Avatar Movie Casting - Let's Take Action

[here_be_dragons]

H/T Hoyden About TownI know that several of you have seen the Nickelodeon show "Avatar: The Last Airbender." For those who haven't, it's a really charming and well-done cartoon/anime series based on Asian and Inuit legends. I was initially happy to hear that it's being made into a live-action film, until I learned that they've cast the main

Comments

[countedx58]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here (because I'm so good at it). I can see why you would be annoyed if they are casting ALL white actors. (OTOH, I'm not familiar with the series at all - are they normally ALL Asian actors?) But I'm reminded of the time that Whoopi Goldberg auditioned for the part of ... Oh, I think it was the part of a white man for some movie or play or something. People looked askance at that, but her rationale was, "If I'm a good actor, then it shouldn't matter what color or gender I am." And that's how I feel about these sorts of uproars -- shouldn't it be the ACTING that counts? And if the acting is good enough, shouldn't the actor be good enough to make the viewer "believe" what is being acted?

<--stirring the pot ;)

[here_be_dragons]

Um, no. The entire show (at least the parts I've seen, and definitely the main characters) are based on Asian and Inuit mythos and legends, the settings are Asian and Inuit, and the characters are definitely not caucasian

[chickadilly]

I agree with this comment - in a perfect world I'd have no problem with Whoopi's statement and even encourage it (at least in theory) because that IS what acting is all about. But that's not the world we live in.

Things like this are why films such as Dances With Wolves made some ground - Native American actors playing Native Americans - what a concept!

[countedx58]

Well, that pretty well illustrates the difference in our thinking. I'd like the pendulum to swing down into a plumb position and have a color-blind society. You're looking for payback by having it swing to the opposite side for a while. :)

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[here_be_dragons]

ARCK!!!!!! I didn't know who Jesse McCartney is, so I googled him. HE wants to play Zuko? I get that he *wants* the part. That's lovely, and he's more than welcome to dress up as Zuko and recite lines in front of the mirror at home to his heart's content. But actually play him in the film? Please no.

I've never seen any of Shyamalan's films, so I have nothing to compare, but doesn't he mostly do creepy horror things? That seems like an odd choice.

[here_be_dragons]

Oh, I didn't know he was the one who did "Sixth Sense." I did see that film, and liked it. But yeah, my impression of his films is that there's all this BIG TALK about the creepy. Which, sometimes, destroys the creepy. Also, I don't particularly want "Avatar" to be creepy. Eh. Chances are I won't go to see the film anyway, if they stick with their craptastic casting choices, so it doesn't really matter. *sigh*

[synergy]

As I mentioned on FB, this is just like what happened to Bruce Lee when David Carradine was cast for Kung Fu (which Lee thought up and had named The Warrior instead). Decades later and it's the same ol' shite. Things created by Asians which should star Asians are being ignored in the casting.

[here_be_dragons]

Things created by Asians which should star Asians are being ignored in the casting.

EXACTLY! I just used a whole lot of words trying to explain this to Deb. *points up* I should have just pointed her to your comment. :)

[tmkr]

Bah humbug. I know nothing about this series, but stuff like this annoys the socks off me. It's why I didn't go see Memoirs of a Geisha, even though I really liked the book. What, they couldn't find a single Japanese actress to play a geisha? Not a one? Had to go with the famous Chinese one, eh? Since Asians are all the same anyway. ;)

[here_be_dragons]

Yeah, and you have totally picked up on one of the things that annoyed me even about my own comment - I've lumped all Asians together (partly because Avatar has elements of several different Asian cultures - there are things that seem Chinese, loads of Japanese things, and some things I'd think of as being Tibetan, maybe, plus probably things I'm missing), but still. It is not really all that helpful lumping people together, ever. At this point, I just don't want to see white actors, which is a far cry from trying to correctly cast the characters based on their actual ethnic heritage. Bah humbug is right.

[tmkr]

Well, I suppose I should've been "happy" that they were doing that. Your point is fine - with this, they're not even TRYING to be "correct" about it.

Why can't we all just get along?! :)

(Done with your finals? I'm done administering, but not grading.)

[here_be_dragons]

YES! I took my last one about two hours ago. I'm hoping for about 75% (which will hopefully be a B and not drag my overall grade down from the A I've been able to maintain all semester. We'll see, though. I did have to guess on a few problems). :D

Ooh! Grading! I so do not envy you. :D I'm done completely with school until January 26th! *happy dancing*

[desertbell]

Jason Isaacs as General Zhao?

Blech.

I *love* Jason Isaacs, and he's very, very good at being very, very bad, and I would like him to do very, very bad things to me. ..

but he's not General Zhao.

If Jesse McCartney is cast as Zuko, I'm boycotting. Who the hell is casting this thing? Even if they were going to whitewash it, couldn't they have done it better?

I object to the characters being white just because, well, they AREN'T. That show is beautiful and well written, and I think that stripping the story of it's culteral identity does it a grave disservice.