My role, though be it brief, at least it isn't Viet Cong; it's comic relief
Yes, I'm going to talk about The Last Airbender some more. There have been some recent developments in production and casting that I feel I need to address.
A week ago, headshots of the three heroes (Aang, Katara, and Sokka) and one of the antagonists (Zuko) in costume were posted online. Here is a very clear comparison of the actors and the characters they are portraying that will hopefully help prove the point of the "anti-casters" to those of you who are still unsure or unconvinced. I will be going over these one by one, for your convenience. (I may unwittingly repeat some things from my earlier analysis, so if so I apologize.)
Aang
First of all, an official report of Noah Ringer's ethnicity has not been released, so I am going to take this picture at face value. He looks really, really Caucasian. Now, I am half-Chinese; logically, this would mean that I do in fact know what a person who has Chinese/Asian blood looks like. I'm sorry, but he does not look as if he has any more than 1/64th Asian in him (and if it's that diluted, then personally I don't think that's a reason to boast). I'm sure he's a very sweet kid and I wish him all the best, but I do not think he is the best choice to play a character who was based on a Shaolin monk. Like Shaolin monks, Aang wears bright colors and, like the monks, all of the Air Nomads (including Aang) keep their heads shaved. And then you look at Noah!Aang's drab, almost colorless cloak that looks as if it came off of the set of The Lord of the Rings, not to mention the obvious differences between the tattoos, and the first thought that runs through your head is probably something akin to "...wtf?"
Now I understand that some people do not believe that Aang is, in fact, Asian. If you are of this opinion, here is a visual essay that pretty well argues this point.
Katara
This...it just angers me. I'll talk about the costumes in a bit, but first of all the obvious difference in skin color, not to mention facial structure, jumps out at you. Nicola Peltz has a very nice face; I can tell she's going to be a real beauty when she grows up. The problem is that she has an oval face while Katara's is more of a heart shape. And then of course, there is the fact that they have cast a very obviously white girl as a very obviously Inuit girl. This is bloody disgusting and it enrages and saddens me that so many fans seem to be perfectly fine with this obviously racist bullcrap. Okay, you can go on and on about how "the show was Asian-and Inuit-inspired which does not mean the characters are Asian and Inuit"; I will bring that point up later. Right now, just look at Katara. You look at Katara and you tell me what color her skin is. If you said "brown", congratulations, you've passed kindergarten! Which is more than I can say for Ms. Dee Dee "If you're Korean come in a kimono" Ricketts.
Look, I know that in America white actors and actresses are the majority. This does not excuse Dee Dee Ricketts and others in charge of casting for this film from failing to find an actress (and, to play Sokka, an actor) that didn't have lily-white skin. For Pete's sake, if thousands of fans on the internet can find an actress that is more physically right for the part, then you need to go looking for a new casting director. I also know that in the film industry, you have to specify the race of the character if the character is other than white. Here is an excellent essay detailing this point further. Because in the wonderful world of Hollywood, white supremacy rules. That's a fact, and it's been proven again and again with the whitewashing of Asian characters in films or the process of yellowfacing white actors to play the roles of Asian characters. One of the more recent examples of whitewashing an entire cast is the film 21, based on the book Bringing Down the House which had a predominantly Asian cast. The film, according to IMDb, "is the fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings." Fact-based, yet they changed the race of the characters in a story where it is not only offensive, but pointless and makes no sense. Another is DragonBall: Evolution, where the protagonist and hero of the story, Goku, was played by Justin Chatwin while the rest of the characters were played by Asians. Does watching a film where the white hero saves Asians sounds a little uncomfortable to anyone? There's a reason, aside from it just being generally a bad film, that DBE didn't do well in theaters, and that is the white supremacist attitude the casting reflected. Now onto yellowfacing. This practice, along with blackfacing, has fortunately decreased in recent years because people finally started realizing how racist and awful this was, but it still happens. This was discussed more in-depth in that yellowfacing essay I linked to, but here are some examples in the last decade: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Balls of Fury, and Norbit. Notice that all of these are "comedies." I don't know whether to feel happy that yellowfacing has (seemingly) almost died out, or that it still exists in the form of making fun of Asians. Meh.
And now we come to what is going to sound like whiny fanboying, but honestly, it's more like anger at disrespect for the source material. Why is Nicola!Katara's outfit so colorless? The entire point of the clothing in Avatar was that it reflected which nation you belonged to, as the population of this world had a very nationalistic attitude as a whole. Now, I loved the rich and symbolic use of color in the television series, so why did they change it to these drab, boring outfits? And why didn't they bother to at least dye the fur white? If you looked at this photo of Nicola!Katara without knowing a thing about Avatar or its sources of inspiration, this would look to you like she was of Nordic origin, correct? The thing is, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the show, were very careful to be as thorough as they could be when representing the various Asian cultures in Avatar, including the Inuit influence on the Water Tribes. This influence was very obvious throughout the series, even to the point that Katara's trademark "hair loopies" are an authentic Inuit hairstyle. I've heard arguments from diehard fans - "But Nicola has the hair loopies, you can see them!" - but to be honest, I'm looking for them, and I'm sorry, but I really can't see them. What I see is some very long brown hair hanging down in exactly the way the creators didn't want Katara's hair to hang. Good job at being sensitive to both real culture and your original source, Paramount!
Sokka
My opinion of Jasper!Sokka is similar to Nicola!Katara, but with another addendum. Jasper's attempt at the "warrior's wolftail" is, quite frankly, pathetic, almost as much so as his "tan". There is also what is obviously a raccoon's tail around his neck. Are there raccoons in polar regions? I'm thinking not. I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that they were strictly temperate/warmer climate critters. You could argue that's an Arctic fox's tail, but...really? As such, it just looks really, really stupid and out of place.
Zuko
If this were a "Spot the Difference" puzzle in some children's activity book, I can guarantee you that even the most stupid person would be able to spot at least 5 things right off the bat.
1) Zuko is a pseudo-Chinese/Japanese character with very pale skin. Dev Patel is an Indian actor with obviously darker skin. This in no way undermines his acting ability, but it is rather unfortunate implications that the villain is once again darker-skinned than the heroes.
2) Zuko's scar, as I mentioned above, was intended to be a horrific reminder of his lost honor and is used for many symbolic shots in the show. Dev's scar...looks like he spilled strawberry ice cream across his face, or perhaps spent too much time out in the sun. Like I said earlier, maybe they're going to CGI in something better, but as it stands I'm not impressed. Also, his left eyebrow is supposed to be gone - as in, he's so badly burned that his hair follicles in the area are permanently damaged (and, incidentally, he cannot cry out of that eye either).
3) Zuko's ponytail is missing on Dev!Zuko. It doesn't look great on him and a lot of the fans are saying they won't miss it, but it is in fact part of the Fire Nation's culture. Cutting it off in the beginning of the second season was an important turning point in his journey. As it stands, I guess we can kiss the beautiful and dramatic shot of Zuko and Iroh cutting off their ties to their nation (almost literally) goodbye.
4) Dev!Zuko looks more like he belongs to the Riders of Rohan than the Fire Nation. I've already critiqued it so I'll just leave this as it stands.
5) Zuko's armor is red. Dev!Zuko's is black. Again, they are really trying hard to hammer in the "good = light, dark = bad" analogy, which not only was nowhere to be found in the series but is a childish and insulting viewpoint.
And now, for a comparison between the logos.
Right off the bat you see some obvious differences. Right above the word "AVATAR" is, hey, look, Chinese characters! According to Avatar Wiki, these characters translate to "Powers are divided into Four / The World is guided by One". This, and every single piece of writing in the series aside from its title, is written in authentic ancient Chinese script and can be translated to English (translations can be found here). In fact, the creators brought in a specialist, Siu-Leung Lee, to ensure that every single character was accurate. To me, that sounds as if they were trying to be as respectful to the Asian cultures they were portraying in their show as they could be. (This is the only show I've ever heard of, particularly in the animation and children's entertainment categories, that has a cultural consultant - Edwin Zane. Make of that what you will.) Additionally, the title itself looks as if it's been written with ink and a paintbrush, which is pretty Asian right off the bat.
Now look at the logo they've redesigned for the movie. I understand that they had to remove the "Avatar" portion of the title because James Cameron threw a fit and threatened legal action if they didn't (never mind that I think this is a terribly childish reaction for a supposedly professional director; that is a rant for another day). But first you have to understand what the concept of an "avatar" originally was. In Hinduism, an "avatar" is the earthly incarnation of a spiritual being, which is basically to what the Avatar of the series is. Already taking away the first word of the title is taking out an important part of what makes the series unique: its portrayal and treatment of Asian and Inuit culture, including the religious beliefs of those cultures. Then they just continue to shave off the Asian characteristics by throwing out the calligraphy and replacing it with symbols of the four nations (except not really, because they've just randomly created new ones instead of just using the ones already shown in the series, seen here). That, combined with the generic-looking font (which, to me, looks like the title font from Ranger's Apprentice, a children's fantasy series of Australian origin which is set in a pseudo-European world; think about that for a minute), makes for a much less dynamic and interesting logo.
On June 9th, Korean-American actor Isaac Jin Solstein was cast in the role of "Earthbending Boy". Some people think that because Solstein, as well as Keong Sim as "Earthbending Father" and Randall Duk Kim as "Old Man In Temple", are in the film, that the casting is not in fact "whitewashed" and is diverse. But wait, do you notice something about all three of these characters? None of them actually have names. Why is this? Now, I want to believe that this is just an accident, that the casting people are not deliberately handing out random background roles not important enough for names to any and all Asian actors that come along, but three of them in one film that otherwise has no Asian actors is a bit much. Fans have speculated on the true identity of these characters - "Earthbending Boy" could be a) a de-aged Haru, b) an alternate characterization of Teo, c) the earthbending twin from the Book 1 episode "The Fortuneteller", or d) a gender-flipped early bird cameo of Toph; "Earthbending Father" could be King Bumi of Omashu (despite canon never referring to any children of his) or Suki's father (who is a nameless, faceless character never mentioned in canon); and the general consensus is that "Old Man In Temple" is Gyatso, the monk who was Aang's father figure for most of his childhood. Of these characters (plausibly...I don't think the kid is really playing boy!Toph), Haru, Bumi and Gyatso are pretty important. If indeed those are the roles these actors are playing, why don't they have actual names?
Let's look forward 10 years and suppose Isaac Jin Solstein is still in the acting business. A casting director looks at his resume: what would be more impressive for a first role, "Earthbending Boy" or "Haru"? Honestly, the former sounds like a random extra while the latter insinuates that the role was important or at least a speaking part. Apparently "Earthbending Boy" is a speaking role, but would a casting director assume that if he hadn't seen the film? No, and neither would most people who didn't see the movie. Is that fair for the Asian-American actors, who have gotten the bit parts after the white kids snatched up what should have rightfully been theirs?
Now, some people have actually called me "racist" for saying that white actors should not play these roles. Another livejournal user had a good rebuttal for that argument (paraphrased; will edit and add credit later): "Saying that it's racist to disqualify white actors from playing Asian roles is like saying that it's discriminating against men to prohibit them from using the womens' restroom. It's not discrimination because they shouldn't be there in the first place!" Think about this for a second: what would happen if the Marvel Comics character Black Panther was to be played by a Caucasian actor such as Viggo Mortensen or Robert Downey Jr. Very few people would deny that these are excellent actors and could definitely pull off the character; however, T'Challa is pretty obviously meant to be African despite his being the prince of a fictional country, Wakanda. Only a true idiot would look at him and see a white man. If this casting were to happen, it would generate a unanimous negative reaction from not only fans of the comics and African-Americans, but people who understood how wrong it would be to whitewash a black character. So why are so many people not understanding that whitewashing these characters is wrong?
Okay, if that argument didn't do it for you, here's another excellent example in video form (warning: pretty long video but worth a watch):
Now about the show's "Asian inspiration." Some people think this means that even though the Avatar characters live in a world surrounded by Asian culture (and if you doubt that it is in fact full of Asian culture, here, have a video and a visual essay illustrating the Asian/Inuit influences). Mike and Bryan have said in countless interviews that the show was heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit culture. Let's suppose for just a second that these characters do in fact have a race; does it make sense for the creators to be so careful and considerate about the culture and backdrop of the show and then throw a bunch of white people into it? The principle of Occam's Razor states that "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily", which if you don't feel like working that out for yourself is basically saying "why make things more complicated than they need to be?" In other words, why assume these characters are anything but Asian and Inuit?
And then I've heard the argument that "they're in another world, so they don't have a race!" Okay, I'll consider this argument. But...if they don't have a race, then why, when they are converted into "our world's" standards of race, are they white by default? And of course, the villains are Indian as they have been in countless films to date. Just think about that question for a minute, okay? I'll wait.
And while you think, take a look at these screenshots of the people of the Four Nations in different phases of their lives. Then come back and honestly tell me that any of them are white.
Air Nomad children
Air Nomad adults
Earth Kingdom children
Earth Kingdom teens
Earth Kingdom adults
Southern Water Tribe children
Southern Water Tribe women
Southern Water Tribe men
Northern Water Tribe children
Northern Water Tribe teens
Northern Water Tribe adults
Fire Nation children
Fire Nation teens
Fire Nation adults
Avatar Calligrapher Professor S.L. Lee Shares A Statement
I don't really think I need to elaborate, do I?
But I'm going to anyway, because this news made me want to go out and punch a puppy or something. There isn't enough WTF in the world for this. I mentioned earlier in this entry how Avatar was one of the few shows that had, among other things, a calligraphy expert in order to ensure that every piece of writing in the series was as accurate as it could be. But oh no, Paramount has decided that it would be so much better to completely ignore this beautiful language and replace it with random graphics. No disrespect going on here, nope, not at all.
I believe amredthelector phrased it best: "Peter Jackson used the languages seen in the LotR books in his film - both written and spoken. Tolkien provided so much detail, and did so much research on, the languages he created, and Jackson respected that.
So a fantasy language that one man created gets more respect then a REAL language, spoken by REAL people."
This isn't Avatar anymore. I don't even know WHAT this is. Paramount, you have sunk to your lowest. Enjoy the media firestorm that will utterly destroy you once word about this gets out.
A week ago, headshots of the three heroes (Aang, Katara, and Sokka) and one of the antagonists (Zuko) in costume were posted online. Here is a very clear comparison of the actors and the characters they are portraying that will hopefully help prove the point of the "anti-casters" to those of you who are still unsure or unconvinced. I will be going over these one by one, for your convenience. (I may unwittingly repeat some things from my earlier analysis, so if so I apologize.)
Aang
First of all, an official report of Noah Ringer's ethnicity has not been released, so I am going to take this picture at face value. He looks really, really Caucasian. Now, I am half-Chinese; logically, this would mean that I do in fact know what a person who has Chinese/Asian blood looks like. I'm sorry, but he does not look as if he has any more than 1/64th Asian in him (and if it's that diluted, then personally I don't think that's a reason to boast). I'm sure he's a very sweet kid and I wish him all the best, but I do not think he is the best choice to play a character who was based on a Shaolin monk. Like Shaolin monks, Aang wears bright colors and, like the monks, all of the Air Nomads (including Aang) keep their heads shaved. And then you look at Noah!Aang's drab, almost colorless cloak that looks as if it came off of the set of The Lord of the Rings, not to mention the obvious differences between the tattoos, and the first thought that runs through your head is probably something akin to "...wtf?"
Now I understand that some people do not believe that Aang is, in fact, Asian. If you are of this opinion, here is a visual essay that pretty well argues this point.
Katara
This...it just angers me. I'll talk about the costumes in a bit, but first of all the obvious difference in skin color, not to mention facial structure, jumps out at you. Nicola Peltz has a very nice face; I can tell she's going to be a real beauty when she grows up. The problem is that she has an oval face while Katara's is more of a heart shape. And then of course, there is the fact that they have cast a very obviously white girl as a very obviously Inuit girl. This is bloody disgusting and it enrages and saddens me that so many fans seem to be perfectly fine with this obviously racist bullcrap. Okay, you can go on and on about how "the show was Asian-and Inuit-inspired which does not mean the characters are Asian and Inuit"; I will bring that point up later. Right now, just look at Katara. You look at Katara and you tell me what color her skin is. If you said "brown", congratulations, you've passed kindergarten! Which is more than I can say for Ms. Dee Dee "If you're Korean come in a kimono" Ricketts.
Look, I know that in America white actors and actresses are the majority. This does not excuse Dee Dee Ricketts and others in charge of casting for this film from failing to find an actress (and, to play Sokka, an actor) that didn't have lily-white skin. For Pete's sake, if thousands of fans on the internet can find an actress that is more physically right for the part, then you need to go looking for a new casting director. I also know that in the film industry, you have to specify the race of the character if the character is other than white. Here is an excellent essay detailing this point further. Because in the wonderful world of Hollywood, white supremacy rules. That's a fact, and it's been proven again and again with the whitewashing of Asian characters in films or the process of yellowfacing white actors to play the roles of Asian characters. One of the more recent examples of whitewashing an entire cast is the film 21, based on the book Bringing Down the House which had a predominantly Asian cast. The film, according to IMDb, "is the fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings." Fact-based, yet they changed the race of the characters in a story where it is not only offensive, but pointless and makes no sense. Another is DragonBall: Evolution, where the protagonist and hero of the story, Goku, was played by Justin Chatwin while the rest of the characters were played by Asians. Does watching a film where the white hero saves Asians sounds a little uncomfortable to anyone? There's a reason, aside from it just being generally a bad film, that DBE didn't do well in theaters, and that is the white supremacist attitude the casting reflected. Now onto yellowfacing. This practice, along with blackfacing, has fortunately decreased in recent years because people finally started realizing how racist and awful this was, but it still happens. This was discussed more in-depth in that yellowfacing essay I linked to, but here are some examples in the last decade: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Balls of Fury, and Norbit. Notice that all of these are "comedies." I don't know whether to feel happy that yellowfacing has (seemingly) almost died out, or that it still exists in the form of making fun of Asians. Meh.
And now we come to what is going to sound like whiny fanboying, but honestly, it's more like anger at disrespect for the source material. Why is Nicola!Katara's outfit so colorless? The entire point of the clothing in Avatar was that it reflected which nation you belonged to, as the population of this world had a very nationalistic attitude as a whole. Now, I loved the rich and symbolic use of color in the television series, so why did they change it to these drab, boring outfits? And why didn't they bother to at least dye the fur white? If you looked at this photo of Nicola!Katara without knowing a thing about Avatar or its sources of inspiration, this would look to you like she was of Nordic origin, correct? The thing is, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the show, were very careful to be as thorough as they could be when representing the various Asian cultures in Avatar, including the Inuit influence on the Water Tribes. This influence was very obvious throughout the series, even to the point that Katara's trademark "hair loopies" are an authentic Inuit hairstyle. I've heard arguments from diehard fans - "But Nicola has the hair loopies, you can see them!" - but to be honest, I'm looking for them, and I'm sorry, but I really can't see them. What I see is some very long brown hair hanging down in exactly the way the creators didn't want Katara's hair to hang. Good job at being sensitive to both real culture and your original source, Paramount!
Sokka
My opinion of Jasper!Sokka is similar to Nicola!Katara, but with another addendum. Jasper's attempt at the "warrior's wolftail" is, quite frankly, pathetic, almost as much so as his "tan". There is also what is obviously a raccoon's tail around his neck. Are there raccoons in polar regions? I'm thinking not. I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that they were strictly temperate/warmer climate critters. You could argue that's an Arctic fox's tail, but...really? As such, it just looks really, really stupid and out of place.
Zuko
If this were a "Spot the Difference" puzzle in some children's activity book, I can guarantee you that even the most stupid person would be able to spot at least 5 things right off the bat.
1) Zuko is a pseudo-Chinese/Japanese character with very pale skin. Dev Patel is an Indian actor with obviously darker skin. This in no way undermines his acting ability, but it is rather unfortunate implications that the villain is once again darker-skinned than the heroes.
2) Zuko's scar, as I mentioned above, was intended to be a horrific reminder of his lost honor and is used for many symbolic shots in the show. Dev's scar...looks like he spilled strawberry ice cream across his face, or perhaps spent too much time out in the sun. Like I said earlier, maybe they're going to CGI in something better, but as it stands I'm not impressed. Also, his left eyebrow is supposed to be gone - as in, he's so badly burned that his hair follicles in the area are permanently damaged (and, incidentally, he cannot cry out of that eye either).
3) Zuko's ponytail is missing on Dev!Zuko. It doesn't look great on him and a lot of the fans are saying they won't miss it, but it is in fact part of the Fire Nation's culture. Cutting it off in the beginning of the second season was an important turning point in his journey. As it stands, I guess we can kiss the beautiful and dramatic shot of Zuko and Iroh cutting off their ties to their nation (almost literally) goodbye.
4) Dev!Zuko looks more like he belongs to the Riders of Rohan than the Fire Nation. I've already critiqued it so I'll just leave this as it stands.
5) Zuko's armor is red. Dev!Zuko's is black. Again, they are really trying hard to hammer in the "good = light, dark = bad" analogy, which not only was nowhere to be found in the series but is a childish and insulting viewpoint.
And now, for a comparison between the logos.
Right off the bat you see some obvious differences. Right above the word "AVATAR" is, hey, look, Chinese characters! According to Avatar Wiki, these characters translate to "Powers are divided into Four / The World is guided by One". This, and every single piece of writing in the series aside from its title, is written in authentic ancient Chinese script and can be translated to English (translations can be found here). In fact, the creators brought in a specialist, Siu-Leung Lee, to ensure that every single character was accurate. To me, that sounds as if they were trying to be as respectful to the Asian cultures they were portraying in their show as they could be. (This is the only show I've ever heard of, particularly in the animation and children's entertainment categories, that has a cultural consultant - Edwin Zane. Make of that what you will.) Additionally, the title itself looks as if it's been written with ink and a paintbrush, which is pretty Asian right off the bat.
Now look at the logo they've redesigned for the movie. I understand that they had to remove the "Avatar" portion of the title because James Cameron threw a fit and threatened legal action if they didn't (never mind that I think this is a terribly childish reaction for a supposedly professional director; that is a rant for another day). But first you have to understand what the concept of an "avatar" originally was. In Hinduism, an "avatar" is the earthly incarnation of a spiritual being, which is basically to what the Avatar of the series is. Already taking away the first word of the title is taking out an important part of what makes the series unique: its portrayal and treatment of Asian and Inuit culture, including the religious beliefs of those cultures. Then they just continue to shave off the Asian characteristics by throwing out the calligraphy and replacing it with symbols of the four nations (except not really, because they've just randomly created new ones instead of just using the ones already shown in the series, seen here). That, combined with the generic-looking font (which, to me, looks like the title font from Ranger's Apprentice, a children's fantasy series of Australian origin which is set in a pseudo-European world; think about that for a minute), makes for a much less dynamic and interesting logo.
On June 9th, Korean-American actor Isaac Jin Solstein was cast in the role of "Earthbending Boy". Some people think that because Solstein, as well as Keong Sim as "Earthbending Father" and Randall Duk Kim as "Old Man In Temple", are in the film, that the casting is not in fact "whitewashed" and is diverse. But wait, do you notice something about all three of these characters? None of them actually have names. Why is this? Now, I want to believe that this is just an accident, that the casting people are not deliberately handing out random background roles not important enough for names to any and all Asian actors that come along, but three of them in one film that otherwise has no Asian actors is a bit much. Fans have speculated on the true identity of these characters - "Earthbending Boy" could be a) a de-aged Haru, b) an alternate characterization of Teo, c) the earthbending twin from the Book 1 episode "The Fortuneteller", or d) a gender-flipped early bird cameo of Toph; "Earthbending Father" could be King Bumi of Omashu (despite canon never referring to any children of his) or Suki's father (who is a nameless, faceless character never mentioned in canon); and the general consensus is that "Old Man In Temple" is Gyatso, the monk who was Aang's father figure for most of his childhood. Of these characters (plausibly...I don't think the kid is really playing boy!Toph), Haru, Bumi and Gyatso are pretty important. If indeed those are the roles these actors are playing, why don't they have actual names?
Let's look forward 10 years and suppose Isaac Jin Solstein is still in the acting business. A casting director looks at his resume: what would be more impressive for a first role, "Earthbending Boy" or "Haru"? Honestly, the former sounds like a random extra while the latter insinuates that the role was important or at least a speaking part. Apparently "Earthbending Boy" is a speaking role, but would a casting director assume that if he hadn't seen the film? No, and neither would most people who didn't see the movie. Is that fair for the Asian-American actors, who have gotten the bit parts after the white kids snatched up what should have rightfully been theirs?
Now, some people have actually called me "racist" for saying that white actors should not play these roles. Another livejournal user had a good rebuttal for that argument (paraphrased; will edit and add credit later): "Saying that it's racist to disqualify white actors from playing Asian roles is like saying that it's discriminating against men to prohibit them from using the womens' restroom. It's not discrimination because they shouldn't be there in the first place!" Think about this for a second: what would happen if the Marvel Comics character Black Panther was to be played by a Caucasian actor such as Viggo Mortensen or Robert Downey Jr. Very few people would deny that these are excellent actors and could definitely pull off the character; however, T'Challa is pretty obviously meant to be African despite his being the prince of a fictional country, Wakanda. Only a true idiot would look at him and see a white man. If this casting were to happen, it would generate a unanimous negative reaction from not only fans of the comics and African-Americans, but people who understood how wrong it would be to whitewash a black character. So why are so many people not understanding that whitewashing these characters is wrong?
Okay, if that argument didn't do it for you, here's another excellent example in video form (warning: pretty long video but worth a watch):
Click to view
Now about the show's "Asian inspiration." Some people think this means that even though the Avatar characters live in a world surrounded by Asian culture (and if you doubt that it is in fact full of Asian culture, here, have a video and a visual essay illustrating the Asian/Inuit influences). Mike and Bryan have said in countless interviews that the show was heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit culture. Let's suppose for just a second that these characters do in fact have a race; does it make sense for the creators to be so careful and considerate about the culture and backdrop of the show and then throw a bunch of white people into it? The principle of Occam's Razor states that "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily", which if you don't feel like working that out for yourself is basically saying "why make things more complicated than they need to be?" In other words, why assume these characters are anything but Asian and Inuit?
And then I've heard the argument that "they're in another world, so they don't have a race!" Okay, I'll consider this argument. But...if they don't have a race, then why, when they are converted into "our world's" standards of race, are they white by default? And of course, the villains are Indian as they have been in countless films to date. Just think about that question for a minute, okay? I'll wait.
And while you think, take a look at these screenshots of the people of the Four Nations in different phases of their lives. Then come back and honestly tell me that any of them are white.
Air Nomad children
Air Nomad adults
Earth Kingdom children
Earth Kingdom teens
Earth Kingdom adults
Southern Water Tribe children
Southern Water Tribe women
Southern Water Tribe men
Northern Water Tribe children
Northern Water Tribe teens
Northern Water Tribe adults
Fire Nation children
Fire Nation teens
Fire Nation adults
Avatar Calligrapher Professor S.L. Lee Shares A Statement
I don't really think I need to elaborate, do I?
But I'm going to anyway, because this news made me want to go out and punch a puppy or something. There isn't enough WTF in the world for this. I mentioned earlier in this entry how Avatar was one of the few shows that had, among other things, a calligraphy expert in order to ensure that every piece of writing in the series was as accurate as it could be. But oh no, Paramount has decided that it would be so much better to completely ignore this beautiful language and replace it with random graphics. No disrespect going on here, nope, not at all.
I believe amredthelector phrased it best: "Peter Jackson used the languages seen in the LotR books in his film - both written and spoken. Tolkien provided so much detail, and did so much research on, the languages he created, and Jackson respected that.
So a fantasy language that one man created gets more respect then a REAL language, spoken by REAL people."
This isn't Avatar anymore. I don't even know WHAT this is. Paramount, you have sunk to your lowest. Enjoy the media firestorm that will utterly destroy you once word about this gets out.