Who do I have to blow to get some representation around here??

[vejiicakes]

Core cast for live-action Avatar movie revealed

ಠ_ಠIs there some way I can call M. Night Shyamalan a race traitor or something without sounding like a crazy Asian nazi? I want to use it. No, I actually really really don't care if these kids do a phenomenal acting job. And is it okay if I claim that it's not just a geek thing? Because it isn't

Comments

[asaphira_sachi]

I'm sad........ it does the franchise little to no justice. ~_~ Kitara's actress is marginal since I fathom she'd have a bit of an "exotic" complexion. But W.T.F Jesse McCartney as Zuko? BLASPHEMY. BLASPHEMY. Now that's just pure marketing.

[vejiicakes]

See, based purely on Katara/Sokka's darker complexions, I'm just additionally baffled that they seriously picked the most whitey whitebread teenagers they could have possibly found.

(Weirdly, I always sort of assumed they'd get a musician/actor-who-plays-or-sings to be Zuko... I don't know why... but I always really envisioned it being this kinda hunky Asian or Eurasian guy from some obscure band. Having said that, I honestly have no idea who this Jesse McCartney guy is.)

[asaphira_sachi]

True. Well, skin tone could be manipulated. I've seen this cosplayer, whom I'm a huge fan of, done that. Buttttttttt chances will be they won't even go that far as to changing the skin tone. >_> Seriously, for a country that proclaims itself diverse, how hard is it to fetch actors on kilter with their nationality?!

[vejiicakes]

Yyyyyes but you do see the difference between someone who just wants to dress up like a character they like and will just do what they have to in order to get that done, and the process of actually casting someone of a recognizably non-Caucasian appearance? Hair, skin, eyes--everything CAN be manipulated, but that really, really doesn't mean they should. I mean, that's why we cast actually black actors to play black characters, instead of just painting them up like Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Tropic Thunder.

I mean, it's FOUR KIDS. Well, three teenagers and one kid. And our movie industry is notorious for casting people way older to play people way younger. So basically, there was room to find 2 broadly Asian-looking and 2 generally darkly complected performers of anywhere from 12-18 (hell, they'd probably cast up through 23) years of age. It should NOT have been hard to find them. At ALL.

[megami_maxwell]

CRYYYYYYY. ;__; If I'd known they were going to hand out the parts to random fucking white kids with zero film experience, I would've tried out myself! XO At least my face is prone to the rages Katara constantly undergoes! And I've already got the outfit!

But no seriously. Seconding all that you've said here, and thirding everything I read out of you in comments. Speaking as their target white-chick demographic, I'm totally appalled by this. Especially the Jesse McCartney bullshits. It's not like it's impossible to translate the characters into real people--hell, there are even cosplayers they could grab that at least look more like the characters than these kids. Does anyone other than the unknown Aang even dabble in a martial art of any kind?

Raaaage. D: D: D: Please, please don't let Shyamalan tone down the settings on top of all this. I mean. The whole fucking cast is white anyway, so why not just stick Ba Sing Se in Europe?!

Let's go find Shamalan and demand that he cast you for Mai. Because then, at least, ONE character will

[vejiicakes]

Just watch: all the villains will be the only characters played by Asians. And maybe Mai, because she's got like, buns in her hair and slanty eyes and lots of fans don't like her anyway so she's safe to play as a non-white.

I think they'll keep the Asian elements though. I notice these white-washed productions love our interior decorating and fancy weaponry and LOVE the martial arts and exotic clothing. Just not so much the people cuz, haha, ick.

[xinester]

Ugh, rage! I agree, there isn't enough Asian American presence in American media and it is a fact that haunts me everyday. I wrote a review of 21 for my uni's newspaper last year commenting on their casting as well. Ridonkulous! But as saddddddd as it soundsss, I actually think it's too optimistic to say the movie would do well if it were an all Asian cast. I mean, I would love to see it, but I always forget that the average American is not as open minded as I think it is. The only American movie I can think of that has a predominantly Asian cast without particularly trying to exoticize anyone is Better Luck Tomorrow, which I feel has gotten a cult following of purely Asian American teens.
/ramble
but I agree! I always like reading your ranty posts.

[vejiicakes]

The thing is, I'm pretty sure this movie would do well on the strength of the fan following alone. This series was wildly popular among children to adults. I am not unfamiliar with the mindset that all Asian casts can alienate (new) audiences, but because it's AVATAR, I think the success would've carried through, no matter that Asians got cast. It was, as I saw it, a safe gamble. A very, very safe gamble. Safe in the sense that thousands happily tuned in to a show that gave every appearance of being Asian and its sole concession to western sensibilities was in the slice-of-white-bread American personalities and spoken dialogue of its protagonists.

Memoirs of a Geisha worked western audiences by portraying the distant, exotic "otherness" that so many still tend to associate with Asians. Avatar, as I envisioned it, would have done the same, but without the element of distant "otherness" to it.

But ehhhh nope, they just wanted to go the route of Orientalism: safe white people but with an exotic spicing of Asian flavor! :D (-_

[xinester]

About Avatar's popularity, I mean, I don't know if the number of fans out there is comparable to the number of people who would go out and pay to watch this movie in order to make it a financial success . But I know next to nothing about Avatar and even less about the whole industry of movies! I just think it would be extremely difficult for an all Asian cast movie to draw in the bucks without relying on any exoticism (I have this little faith in the general American populace) and that Avatar truly is a niche target audience. When the various Miyazaki films were out in American theaters, or the live action Death Note movies, I mean.... both franchises have respectable numbers of fans, but those movies all got limited releases.
A very, very safe gamble. Safe in the sense that thousands happily tuned in to a show that gave every appearance of being Asian and its sole concession to western sensibilities was in the slice-of-white-bread American personalities and spoken dialogue of its protagonists.Sometimes I wonder if this a valid

[vejiicakes]

It's pretty massive. Like, grossly so. Plus, the difference is that Studio Ghibli films and whoever did DN were both international and, like you said, niche films. This is being directed by a well known, well established, mainstream film director backed by Hollywood and and a major entertainment studio.

[isako]

I CAN'T I JUST WITH THE AND THAT ONE WHY WHY THERE IS NO LOVING GOD BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG)#$^(&*HEADASPLODEY*

[ali_wildgoose]

I linked to this in my own post -- hope that's okay!

Though right now I'm too exhausted from arguing with people and researching producers to say much more than "YES. THIS."

And if you feel like saying something to Paramount about it, here's some info I rounded up!

[vejiicakes]

Whoo, thank you! Think I'll make like you and glockgal and do a roundup of the lovely posts--coherent and deliberately worded or raging and capslocky alike--to compile for my flist too. Possibly in another post--this one's still all high on the nerd rage and the politics-of-race-rage (man, that's just not as catchy as nerd rage).

Thank you for the infopost too, that's wonderful :3