The Last Airbender - M. Night's latest

[Batutta]

And Aang Ain't White. (The argument apperently goes both ways).

-Nate

There is debate on the matter, it's not ever made clear in the series, even though the obvious assumption is that he's Asian because of the genre. It's not as clear cut as in other properties.

 

[Sad Max]

He's a cartoon character. To the degree he's "really" anything he's not even human, let alone Asian, European, etc, etc

Now that Nathyn mentions the idea of a black Dr. Who, I'm already rooting for them to cast a good black actor for the next regeneration...

*edit* I'd love to see Don Warrington, or maybe Adrian Lester as The Doctor...

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

True but you understand that the Asian community was putting a lot of hate out for this film a long time before it even hit the theater. As a proud geek let me explain how things work. Getting the "costume" right is one third to half of the battle. Getting a basic story where characters are doing pretty much the same thing they're doing in the comic/cartoon is the rest. (Sin City should teach us a lesson on how to make a comicbook or cartoon movie).

But getting the race right is kind of important when it happens to be a majority of the cast including the main hero. People like my friends go see this film and come back and say it's "hot" or "not". This is how comic and films of this type work. Geeks are a tight knit community. If my female friend who would rather watch reruns of the the cartoon versus see this film, because the character's races weren't right (she's black by the way) that's ten bucks lost before plot even becomes a consideration.

People who read screenplays have a rule, they figure the writer probably doesn't know how to write a script if they don't know how to format one. Most of the times they're right (so they claim). Basically if a filmmaker can't bother to cast the right race for a film, what makes you think they care about it enough to write it properly. It goes both ways, Halle Berry in Cat-Woman is another example. Yes, we've seen a black Catwoman before in the 60s, but for Halle, they wouldn't even write a proper script for this film and went so far as to change the character's name to keep her from being the "Catwoman" of the comic. (Remember Warner Bros owns DC Comics, and therefore this character). They even took her out of Gotham City.

These movies are made to make money off the name. Hence the "NO I WON'T CALL IT "KUNG FU KID" attitude of Sony. And you shouldn't, that's not the name of the franchise. But with Karate Kid, they kept with the basic concept. With these comic and cartoon films you can't simply make it how you feel and you can't make "a new version" because fans want to see what they saw in the comic/cartoon, not your two cent.

Airbender has a lot of fans, a lot of them kids and adult anime fans. If you show no consideration to the fan base, and give the fans a big FU and why shouldn't the fans do the same to you. Now look where it got them. BURN AIRBENDER BURN I say. Hollywood racism and general laziness is biting them in the ass. I'm so pleased. Someone will get fired for this flop and I hope it's the right person. Also this isn't the first film to come out where white folks have been cast as ethnic main characters. Fox in "Wanted" was black in the comic and in "Legend of Chun Li" they chose a mixed girl (the chick from Smallville I believe) that looked more white than Asian, to play character who everyone knows is straight Chinese.

And these casting decisions are racist and without excuse. I'm not a person to go around calling everything racist, but I call people on it when it's true. And spare me the boo hoo for Hollywood their only trying to make money speech. Those of you who are white people you should be insulted that Hollywood doesn't feel you're intelligent enough to go see films with ethnic leads. But then again many films with ethnic leads do succeed, so what gives? Hmm? I could get into it, but I won't. I'll simply ask you to think about whose really being "programmed?" The TV/VCR or you. When a whole cast whose majority of the heroes are Asian but are made white but all the bad guys remain dark skinned Ethnics. I know, I've done it again but I'll continue to do it. Hollywood is playing us. By the way, Angelina Jolie is playing Cleopatra. I believe this is the third time she's played a black female. (I know it's the second).

-Nate

I agree with what you're saying, but for the wrong reason maybe.

First, I hate seeing white people portray minorities.
But you guys gotta understand we're talking about two different things here:
We've got the Halle Berry / Michael Clarke Duncan / Samuel L Jackson playing african american versions of already established characters that were caucasian in their respective source material on the one hand.
Then we've got the Mickey Rooney as Japanese in Breakfast at Tiffany's as well as the entire celtic cast of THOR playing Scandinavian gods on the other.

I've got no problem when you change the ethnicity of a character to give you a wider spectrum of actors to pick from. In fact, I think that could really open up interesting ways of developing for example characters and themes from comic books. What would it do thematically for the story of Superman if he was played by Marlon Wayans? What would the audience read into that story? How could you use that as a writer?

But when a white actor play a character that's obviously still a minority on screen, and you know how many minority actors there are who are great at what they do but it's hard enough as it is for them to find work, you just gotta ask yourself: 'Couldn't they have given this part to someone with the right ethnicity'?

As for The Kung Fu Kid, most of you know how I feel about that already.

 

[Nektonic]

3D problems and race issues aside, it sounds like The Last Airbender's biggest problems are the script, acting quality, and directorial execution. Those three things are a big enough problem in my book, one that pretty much overshadows all other issues. Too bad as this looked like a fun flick, and I'm an M Night fan. I even defended his last two films, LITW and The Happening. M Night, WTF is happening here?

Where are those brave souls who sat through that awful looking vampire college kids movie? I think it was called Transylmania? Maybe they want to give The Last Airbender a go?

As for the Cleopatra casting issue, how about Lena Headey, who played the Spartan Queen in 300? I think she'd be able to pull it off. Hell, then again, why not just cast a real Greek actress and film the whole thing in the languages of the historical period and provide the audience with subtitles? That'd be interesting and authentic as well. It worked for The Passion of the Christ.

 

[Zak Forsman]

I don’t know that I’d call this character obviously asian.

 

[Sad Max]

First, I hate seeing white people portray minorities.

If you are talking about a 'white' actor playing a character who is actually non-white on screen, I suspect that you might have to go all the way back to the old Charlie Chan movies, or to the days when caucasian actors wore blackface, for the purpose.

Peter Ustinov playing Charlie Chan, complete with makeup applications is the most recent role I can think of, where an on-screen non-white character was played by a white actor made up for the role. And since that was back in the 70s I don't think it's even very relevant to anything going on today.

 

[Sad Max]

I don’t know that I’d call this character obviously asian.

Put him in jeans and shi*kicker boots and he'd read as a skinhead, in fact.

 

[Nektonic]

I don’t know that I’d call this character obviously asian.

Caucanimesian?

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

If you are talking about a 'white' actor playing a character who is actually non-white on screen

You really don't know what I mean?

 

[Batutta]

If you are talking about a 'white' actor playing a character who is actually non-white on screen, I suspect that you might have to go all the way back to the old Charlie Chan movies, or to the days when caucasian actors wore blackface, for the purpose.

Joel Grey as Chiun in Remo Williams.

I don't recall there being much of an uproar about it at the time, maybe because he was so convincing.

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

Hold up Battuta you're treading on sacred ground here.rogar-BigGrin(DBG)

Remo was my sh!t. Now this could be a good remake if in the right hands.....maybe.


Wait a second that guy aint asian. Christ I never paid any attention to it.

Joel Grey as Chiun in Remo Williams.

I don't recall there being much of an uproar about it at the time, maybe because he was so convincing.

 

[Sad Max]

You really don't know what I mean?

Is there an alternate interpretation for the phrase white people portraying minorities?

A filmed 'portrayal' is a performance. Meaning a white person performing as a non-white person.

Unless you meant revising the character so that what was once a character of one ethnicity becomes a character of another ethnicity. Which is not the same thing at all.

*edit* yeah, I'd forgotten about Joel Grey. Good call. So we have to go back to the 80s. Likewise sufficiently long ago as to have pretty much zero bearing upon what we're doing twenty years later.

 

[Batutta]

Hold up Battuta you're treading on sacred ground here.rogar-BigGrin(DBG)

Remo was my sh!t. Now this could be a good remake if in the right hands.....maybe.

The first half of Remo is great. Once he actually goes on his first mission it's less so, but still enjoyable. A definite candidate for a good remake.

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

As a black man I thought I would be offended by Robert Downey in Tropic Thunder, But I laughed my a$$ everytime he opened his mouth. anyway carry on. I'm not jumping in this one.:lipsrseal

 

[Jim Brennan]

Thank you Chip. I'm on the verge of tears. Your news is so so sweet. Shyamalan's so bullsh!+.

Here's a great article:

Shyamalan's weak defense of "Airbender" racism

By the way, this "color blind" casting is also bullsh!+ too! It's a tool of racism masked as something to stop racism. He's something: Cast blacks as blacks, whites as whites and Asians as Asians. Shouldn't be too difficult.

-Nate

I believe all the Sgt Fury and SHIELD comics I read as a kid showed Fury as white... It happens both ways.

Besides, while Avatar (the series) is obviously stems from and Asian sensibility and influence, the legend encompasses the entire planet. Could it not be that some of the characters are white....

How far do we take this? Hispanics as Hispanics? Does that include Cubans? Puerto Ricans? Don't tell them that. Are all Asians and Pacific Islanders the same?

Are all white people the same? Ryan O'Neal as Michael Corleone? It almost happened. Not for cultural sensitivity, but for box office bankability.

You are making sweeping judgments based entirely on the way people look. If they had cast a 10th generation Japanese American in the role, would that be okay? Chances are that guy would be far more western than Asian in his culture, so it's not really a cultural issue. If that isn't racism, I'm not sure what is.

Let's take it one step further. If accuracy is the goal, then should we make sure that a person with no legs should have played Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, or a person with developmental disabilities play Forrest, or maybe it should have been someone who was from Alabama?

It's entertainment. Is it always sensitive? Heck no. And don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the perpetuation of stereotypes, like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

 

[Nektonic]

Also, what race are most anime characters supposed to be anyways? A lot of the time they are a-racial if you will (don't know if that's the proper term). What race are the characters in Akira? Vampire Hunter D? Ghost in the Shell (a character from which I have as my avatar)? Battle Angel Alita? How about Robotech/Macross? Toby MacGuire is rumored to be attached to a live action Robotech movie. Will people flip a biscuit over that one too? How about Akira, which was also going to be a live action film? Alita is was going to be done as Battle Angel by James Cameron, although, on that one people will probably complain that Alita is white and not real either? Ghost in the Shell is also rumored? That one takes place in Japan, but you know they'll cast non-asian actors in pretty much all the major roles.

Then again, does she look Asian, American, or European?

I think at this point the race issue with Airbender is not something worth getting all worked up about besides maybe writing to the studio to show your disatisfaction. It a lot of people write letters/emails, that's probably the only way they'll truly see that these types of casting decisions actually rile people up. Maybe it will make them think more about doing the same in the future? Otherwise, at this point why argue about racial casting issues on a movie that sounds like it isn't even worth arguing about at all in any way due to it being a failure on its basic narrative and cinematic execution?

Although I do think a black Dr. Who or Bond could work because Dr. Who regenerates into different looks and it's been said "James Bond" is a code name.

This is a bit off topic, but I was watching an episode of Highlander the series the other day, and it hit me, Adrian Paul, who plays Duncan MacCleod looks like he could be related to Sean Connery. He would've made a damn good James Bond back in the 90's. How is it that no one saw this back then? Or am I nuts?

 

[Sad Max]

Then again, does she look Asian, American, or European?

She looks hawt. Is that a race?

 

[Sad Max]

As a black man I thought I would be offended by Robert Downey in Tropic Thunder, But I laughed my a$$ everytime he opened his mouth. anyway carry on. I'm not jumping in this one.:lipsrseal

I think that character was designed to offend actors, regardless of ethnicity...

 

[Nektonic]

Then again, does she look Asian, American, or European?

She looks hawt. Is that a race?

Exactly.

She's also a cyborg, made by the Japanese in the series/films. Whose to say they don't make non Japanese gynoids? I'm sure once the droid industry gets into full swing (and let's face it, Japan is where its gonna explode), they'll make all kinds of models based on different races.

We'll probably just finally get over this "race" thing, and then the humanoid androids will come out of the woodwork to get us all riled up again...

... and after that issue is solved, the aliens will land and ruin the picnic.

 

[Brandon Rice]

This whole thing, in my opinion, is much ado about nothing.

I actually am interested in seeing this, and have been from the first trailer I saw. Might see it with the wife this weekend.

Was this shot 3D or processed? Anyone know?