Taking it to Twitter

[aang_aint_white]

We have been told that Frank Marshall, one of the producers of The Last Airbender, has an account on Twitter. We've also been told that many of our supporters have been sending him harassing messages.

While we understand that this is a rare opportunity to communicate more directly with the producers, rude behavior reflects badly on all of us. It

Comments

[qiushuwen]

I think it's easier to ignore polite messages than hundreds of cries of "Racist!". =/

[aang_aint_white]

By attacking him, we make it easy for him to cast himself as the victim, which he has already started doing. He (and the general public) can easily dismiss aggressive, rude statements -- ignoring polite ones makes Marshall look bad, rather than us, particularly as those messages are public for all to see.

[pikabot]

Actually...

[dharmavati]

I love that you linked to that video. XD

[dkwrkm]

Maybe we could try asking him questions like, "Aang is Asian; why is the actor for Aang not Asian? :(" or "Katara has brown skin? Why doesn't the actress for Katara have brown skin? What's wrong with brown skin? :("

Well, we speculate on it day in and day out, we could try and get some real answers from him.

[aang_aint_white]

All we ask is that you word your replies to him politely -- he's much more likely to read what you have to say if you're respectful. <3

[jedifreac]

Those do sound like good questions, just make sure not to attack him.

[dkwrkm]

Definitely not. The only thing I'm worried about is that he'll get this idea that we're being racist for asking such a question. *eye roll*

[star_bolt08]

Would it be a good idea to send him a few links to some of the news articles that are linked to here? I doubt he'd call respected journalists, or journalists from legitimate new sources "uninformed and without merit" or "crazy."

[jedifreac]

Can't hurt.

[rotae]

I Twittered!! :D

LeDoctor: Our vision for the movie is of ONE world, made up of four Nations, influenced and inspired by the Asian undertones of the series.

LeDoctor: This world will have an ethnically diverse cast that represents many different heritages and cultures from all corners of the globe.

Rotae @LeDoctor: But Avatar is an entirely Asian world! I don't seem to recall the European or American influences in it.

Rotae @LeDoctor: Why bother basing a film on Avatar if you're just going to ignore the source material?

Peace,
Rotae

[rotae]

http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/220/698.jpg

If that isn't a reference to europe's most popular religion I don't what is.

[aang_aint_white]

Storyboard artists referencing a famous European statue in one shot of one episode does not equate a European setting nor Caucasian characters.

[skemono]

Really? It just looks to me like a weeping girl holding a dead (well, almost-dead) boy. Since when was weeping over the corpses of loved ones solely the purview of Christianity?

Campfire! ^_^

[star_bolt08]

Hey guys! Update on the Campfire discussion: we had a nice turn out today, and while we may have gotten just a little off-topic at times, there was actually a lot good discussion going on. I copy & pasted the comments Mr. Marshall made about their vision for the movie and its cast, and we talked about that for a bit. Basically, no one's really liking it, but it's nice to get an explanation from someone working on this project. Also, I brought this up

Re: Campfire! ^_^

[erikonil]

I think it's a valid point. I wouldn't mind having white actors in the cast, but I don't like taking obviously dark skinned people and casting them as white people. I think most people's problem with the "multicultural" argument is that "multicultural" apparently means "replace dark skined heroes with white."

Actaully, I think they could have gotten away with a white Aang so long as Katara and Sokka had been cast as darker skinned people.

Re: Campfire! ^_^

[star_bolt08]

Exactly! I had a feeling it would be unrealistic for them to have an all Asian/Inuit cast, but I think most people, myself included, would've been perfectly okay as long as Katara, Sokka and the other people of the Water Tribe cast as people with darker complexions like in the show itself. We're want actors who look like the characters they're portraying. Like I've said before, acting ability is great and all, but resembling the character is important too.

Re: Campfire! ^_^

[pretty_angel]

What I also find crucial is that they totally mixing up everything and actually contradicting themselves with the "multicultural world" concept. The people are from all kinds of different cultures, no question. But the cultures itself which we'll see in the movie are (as far as we know) the same as in the TV series. Multicoloured? Yes. Multicultural? Not so much. I mean seriously, we'll have Indians dressed up as Japanese, Whites dressed up as Inuit and whatever-Noah-Ringer-is as Tibetan monks? O_o