I always felt were beyond me. Until I started watching Criminal Minds, and I saw Kristin Vagness play Penelope Garcia. And for the first time there was a character who even though she provides the majority of the comic relief on a tough show doesn't do so by making people laugh at her because of ineptitude, instead she's genuinely funny, has an amazing relationship, and talks frankly at one point about the difficulty of meeting someone, and that it takes a while for people to get to know her. She is one of two characters that has a healthy relationship, and JJ is practically forced into revealing her's, and Penelope is the only character who is shown as having a healthy stable sex life.
Seeing her on TV made me happy, gave me someone who I could relate to, encouraged me to step out of my shell even a little bit.
So, suddenly I realized exactly how important it is to have people like you on tv that you can relate to. It had always been something I rolled my eyes at because I'd never really had it. So suddenly I'm angry about a show I never watched and a movie I had no intention of seeing. Because it robbed so many people of the ability to get that, of parents to bring their children to a movie that had people like them being amazing!
I remember when Mulan came out how important it was for the Paulsen's. They could show Claire that a girl who was Asian was a hero. And it didn't mean much to me then, but now I can understand it.
The fact of the matter is that no matter how great these actors are, are they better then every single Asian actor out there? When I first heard the Jesse McCarthy was cast I rolled my eyes, really, cast him instead of anyone with talent. Jackson Rathborne is the only actor who even looks a little like his character, and of course I'm not saying skin tone just his facial structure, so I don't even understand if they were casting that way. And also, Dev Patel was cast as the bad guy, as the evil one. And if that doesn't play into modern concerns I don't know what does.
It just angers me, colour blind casting can work, and it can work remarkably well, audiences can suspend belief that a person is white to play an Asian role so why can't they watch an Asian play an Asian. The fact is that I won't be seeing this movie, but I wasn't anyway.
I lived with two Asian dudes for almost a year, and I read a lot of for lack of a better term, Asian pride magazines, I listened to both of them talk about the stuff they'd gone through, and came out with a better understanding of racial issues. One of them talked about his father being refused service after coming home from fighting for the US.
It makes me angry, and I don't know what i can do. I can talk about my own experiences, but I will never be Asian, I will never understand what really was taken from a vibrant community when the studio and director denied them the true vision of this film.