Oh look,Elsie posted something! Good God!
Okay, as at least a few of you know, M.night Shymalan, Hit and miss minority Director, has been hired to direct a trilogy of Live Action movies based on the american Anime-styled, Asian/Inuit-influenced cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
As a few of you also know, the cast for the four main characters(all of whom are noticeably Asian or Inuit, even in animated format)was announced early last year.
I'll refresh. Anime Style. Based on and heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit culture. Names, traditions, food, location, landscapes, weaponry, costumes, character design, even the goddamn writing is solely in Chinese characters. So, you may understand my slight confusion and righteous Outrage when it was announced that ALL FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS WOULD BE PLAYED BY WHITE ACTORS.
I have no grudge against the actors in question(except Jesse McCartney), and do not mean to imply that they're poor actors, but seriously, dude, what the Hell?
This guy said it far better than I ever could. In fact, it was him that convinced me to join the Anti-Avatar movement, and not simply dismiss this casting horror as Hollywood being moronic.
http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html
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3 comments:
O.O
hmmm....thats real moronic...and isn't it his first movie in about 10 years or so?
I'm tempted to watch for the luls.
Elsie, I edited your post slightly to make the link you included clickable. I hope you don't mind.
On the subject of Avatar, although I've never watched it, judging from the evidence Kim has presented (AMAZING essay I agree), the decision to cast white actors was extremely racist and an insult to the fans of the show.
I suspect this is down to the studio trying to make this movie more marketable to the "average" moviegoer (ie white, male), rather than the director's choice, unless Shyamalan is a particularly self-loathing (South) Asian man.
As for the actors, well, I don't think they should be completely off the hook, especially Jackson Rathbone, who has been quoted as saying in response to the controversy "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan." Idiot. Who thought it would be a good idea to cast the constipated vampire from Twilight anyway?
It's like, if Sarah Palin put on Blackface makeup and everyone was like "She's totally representative of Black and female persons. Let's make her queen of the world!"
or not.
Totally support a boycott of the movie. Maybe when it actually comes out, we could perhaps advertise the racism in the casting (for people who would perhaps be seeing it for the teenage-hearthrob-ness).
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