Comments | aang_aint_white: Visual Essay: Inuit culture in The Last Airbender

aang_aint_white

Visual Essay: Inuit culture in The Last Airbender

Mar 26, 2009 15:24

Once again, we're presented with a case in which images are more eloquent than words.

The culture that Sokka and Katara hail from, the Water Tribe, is clearly modeled after real life Inuit cultures of the Arctic region. The Last Airbender's production designers obviously agree.

Here is a photograph of the film's set, from one of their ( Read more... )

why we're doing this

Comments 80

akiko March 26 2009, 19:47:50 UTC

I shared this on twitter using the hash tag #aangaintwhite if anyone else is on twitter and wants to start a # trend.

carondelet March 26 2009, 20:17:42 UTC

I hashed it. :)

akiko March 26 2009, 20:28:33 UTC

Sweet :) Now we just need some retweets.

(The comment has been removed)

Re: Woah jordan_the_kid March 27 2009, 03:23:00 UTC

lol agreed

madd_hatteress March 26 2009, 20:03:02 UTC

I literally smacked my forehead.

I have nothing against against the kids but part of me hopes they realize what is going on and can understand why we're upset about the casting choices.

fenm March 26 2009, 20:46:24 UTC

I have nothing against against the kids

Yeah, I actually feel sorry for the kids. They didn't make these decisions, they just wanted a job. And as much as I would like to see the movie recast, that means that the three kids would lose their job, which kind of sucks.

tobu_ishi March 26 2009, 22:48:28 UTC

I'd feel bad for the ordinary little boy playing Aang, but not for the actor and actress playing Sokka and Katara. They're professionals who have acted before and will certainly act again. (Jackson Rathbone was in Twilight, he'll have talent scouts barking at his heels for years to come.)

So, honestly, I'd feel no guilt or remorse at seeing them recast--or at seeing Dev Patel recast with an East Asian actor, for that matter, since Slumdog Millionaire will be paying off in contracts for quite some time. He was on the Daily Show. He's golden.

star_bolt08 March 27 2009, 02:56:01 UTC

I agree. I do feel bad for the boy playing Aang, since he's probably thrilled about his first movie role (he might even be a fan himself) and it's a shame he's getting caught in the crossfire. And maybe not so much in Nicola Peltz's case since she's 14 or 15 (right?), or Dev Patel (he's only 18, and it was on such short notice that he even signed on for the role in the first place and I doubt he really knew what he was getting himself into). Still they need to be somewhat accountable. They're old enough to get it. But as for Jackson Rathbone...well, he's 24, he knows what he's doing. He's even acknowledged the fact that people have taken offense to the actors cast in this film (himself in particular), and doesn't seem to care one bit. If anything he's offended people even more ( ... )

Thread 6

pretty_angel March 26 2009, 20:33:30 UTC

THIS.

By the way I love the photographs! Thanks a lot for digging them out. <3 Do you know any good internet pages for more photographs of that kind (the old b&w ones)?

japantheman March 26 2009, 20:36:13 UTC

I think this is quite effective in conveying the point.
I also think this could be a little more effective if it had a few pictures from the show to compare and contrast with as well.

star_bolt08 March 27 2009, 02:25:20 UTC

Definitely! This pretty straightforward as is, and makes it incredibly difficult to argue against the Water Tribe being Inuit, but adding screenshots from the show would be a plus. Also, on the Iroh.org, they have scans from the "Lost Scrolls" book series, that you might want to take a look at. They're Nickelodeon publications and pretty much confirm everything we've been saying about the cultures each of the Four Nations are based on. :D