Last Airbender casting

[silverthunder]

On the controversial subject of the casting of the Last Airbender movie... yukinoomoni made a good post on the subject here.

She links to an article that is amazingly well-written and which I think everyone should read. It presents a very compelling case for not seeing the movie. However, there are a lot of points brought up in the comments on yukinoomoni's post that are fairly compelling as well. I think it's worth taking note of those.

I don't have a firm stance on this issue: I hate the racism in the casting and don't want to support it. However, I love ATLA and want to support it. And if the movie flops, you can be fairly sure it will hurt the potential further development of the animated series.

In the end, I'm going to see the movie, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't mainly because I really just want to see it. You can think whatever you like about me for making that decision.

Comments

[sunhawk6498.livejournal.com]

"because I really just want to see it"

Er... Isn't that the reason to see most movies.

[silverthunder]

You would think, but it feels like I need to justify this one with something else, because of the racial casting controversy.

I don't think the movie's going to turn out to be that good, because the ignorance shown in the casting is pretty telling. But we'll see.

[sunhawk6498.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm going to wait and see what people say about it b/c I don't have a good feeling from the previews. It feels like someone him a synopsis of the series and told him to work from there. An interpretation or adaptation of Avatar so to speak instead of live action version of the series which is what I'm really looking for.

[jupiterah2.livejournal.com]

Here's what I think should happen:

Everyone should at least see it once. Why? Because everyone loves Avatar!!

And then, all these disappointed fans should rise up en mass (as already have started) and vocalize their distaste all over the bloggosphere! That way, M. Night Shyamalan's name will echo across the internet as one associated with racism and white washing, thus threatening to damage his career forever!

[silverthunder]

I'm thinking that is probably the best we can hope for in this situation. I really, REALLY wish they hadn't been so stupid in the making of this movie in the first place. The racism is pretty damn obvious.

Why is it so hard for people to just GET IT RIGHT?

[jupiterah2.livejournal.com]

Found this post. http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/48390292.html
This one's interesting because it offeres some perspective from the other side.

[silverthunder]

This is so wrong, though, because we don't live in a society where "I needed to include white actors in a film based on something where there were no white protagonists" is necessary.

Here's the thing. Asian and Inuit actors in Hollywood do struggle for work. This is a fact. If they're not being turned down regularly in favor of their caucasian counterparts, they are being recruited for "stereotype" roles that are in most cases degrading.

Caucasian actors DO NOT experience this same struggle. This is also a fact. There is no need to "make sure white people are represented" in a film like this, and there is especially no need to cast the three main heroes as exclusively caucasian while the background characters and villains are PoC. Because caucasian actors are represented FREAKIN' EVERYWHERE already.

I don't even want to start on the ridiculous notion that Katara and Sokka need to be the "caucasian representatives" when Aang was already cast with a caucasian actor. If Noah Ringer was indeed "the only one who could play this role", then there you go, you have a caucasian representation already. There was no need for the rest of that nonsense.

The person who wrote this post probably does mean well, but he/she is not looking at the bigger picture. In an ideal world where everyone was treated as equal and films were produced with equally mixed casts, they would be absolutely correct that everyone needs to be represented.

In the world we live in, it's not. It's not because this was a HUGE chance for young aspiring asian and inuit actors to be given opportunies they often are denied, and instead, they are YET AGAIN being shunned in favor of white actors. That is unfair, and I don't understand why the director fails to see this and still continues to spout his ill-thought-out comments in response to everything but the issue at hand.