M. Night Shamalan's The Last Airbender?

[Teim]

OH GOD TEIM WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT KATARA ACTION FIGURE?!

NO! SHE WILL LOVE ZUKO LIKE SHE WAS DESTINED TO!!!



AARRGGH ZUTHARA FOREVER!!!!!!!!!

[alphatroll]

OK, first off, I haven't seen the show & only know what I've heard.

But, correct me if I'm wrong, it was an American show, right? It's based around the Western Four-Element alchemy concept, right? There's some Asian flavor, but it's pretty much a mish-mash, right? It's a fantasy that's not even set on this world, right?

So what's the big deal about the actors and their nationality anyway? How does it matter even a little bit?

(& if I hear one more person even *implying* that Asian actors are under-represented in martial-arts movies, I fear I might suffer head-explosion.)

[The Flying Dracula Hair]

There's some Asian flavor...

Corrected, I guess.


It's like saying, well if it was made in America, then it's natural to cast white actors. It of course disregards the original characters and the way is story is set up, but it wasn't made in Japan or China, it was made in America.

We could use this logic to say, cast white actors in a movie adaption of The Boondocks.

[alphatroll]

There's some Asian flavor...

Corrected, I guess.


It's like saying, well if it was made in America, then it's natural to cast white actors. It of course disregards the original characters and the way is story is set up, but it wasn't made in Japan or China, it was made in America.

We could use this logic to say, cast white actors in a movie adaption of The Boondocks.

ummmm.... no....

What I'm saying is the characters aren't even from this planet, and the fictional setting is only partially based on Asia anyway. The characters aren't Asian. They may seem Asian, but "seeming" is as far as it goes. Ergo, why quibble over the socially constructed "racial" background of the actors at all? I see no point.

Again, I don't really know much about A:TLA, so my facts may be way off.

[Teim]

actually the show is full of non-white analogues and is very very very influenced by eastern culture...



but none of that matters because Katara never joined her true love PRINCE ZUKO!!!

KATAANG CAN BURN IN HELL AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[alphatroll]

What is non-white? What are analogues? Socioculturally, these are *extremely* complicated questions.

A simpler one would be: If the story's set in a completely fictional world, is the word "Asian" even relevant? Is there even an "Asia" there?

A bit more complicated, but still interesting: Would actual Asian people who've lived in Asia all their lives find A:TLA any less exotic than Euro-Americans?

I submit that the entire controversy is bunk. Based on my incomplete knowledge of A:TLA, which is the only relevant source. Yes? No? Is there something else I need to know? I'm curious.

[snemmy]

OK, first off, I haven't seen the show & only know what I've heard.

But, correct me if I'm wrong, it was an American show, right? It's based around the Western Four-Element alchemy concept, right? There's some Asian flavor, but it's pretty much a mish-mash, right? It's a fantasy that's not even set on this world, right?

More the five element Chinese concept. Metal is thrown in at the end of season 2.

[subobeyliminal]

But...but...

I don't care if Sokka's not asian. I just want him to be a lovely shade of light brown. ;~;

[snemmy]

But...but...

I don't care if Sokka's not asian. I just want him to be a lovely shade of light brown. ;~;

Maybe it's in Rathbone's Twilight contract. "CANNOT TAN!!!!!!"

[Teim]

I really don't want to watch this movie...

[alphatroll]

OK, first off, I haven't seen the show & only know what I've heard.

But, correct me if I'm wrong, it was an American show, right? It's based around the Western Four-Element alchemy concept, right? There's some Asian flavor, but it's pretty much a mish-mash, right? It's a fantasy that's not even set on this world, right?

More the five element Chinese concept. Metal is thrown in at the end of season 2.

Wow, even more of a mishmash than I thought! I wonder if Wood will come in to make it 6?

Best part: *AIR* is not part of the Chinese element system. No air, no Airbender.

I don't care if Sokka's not asian. I just want him to be a lovely shade of light brown. ;~;

Now *that's* relevant! Might as well pick actors who look kinda like the characters. Not critically important or anything, but relevant.

[SadakoMoose]

Possibly slowpoking, but...
Today I was in the mood for a bad movie, and could not help but watch Dragonball Evolution on cable...
Cannot help but feel we lucked out with Shamalan...
When they mentioned airbending in the movie, I could not help but think...
Not matter if this film is any good or not, we still got off lucky...

[alphatroll]

Possibly slowpoking, but...
Today I was in the mood for a bad movie, and could not help but watch Dragonball Evolution on cable...
Cannot help but feel we lucked out with Shamalan...
When they mentioned airbending in the movie, I could not help but think...
Not matter if this film is any good or not, we still got off lucky...

He *does* gots good geek creds, at least! Whatever happens, it's *not* Michael Bay.

[PeeringOffTheEdge]

Although it's nowhere said in the series 'this is Asia', the creators consciously included influences from our terrestrial eastern culture. Some music/instruments, the book names on chapter (episode) title screens are Chinese.. at least i'm sure Book 3: Fire is and, most notably, each bending style of earth, water, wind and fire use a form of Chinese martial arts. Water uses Tai-Chi, Fire uses Northern Shaolin, umm -checks dvds- Air uses Ba Gua and Earth uses Hung Gar. yes, yes, that doesn't prove that the world of Avatar is set in the Asian continent and that the characters are of this Earth. That hair is getting split mighty thin there. I believe it's the intent that most people are upset about in that the intent was to show a heavily Asian-influenced American cartoon, a mish-mash as alphatroll says it. And by casting some very pale kids as characters who have a darker complexion as natives of the South and North pole regions in the series, the fans of the series feel a bit betrayed that Hollywood is giving the movie a bit of a white-wash. Though I doubt many think this far into it, if the studios are willing to fudge skin color to appeal to a mass audience, will they also trash the ideas of Buddhism that are represented in the series? Aang, as the Avatar, is the bridge between the human and spirit world which he enters through meditation. Will they drop his meditations? Or will they just dump the spirit world altogether? (which they really shouldn't because the spirit world is basically 'exposition world') But I digress. Since alphatroll says he hasn't seen the series, I offer up this picture to better illustrate what people feel is wrong with the initial casting in terms of skin color.



Credit goes to AvatarSpirit.net for the screenshots of Katara and Sokka. I had to cut out their mark to make the pics smaller.

[alphatroll]

Okay, first kid's a little darker than the cartoon & the other two are paler. It doesn't matter; they're not going to match perfectly & they're not going to try.

My point is *not* that the story isn't Asian-influenced; my point is that the story is Asian-*influenced*. Lots of things are Asian-influenced. There's a White Wolf game, name slips my mind atm, but it *screams* Asian influence, & I'm pretty sure there aren't nearly as many Black people in Asia as you'll find in the illustrations. Why? Because it's a fantasy world, and like most fantasy worlds, it's really got a pretty eclectic set of influences. Asian stuff is hot right now so it's getting attention, but there's plenty of non-Asian stuff in there too.

Repeating the previous example, which I think pretty much clinches it:

Chinese system (copies in most nearby countries):

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing]

The five elements are:
Wood (Chinese: 木, pinyin: mù)
Fire (Chinese: 火, pinyin: huǒ)
Earth (Chinese: 土, pinyin: tǔ)
Metal (Chinese: 金, pinyin: jīn)
Water (Chinese: 水, pinyin: shuǐ)

[/url]


notice the lack of Air yet?

no Air = no Airbender.

Ergo, it ain't Chinese. It's just Chinese-*influenced*.

Air is one of the four Western elements, which happen to be the same ones used (primarily) in the series.

It's apparently also Western-influenced. WTF? How did that Western alchemy get in there? It's unauthentic! It's an outrage! It's amazing that I have to work this hard to point out the obvious. It's fantasy.