I love love LOVED Avatar: The Last Airbender. LOVED it. The boys loved it. I’m giving myself the DVD sets for my birthday loved. ( I’m VERY fully aware of The Bay of Pirates. *That* is how much I love this show – I’m willing to line Nickelodeon’s pockets for it.)
And then I find out that Stoopid Hollywood has taken over. From Racebending.com
The Nickelodeon show “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” on which this film is based, featured Asian characters in a fantasy setting inspired and informed by a variety of Asian cultures. The characters fight with East Asian martial arts, have Asian features, dress in clothing from Asian cultures, and write with Chinese characters. The cast and setting were a refreshing departure from predominantly white American media, and were a large part of the show’s appeal as well as an inspiration to many Asian American children.
Not familiar with the show? Okay, this is what the three “supporting” characters look like in the cartoon:
And the live actors chosen to play these people?
So. The good guys are white and the bad guys are NOTwhite.
In what way is this acceptable?
Do the people producing the movie KNOW anything about the series?
Okay, riddle me this. Why hasn’t someone sued the company over the verbiage used in the casting call ads?
Grrrrrr.
I’m a big fan of the TV show too. Just fantastic. However, I was never under the impression the characters were Asian. The influences certainly are Asian, as the shows WHITE creators have mentioned. In fact, even the Wikipedia entry mentions that the show borrows heavily from anime, but isn’t considered anime because it originated in the US.
So is the movie really going to suck because of that? Asia has a complete lock on Asian culture and influences of a made-up World? Personally, I don’t think so. Does that mean any actor playing a German better BE German? Or any actor playing a Hispanic better BE Hispanic? Who cares as long as the actor is the right choice (which remains to be seen) and the story is as good as the TV show?
Just my 2 cents.
tjs last blog post..secretsthatsell:
Monday (via frank-c)
TJ, the characters read/write chinese, wear traditional robes, eat with chopsticks, and fight using various martial art styles. How is that *not* Asian?
To be completely honest, I think the movie is going to suck because The Happening….didn’t, and Lady in the Water drowned. I see the actors tied to the project being unable to hold their own against what will have to be significant digital editing in order to produce “bending”.
I do not necessarily believe that a certain character’s race should be portrayed by a person OF that race. At some point, however, you *must* have a strong actor in order to be able to suspend disbelief. Sean Connery did not convince me that he was Russian, but he DID convince me that he was the captain of the submarine (Hunt for Red October). Tom Cruise failed horribly in his effort to convince me he was German (Valkyrie).
The Last Airbender is great great TV Show, but I am not sure about movie too. I dislike copies, that is all.
I can appreciate a good copy, and a good translation of a cartoon idea into live-action.
However – this does not seem to be one of them. The director is outside his genre, the actors are new and not really known for their ability to act.