Fear of a Black (Fantasy) Planet

[tablesaw]

No time for a list of things just yet.

The casting for the live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender has been announced. See if you can spot a problem:

Comments

[queen_elvis]

IME as someone on the fringes of the manga publishing industry, manga artists draw non-Japanese people the same as Japanese people (except different hair colors) with one huge exception: black people. The black people I've seen in manga had exaggerated huge lips and generally looked different. I found it kind of shocking.

[tsubaki_ny]

This is why I loved "Cowboy Bebop" -- they made the blacks look normal. (Manga can also have some pretty unpleasant caricatures of Southeast Asians, at times. Not always.)

[lanternsdance]

Maybe I'm confused (its been a while since I've seen Cowboy Bebop) but I swear that was the anime with that one episode featuring black characters with afros and stealing watermelon trucks. When the anime club I go to watched that two years ago everyone did a double take going, "wtf--did you all just see that?"

[tsubaki_ny]

Yeep! I don't remember the watermelon trucks at all (it's been about three years) -- I just remember being overjoyed that they showed us with mouths that had actual corners, instead of that overinflated-totally-circular-pink-tire look. :-D

[tinhorn2]

I wonder.

How much discussion would the film be getting if an ethnicity-appropriate cast had been announced? And how much is it getting now?

As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[delux_vivens]

How much discussion would the film be getting if an ethnicity-appropriate cast had been announced?

Plenty.

[tahnan]

Yeah, I think I'm with Vivens on this one. If you announce (a) an adaptation of something with a large fan base and (b) you fail to utterly screw it up and (c) you make the bold move of casting actual Asians in a movie (cf Firefly, I gather), people will talk about it. Heck, either casting Asian actors or failing to screw up an adaptation, independent of the other, is noteworthy enough to talk about.

[yeloson]

How much discussion would the film be getting if an ethnicity-appropriate cast had been announced?

See: The Matrix trilogy.

[thedan]

You guys are all missing the real issue here. ROCK BAND DRUMLINE FTW.

[tablesaw]

SRSLY!

[delux_vivens]

I'm so over this foolishness, I swear.

*goes back to watch leverage*

[tablesaw]

I'm so over this foolishness, I swear.

*goes back to watch leverage*
When ojouchan and I first heard about the casting, this was our response too. Unfortunately, that's when we discovered that the DVR hadn't tapes the newest episode.

Which of those characters

[lifeofreilly]

Which of those characters is drawn to look ethnically Japanese or Inuit?

They don't appear to be going off model, as it were. I watched the first two seasons of AirBender and with the exception of the Iroh, none of the main characters looked like their supposed races.

The only models that were drawn as what I would consider "ethnic" (you know, IMHO) are side players, background characters or supporting characters.

Now- this is also a fictitious world with no real *anything*. It's not even Japanese translated to english. The It's from Burbank.

Given these three things: the drawings of the main characters don't look ethnic, it's made up world and it was made in America- how is this some kind of travesty?

Re: Which of those characters

[tablesaw]

Given these three things: the drawings of the main characters don't look ethnic, it's made up world and it was made in America- how is this some kind of travesty?
Your first "given" is not accepted as a given, and there have been several answers to your question in this page of comments, in the pages linked on this page, and in the roundup of links that I just posted.

Re: Which of those characters

[yeloson]

Given these three things: the drawings of the main characters don't look ethnic

Interesting perspective you have there.

Yes

[lifeofreilly]

Yes. Yes it is (I suppose?).

I'm not spotting , I'm seeing brown hair (not black)- what am I missing?

Are there other tells I should be seeing?

I mean, if you want a reason to be upset, then by all means, go right ahead. But I'm looking at the pictures that were posted and between blue eyes, brown hair and rounded eyes- what else should I be looking for?