Avatar, the Movie (that I probably won't be seeing)
I love Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's a fantastic show, with just about everything I love in an animated TV show all wrapped up in one glorious beautifully executed package. In about a year or so, there's going to be a theatrically released movie based on the show (called simply "The Last Airbender" to avoid confusion with James Cameron's completely unrelated upcoming film Avatar. But - surprise, surprise - it's live action. Which has kind of turned me off about the whole thing. Here we've got this amazing, very popular animated TV series and Hollywood's reaction is not "Hey, let's make more really great animated TV series" or "Hey, let's make a really great animated movie based on or similar to that show." It's "Hey, let's make a live-action movie based on the animated show." Maybe I'm just overreacting, but to me, this sort of situation always feels as though the studio is trying to "bestow legitimacy" on the animated show by redoing it in the more "respectable" format of live-action movie.
There was more than that concern keeping me from getting excited about the film. There are aspects of the show that I just don't think will look as good in live-action, not least of which is the signature enhanced martial art of bending. M. Night Shyamalan is directing and from what I've seen of his films, he's rather hit or miss. I don't think the film will necessarily be a total disaster, but there are just too many red flags for me too be getting very excited about it.
And this morning, I discovered another one. The short version is that, in a film based on a show that is set in an admittedly fictional world which is nonetheless dripping with Asian influence to the point where pretty much every character has what we think of as an Asian complexion, all four actors cast in the four lead roles are Caucasian. The long version I can't state any better than cartoonist Derek Kirk Kim has, so check it out.
There is a somewhat less cynical argument for so-called "colorblind casting" than the one studios trot out to cover their collective backside. (For an example of this, do a search for author Ursula K. Le Guin's comments on the Sci-Fi Channel's version of her "Earthsea" books, preferably one quoting or paraphrasing a lot of studio rep explanations.) If an actor does a really good job of portraying a character, shouldn't race be a non-issue? In a more perfect world, maybe. But the problem is that if movie studios feel free to put aside race when casting, they will tend to "discover" more often than not that the best actor for the job is -surprise! - Caucasian. And as the aforelinked essay points out, it's a vicious circle. If kids of any race with an interest in acting look at movies and TV and see that the only people who look like them are the main character's best friend, the sidekick, the villain, or the extra, fewer of them are going to pursue acting. So not only is the casting agent potentially working on the notion that a mainly White cast will do better at the box office, but there's also a less diverse pool of actors to choose from.
My opinions are my own, of course, and you can feel free to agree or disagree, react or not. Just thought I should get it off my chest.
There was more than that concern keeping me from getting excited about the film. There are aspects of the show that I just don't think will look as good in live-action, not least of which is the signature enhanced martial art of bending. M. Night Shyamalan is directing and from what I've seen of his films, he's rather hit or miss. I don't think the film will necessarily be a total disaster, but there are just too many red flags for me too be getting very excited about it.
And this morning, I discovered another one. The short version is that, in a film based on a show that is set in an admittedly fictional world which is nonetheless dripping with Asian influence to the point where pretty much every character has what we think of as an Asian complexion, all four actors cast in the four lead roles are Caucasian. The long version I can't state any better than cartoonist Derek Kirk Kim has, so check it out.
There is a somewhat less cynical argument for so-called "colorblind casting" than the one studios trot out to cover their collective backside. (For an example of this, do a search for author Ursula K. Le Guin's comments on the Sci-Fi Channel's version of her "Earthsea" books, preferably one quoting or paraphrasing a lot of studio rep explanations.) If an actor does a really good job of portraying a character, shouldn't race be a non-issue? In a more perfect world, maybe. But the problem is that if movie studios feel free to put aside race when casting, they will tend to "discover" more often than not that the best actor for the job is -surprise! - Caucasian. And as the aforelinked essay points out, it's a vicious circle. If kids of any race with an interest in acting look at movies and TV and see that the only people who look like them are the main character's best friend, the sidekick, the villain, or the extra, fewer of them are going to pursue acting. So not only is the casting agent potentially working on the notion that a mainly White cast will do better at the box office, but there's also a less diverse pool of actors to choose from.
My opinions are my own, of course, and you can feel free to agree or disagree, react or not. Just thought I should get it off my chest.