Race and casting, and a lot of fail
Some of you probably heard the outcry that rose up in Dr. Who fandom regarding the possibility of a black actor being cast as, what, 11 right? There's a bingo card and everything.
Well, now EW.com has reported that preliminary word is that the casting for the live action movie based on the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender (the movie is called The Last Airbender because of another project called Avatar) will be all white actors. This despite the fact that the characters in the show are Asian or Inuit, and much of their cultural surroundings, though set in a fantasy universe, are from various Asian and Inuit cultures. I can't put into words how disappointing this is, but luckily a few others already have, such as the Angry Asian Man. Someone on deadbrowalking has already called for a bingo card; the free space will probably be "It's just a cartoon." As soon as that's made, I'll link to it.
A letter-writing campaign has been started, and I'm going to send one. So there's a little act of defiance for you.
And this is going to sound obnoxious to you, I know, but this is a place where I really, really just cannot understand the way that some genre fans, including some people I know personally, set their priorities. Having a bunch of characters shooting guns in space, or performing magic-tinged marshall arts, or anything that happens in some kind of alternate universe requiring world-building, is so important that they'll put up with the worst kinds of overt racism and sexism and heterosexism in the canon in order to get it. I know, boo-hoo, I'm harshing your squee but you see, my squee has already been harshed. I don't want to have to watch films where the only thing that female charactes do is represent home. I don't want to follow television shows where the blacks are aliens and the aliens are black, or where a person of color couldn't possibly time travel. I don't want the writers of a televsion show or a book to think they deserve a pat on the back for proclaiming that a character that is now dead in canon was gay all along but that fact just kinda never got mentioned. This is going to continue to be okay until you, genre fan on my friend list, decide that it isn't. I can't do much about it; I'm a colored girl so the white boys usually behind these decisions aren't interested in what I have to say. They expect me to be unhappy and are already ignoring me. And I'm not a real genre fan, either. But if I had a nickel for the number of times I've heard "yeah, that canon has issues, but the boys are cute and I don't want to think about it!" I'd be a wealthy lady. Well, change doesn't happen until and unless you demand it, and back it up with your dollars. It's a capitalist society, so the only power you really have is the power of your consumption or lack thereof.
And I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, too. I love romances and there used to be a bunch of little indy gay romantic comedies. Where did they go? I'm going to hunt them down and support them. And I'm also going to try to drag more of my white friends to movies with black leads and primarily black casts, like Talk to Me. So there you go, my goal for 2009: to support the sort of media that's doing a thing I feel is important with my money, and not support the media that isn't. That is my ultimate right as a consumer, after all.
I'm not advocating what you do with your money, only that you take a look at your own priorities, and then spend and consume accordingly, and most importantly, knowingly. Isn't this the twenty-first century? Let's all stop being passive media consumers.
Well, now EW.com has reported that preliminary word is that the casting for the live action movie based on the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender (the movie is called The Last Airbender because of another project called Avatar) will be all white actors. This despite the fact that the characters in the show are Asian or Inuit, and much of their cultural surroundings, though set in a fantasy universe, are from various Asian and Inuit cultures. I can't put into words how disappointing this is, but luckily a few others already have, such as the Angry Asian Man. Someone on deadbrowalking has already called for a bingo card; the free space will probably be "It's just a cartoon." As soon as that's made, I'll link to it.
A letter-writing campaign has been started, and I'm going to send one. So there's a little act of defiance for you.
And this is going to sound obnoxious to you, I know, but this is a place where I really, really just cannot understand the way that some genre fans, including some people I know personally, set their priorities. Having a bunch of characters shooting guns in space, or performing magic-tinged marshall arts, or anything that happens in some kind of alternate universe requiring world-building, is so important that they'll put up with the worst kinds of overt racism and sexism and heterosexism in the canon in order to get it. I know, boo-hoo, I'm harshing your squee but you see, my squee has already been harshed. I don't want to have to watch films where the only thing that female charactes do is represent home. I don't want to follow television shows where the blacks are aliens and the aliens are black, or where a person of color couldn't possibly time travel. I don't want the writers of a televsion show or a book to think they deserve a pat on the back for proclaiming that a character that is now dead in canon was gay all along but that fact just kinda never got mentioned. This is going to continue to be okay until you, genre fan on my friend list, decide that it isn't. I can't do much about it; I'm a colored girl so the white boys usually behind these decisions aren't interested in what I have to say. They expect me to be unhappy and are already ignoring me. And I'm not a real genre fan, either. But if I had a nickel for the number of times I've heard "yeah, that canon has issues, but the boys are cute and I don't want to think about it!" I'd be a wealthy lady. Well, change doesn't happen until and unless you demand it, and back it up with your dollars. It's a capitalist society, so the only power you really have is the power of your consumption or lack thereof.
And I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, too. I love romances and there used to be a bunch of little indy gay romantic comedies. Where did they go? I'm going to hunt them down and support them. And I'm also going to try to drag more of my white friends to movies with black leads and primarily black casts, like Talk to Me. So there you go, my goal for 2009: to support the sort of media that's doing a thing I feel is important with my money, and not support the media that isn't. That is my ultimate right as a consumer, after all.
I'm not advocating what you do with your money, only that you take a look at your own priorities, and then spend and consume accordingly, and most importantly, knowingly. Isn't this the twenty-first century? Let's all stop being passive media consumers.