“The Last Airbender” (2010), which comes out July 2nd in North America, is a live-action Hollywood film by Paramount based on an animated American television show, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2005-2008). Although in the television show all the main characters were Asian or Inuit (Eskimo), in the film the three heroes are, yes, white.
That was no accident. Here is a casting call for a hero:
BOYS, AGE 12-15 – Caucasian or any other ethnicity. Athletic, graceful and intelligent. Martial arts or athletic ability a plus.
Meanwhile, when casting extras for the evil Fire Nation, they asked for those who were:
Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Asian, Mediterranean, Latino
Only one Fire Nation character is played by a white actor. All the rest are people of colour.
Colour-blind the casting was not.
And it gets worse:
There are blacks in the film. That sounds like a good thing but guess what: in the film they belong to a black-and-brown nation that is at the mercy of the Fire Nation. They are saved from genocide by the three white heroes. Hollywood never seems to tire of White Saviours saving Helpless Darkies.
But that is not all:
The director, M. Night Shyamalan, is himself an Asian American. He was born in India and (like John McWhorter) grew up in a well-to-do family in Philadelphia.
And probably worst of all:
It was one of the few American television shows that showed East Asians as people and not just so many Hollywood stereotypes. The stereotypes were there – martial arts, wise old men, etc – but there were enough other Asian characters that overall Asians come across as ordinary people.
Imagine if “The Cosby Show” was made into a Hollywood film and all the main characters were white, with blacks thrown in only as supporting characters. That is what is being done to the “The Last Airbender”.
The producers say there is plenty of “diversity”, that in fact it is more “diverse” than the television show. That is true at the body count level, but people of colour are given evil, weak or unimportant parts.
Roger Ebert says there are plenty of young Asian actors who could have played the lead characters.
Paramount cannot even claim that few would watch it if they put in Asian leads – the television show disproves that. On the contrary, they are turning off many fans of the show who protested against the casting decisions and are now telling everyone who will listen not to see the film.
Paramount seems to be thinking that more whites would be turned off by Asian leads than by its racist casting.
Jackson Rathbone, one of the Pretty White People who plays a hero, does not seem to think it is a big deal:
I think it’s one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It’s one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.
– Abagond, 2010.
See also:
- Other Hollywood films with racist or colourist casting:
- History in Texas schoolbooks
- stereotype
- The hearts of white people: the science
- David Carradine
- White Saviours
- darkies
Unbelievable… Like I said on another blog. I think this whole “post-racial” America thing where we are supposed to be “colorblind” and not pay attention the the nuances of race is being used as a guise to race-bend and show even stronger racial preferences.
After all we are all the same? Right? (rolling eyes)
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*Sigh* Every time I see this I feel that I shouldn’t see the movie, which makes me sad since I’m a pretty big fan of the cartoon.
The fact that they had the audacity to do this, like no one would notice…is just maddening.
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Never heard of the show for obvious reasons, but the subliminal racist imagery which Abagond describes between race and cast sounds like the usual Hollywood, and/or tv practice…
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I am sick of producers using the played out excuse that the white audience wouldn’t watch a film if the lead is non white. As if people of color dollars do not matter. Their have been plenty of hit movies with non white people as leads. They’re just up to their old tricks again. Shyamalan has to play the game to get the film made. This is why we need more people of color greenlighting movies and producing them.
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Thanks for writing about this Abagond. I was reading this same topic via another blog. (Racialicious) It blows me away… Normally, I would be trying to justify something like this, but admittedly, this is just wrong. (There is no playing Devil’s Advocate on this one.) They should have stuck to the original characters for crying out loud. This really does bother me.
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A cow and a goat and a sheep go hunting together with a lion. When it comes to dividing the spoil, the lion says:
“I take the first portion because of my title, since I am addressed as king; the second portion you will assign to me, since I’m your partner; then because I am the stronger, the third will follow me; and an accident will happen to anyone who touches the fourth”.
—-
I think it’s hollywood gentle and subtle way to tell asians that if they want leading roles, they best start pouring money in the show business.
…It’s a business after all.
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I will not be watching this mess, the people making excuses for this are too funny saying how anime character have “white features” no they don’t anime is a bunch of super deformed characters just like other american cartoon. I have never seen a white person or any other person with eyes that take up half of their face and non-existant noses
see below
why white people think that anime/manga are white
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2009/01/03/why-white-people-think-manga-characters-are-white/
the website racebending set all of this straight and they have youtube videos about AtLA
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M. Night Shyamalan started to lose the plot after The Sixth Sense. His subsequent projects have been one failure after another. Not surprised about his latest train wreck.
Like the producer of Precious, a man of color with some sway in Hollywood, you’d think he’d exercise his responsilibity to cast POC’s in a better light!
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@MerriMay
True, noticed he always has a majority white cast in all his films.
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@MerriMay:
I’m so disappointed and yet hardly surprised in the casting decisions. M. Night Shyamalan had it within his grasp to finally set things right regarding POC in movies and look what he does.
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*sighs…rub temples*
Thanks, Abagond. And onto my Facebook this goes.
*shudder*
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dang never looked at it that way and my brother and sister loves this show. they always have the white person play an asian character. they did the same to dragonball when it was an anime show. why couldn’t the director get people of his own race to play the characters? i want to see it but now i am having second thoughts. i didn’t even see the dragonball movie because of how fake they made the movie.
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Unbelievable.
Scratch that.
All too fuc&ing believable.
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“The director, M. Night Shyamalan, is himself an Asian American.”
LOL. These census race categories are so informative, aren’t they?
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What’s absurd is the people supporting the casting. They insist The Last Airbender isn’t Asian or Asian themed. And the other people who object are just being hyper sensitive. Oh, really?
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What’s odd to me is that per the show the villain is the lightest of the three characters shown. So transferring that to the screen a White/light-skinned person should be the villain and two tanned/brown-skinned people should be Sokka and Katara.
I’ve never watched this show, but my boyfriend is one of those anime geeks (:-P), and he’s pretty bummed about the movie.
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@Jasmin:
You must’ve read my mind.
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I knew it. I knew this was going to be another one of those types of movies when I first heard about it.
I watched the animated series on Nickelodeon and it was pretty good. When I heard it was going to be a movie though, I said “Uh oh, it’ll be another asian adventure featuring white characters as heroes.” I also thought that sooner or later there will be a firestorm about this film as the same.old, tired theme is used again, and there will be a backlash from those supporting this film as if there’s no problem.
In any case I won’t be watching this movie anytime soon.
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Aiyo, I just wanted to point out that to me that blog just sounds like a bunch of brainwashed weeaboo apologists. I agree in the sense that if a story in an anime/manga takes place in Japan, or the characters portray and exhibit certain characteristics of Japanese culture, then the characters are presumed as being Japanese. I don’t think anyone would deny that. However, that still doesn’t take away from the feeling that regardless, these characters tend to look “white” or “un-Asian/Japanese” to some people. Speaking as a black male, to me, that notion has nothing to do with white privilege/supremacy, or white being the “default”. I don’t think people who think anime/manga characters look “white” are suggesting they portray Japanese/Asian characters with exaggerated slanted eyes and yellow skin, but that it seems rather unrealistic, and somewhat suspect considering Japan’s obsession with the West(America in particular) and their general feelings towards Western whites as opposed to non-western Whites(like blacks).
You ever wonder why the anime/manga subculture is dominated overwhelmingly by whites? And how this correlates to the tendency of Asians in general to pander more to whites above every other group of people? Or even further, with the introduction of Western media not only to places like Japan, but the exposure of Western media among Westernized(particularly American) East Asians, that they tend to do things like dye their hair blonde, or get plastic surgery done to do things like make their eyes more round, and just try anything in general to be in the good graces of whites?
Coincidence? You decide.
For every weeaboo who goes on and on about how much they love Japan and the culture or anything Asian and try their damnedest to be “Japanese” or whatever, I just roll my eyes and shake my head. Because they don’t love Japan or the culture. They just love their limited, fetishized, stereotypical version of Japan or their monolithic version of East Asian cultures. You scratch a weeaboo hard enough, and under the surface, you discover the fetishes they tend to have, those which include sexualized stereotypes of Asians(the emasculated, androgynous male and the hypersexualized, submissive female). And seeing how a good number of East Asians either have no problem with these portrayals of themselves, or are so hung up on wanting to be a honorary white, that they go along with it.
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KeyerSoze, you hit it out of the park. As much as I have a problem with this. When I watch anime the characters dont strike me as Asian. They dont look European but if I had to choose which race they represented I would pick White Western European.
I remember watching Dragonball Z and it blew me away that when the Yoku(or whatever) morphed into his most enlightened form he took on the appearance of a blond hair blue eyed European. Doesn’t that seem odd? What message is that sending? For one to reach the highest physical form one must transform into a blond European. The whole thing is rotten of you ask me.
The same with Sailor Moon. Sure the features were exaggerated beyond normal human limits (very large eyes and tiny noses) but those characters looked white nonetheless.
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Whites cinema audiences are extremely narcissistic. They must be the most heroic, most athletic, smartest and handsomest person on the screen or it doesn’t seem real to them. That is why we have all these nonsensical. Magic Negro films, like that piece of white supremacy fantasy, the Green Mile. Most white spectators can only imagine blacsk as a main character is when they are using their talents, skills of magic to help the white character i.e Legend of Bagger Vance., What Dreams May Come. It is impossible for white screenwriters to imagine black life without stereotypes, Black producers of cinema copy those stereotypes in order to get funding and distribution for their films.
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The exact same thing happened with the Akira (live action) casting,
http://www.akira2019.com/live-action-film.htm
and with Speed Racer (live action) casting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811080/
It’s par for the course of Hollywood anime casting, I’m afraid.
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i’m a huge fan of the cartoon series and simply due to that, i won’t be watching the movie. i’m calling for a boycott of that nonsense. i wish they’d stuck to the basics of the show. in Avatar cartoon series, there are no white characters however neither are there black characters. is it really that difficult to imagine a fantasy world populated by just Asian and Inuit people?
i believe if people watched a lot of anime (and i mean a lot), they’d realise just how white anime characters are. one common anime trope regards hair colour and character nationalities. i’ve seen anime with white characters in them and these characteres are almost always blonde (to mark them out as foreigners) and/or speak Japanese with a weird accent (again to mark them out as foreigners).
@KeyserSoze, i have to disagree with what you said about the anime subculture being overwhelmingly dominated by whites. i believe you’re speaking from the American perspective aren’t you? Aiyo is British and as someone who used to be quite active in the anime subculture in England (esp. London), i have to say that it is not overwhelmingly white. i’ve attended several cons year after year and i’ve met black girls cosplaying as anime characters (and in one case as Wonder Woman), i’ve seen Muslim teens in hijab wearing gothic lolita fashion, i’ve met all sorts of races and nationalities. all i’m trying to say is that the anime subculture in other parts of the world is actually quite diverse and not overwhelmingly white.
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Wow thats unbelieveable! I watch this show and there are no white people! The main hero is oriental!
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Y — Right. Dragon Ball is my favorite anime, and though the characters always struck me as being Japanese, the whole issue of the ultimate form of a Saiyan being a blond-haired, blue-eyed being always kind of struck me as peculiar. And I don’t want to even get started on the likes of Mr. Popo and his role within the story. Well, at least they somehwat redeemed themselves with the Uub character.
eccentricyoruba – Yes, I am speaking from an American perspective. I do notice that the anime subculture has become more diverse over the years. When I was growing up, however, there were very few people of color that I could find not just in my area that were into anime, but around the world. In high school, I remember being invited to join an anime club. I went there, and I was the only black face there, in an overwhelming sea of white faces, with some Asians scattered in for good measure.
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@ eccentricyoruba –
Thanks for the European insight. This blog is predominantly North American in nature, but I always appreciate the perspective of non-North Americans. Thanks for sharing your personal experiences on the European ‘con’ scene regarding minority group participation.
Haven’t seen you around the blog. Just curious due to the name: Brasileiro – ou _____?
@ eshowoman
Good to see you around. I was waiting for your input a few months ago regarding comments about Irish Surnames (non-Ulster origin) among the Black community in America. (New World) Any chance you have come across any feedback yet?
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Finally, you’ve decided to mention this. In the show the characters are Asian and Inuit, but the cast in the movie are whites–except the villains.
And for people who think the characters were not Asian, look at it this way: the culture, style of clothes, food, philosophy, location of show (ancient Asia), martial arts are ALL Asians.
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Please boycott this movie.
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KeyserSoze, I agree with you. This is part of the reason it’s hard to defend Asians, because they seem to have an obsession with whites. Many of their commercials feature whites, their models/tv personalities are Eurasian/white.
In order for Asians to get respect, they need to stop worshiping whites.
That said, Last Airbender characters are Asian/Inuit.
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i will boycott this movie.
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Well, how about Starship Troopers?
Can I get an amen?
Or does anyone else know what the f%&* I’m talking about…?
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to be honest, I don’t really care about the casting issues in this compared to something like Avatar (irony considering the cartoon was known as Avatar: The Last Airbender).
I just don’t care because I never once liked the cartoon and really don’t care for the movie.
I just want them to be over this whole Airbender nonsense already.
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That was a movie from the 80s, wasn’t it. About a bunch of jacka(*&es flying around outer space battleling alien bugs. They should have used raid!
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@KeyserSoze, yeah i remember when i first got into anime/manga, i thought i’d be the only black face but things turned out differently
@Color O’ Luv, you’re welcome! i’ve left a few comments around the blog. and i’m not Brasilian, actually i’m Nigerian.
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@Mel:
I also agree with many of Keysersoze’s points and yours, too. I am all too familiar with many Asian ethnicities sucking up to white people. And I really do understand this is one of the reasons why black & asian relations are strained. I am one individual, but please bear in mind that there are Asians such as yours truly who prefer not to pander to whites. Believe me, I become very frustrated and disheartened when I look at the countless fellow Asians acting like a poor man’s version of white people. I have seen with my own eyes the Asians I know put in so much effort in trying to gain/win white people’s favors, and frankly, it disgusts me.
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@Herneith
That was a movie from the 80s, wasn’t it. About a bunch of jacka(*&es flying around outer space battleling alien bugs. They should have used raid!
No, it was a BOOK from the 1950s. It’s main character was Juan Rico: half black filipino, half Argentinean.
And the movie from the 1990s cast every single character as blond and blue-eyed.
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Leigh — Definitely, there are Asians who don’t pander to whites — Southeast Asians in particular. Though I had a group of South Korean friends growing up, and they and their families always treated me very well, and vice versa.
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It is a form of hyper reality conjured by the creators.
Goku powering up and turning blond and green eyes, Sailor Moon, etc. (I read somewhere that the creator of Sailor Moon based the characters on white people because they looked beautiful.)
Infusing Japanese customs, mannerisms, and behaviors with Western/white appearance to fulfill their ultimate fantasy.
It’s obvious that they do not look Japanese. But they think and talk like Japanese people. Half white/Japanese is also a common theme (Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid series).
Looking up to American/Western culture. Thinking of it as a big brother. This desire and curiosity to be like them but not quite, keeping a safe distance. It is a bizarre relationship.
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@KeyserSoze:
Well, I’m of Southeast Asian descent (Filipino) and I do believe the reason why Southeast Asians (Filipino, Vietnamese, Laotians, Indonesians, etc.) don’t cater to whites as much per se due to being looked down as inferior. A couple of time I’ve heard Southeast Asians particularly Filipinos referred to as the N-word of Asia.
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*reading Jules Verne*
Oh the smugness!
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Being Asian doesn’t excuse me from that, I suppose.
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Jules Verne, I second your comment about the fantasy aspect. Asians appear to be proud of their cultures, i.e Japanese, Chinese, but they seem to prefer the way whites look, so Anime is perfectly captures this. The characters look white, but are culturally Asian.
I loved Sailor Moon growing up. But even I admit that if it were turned into a live-action movie, it would make sense to cast a white actress.
I don’t think they’d find many blond-haired/blue-eyed Asians to play Sailor Moon/Serena.
It’s sad, but Asians need to realize they’re doing themselves a disservice and start being proud of their features.
I hear Asians say, in defense of the white-looking Anime characters, that the reason they give characters blue eyes/red/blond hair is because if they give them dark hair, they’ll look exactly alike. This excuse is just playing into the stereotypes that all Asians look alike.
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Here is what a white person looks like in the anime style:
No big eyes, no blue hair, no small nose, etc. Instead White Americans are stereotyped as having blue eyes, yellow hair and a long nose. Only when most of the characters in an anime are white will they be drawn in the big-eyed style.
The Simpsons also have big eyes, improbable hair and the “wrong” skin colour. Does that mean they are not meant as White Americans? Does it mean the creators are self-hating whites? Hardly.
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Whenever there are just white people saying everyone else (you know..the REST of the planet that’s not 12-15% genetic recessive) is being over sensitive, I know their is much more going on than their delicate lily white eyes would like to admit.
The whole world could clamor and whites would still hold themselves the barometers of what is racist and what is not.
These are the same people who not even over 50 years ago, posed for post cards of them at “pic-nigs” smiling in pale faced camaraderie as some poor hapless soul was roasted, drawn and quartered. Then excuse it in modern times as “the past”, “something that needs to be let go of” and “if WE keep bringing it up, we are being racists”. That’s my fave.
I wonder of something cataclysmic should happen to Africans, they would move there, claim DeBeers the direct descendant to the King of David,and say that the theory of humanity coming from America was true and that they as “Africans” are the heirs. 😉
Snarky Stars ******* out of 10 possible
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Jules Verne said:
“Infusing Japanese customs, mannerisms, and behaviors with Western/white appearance to fulfill their ultimate fantasy…
Looking up to American/Western culture. Thinking of it as a big brother.”
I do not care what your race is, that is still sickeningly smug.
You apply your ethnocentrism to Japanese characters and then draw shoulder-patting conclusions that support that very same ethnocentrism.
The Japanese are not infusing anything. That is how they draw themselves. When they draw American and Chinese characters in the same show with Japanese ones they look different. And the Americans are hardly fantasy big-brother figures in these shows either: they cannot even speak proper Japanese.
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Paramount, the company that is bringing us “The Last Airbender”, brought us this infamous bit of yellowface in 1961:
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@abagond:
Omigosh, yes! When I was about 10, I watched Breakfast At Tiffany’s at a local movie theater which played classic movies. I was absolutely floored by the racist Japanese caricature played by actor, Mickey Rooney. I’m not even Japanese and I was offended by the yellowface. I remember the people in the audience (mostly white) and I’m not kidding when I say they roared with laughter at the scenes when the so-called Japanese character appeared. I couldn’t stand watching the rest of the movie so I walked out. To this day, I can’t watch Breakfast At Tiffany’s without cringing.
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I’m not going to see the movie because Hollywood always f***s things up (O.K. not always!)
I have some concerns about the casting but lets face facts Hollywood has always done this. Even if the characters are white.
For Example:
The Daredevil movie – Michael Clarke Duncan playing the Kingpin. The Kingpin is a big white dude.
Shawshank Redemption – Morgan Freeman Character was originally a white guy!
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Abagond said:
“Here is what a White American looks like in the anime style:
No big eyes, no blue hair, no small nose, etc. Instead they are stereotyped as having blue eyes, yellow hair and a long nose. Only when most of the characters in an anime are white will they be drawn in the big-eyed style.
The Simpsons also have big eyes, improbable hair and the “wrong” skin colour too. Does that mean they are not meant as White Americans? Does it mean the creators are self-hating whites? Hardly.”
thanks for this! when anime characters are given blonde hair and blue eyes this is supposed to emphasize that they are foreigners, they are not meant to be Japanese in the first place. if a Japanese anime character is drawn with blonde hair and blue eyes, he/she is almost always ‘half’. Agent November in Darker than Black is supposed to be a British spy however all other British and American spies in that anime have blonde hair except for April who’s black. a good place to read about hair colour and eye colour in anime (and what it says about the characters that have them) would be tvtropes.org, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HairColors
i don’t see anime characters as white (unless they are supposed to be). Sailor Moon has been made into a stage production i believe and all the actresses involved in it were Asian. yes the actresses wore wigs to represent the characters they were playing but i don’t see how this makes them any less believeable as the Sailors. i mean when i watch a cartoon in which the characters speak Japanese, have Japanese mannerisms and basically are culturally Japanese all-round, there’s no way i’d see them as white simply because they are drawn with big eyes, have pink or red hair and blue or purple eyes.
it’s the sort of mentality that views anime characters as ‘racially ambiguous’ (read: white) which results in bs like the casting of The Last Airbender. the characters from the cartoon are obviously Asian and Inuit. they inhabit a world that is obviously Asian and Inuit influenced. while watching the cartoon, i could easily point out Chinese, Japanese and Korean influences. it was only after reading a few articles online that i noticed Malay influences as well. it’s really baffling to me why anyone would think Aang, Katara, Zuko, Toph et al are white.
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My kids loved Avatar, so I have seen some of the shows. It never once crossed my mind that the characters might be white – so much so that I was surprised when I found out it was American-made and not some dubbed-over Japanese cartoon.
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Another show my kids liked was “Naruto”, which is Japanese-made. The lead character has yellow hair and blue eyes. Yet everything else in the show makes you suppose that he is Japanese, that he is not a foreigner. Therefore it seems the hair and eye colour are being used only to make him stick out as the hero, not as a sign that he is foreign or part foreign.
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@abagond
I read somewhere that the creator of Naruto Masashi Kishimoto said he designed Naruto like that to appeal to western audience.
—-
As for Sailor Moon (which I still love btw) there was a live action version in Japan called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Here is the actresses that played them.
but when they transformed into Sailor Senshi their hair colour changed to look like their manga/anime selves
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Aiyo:
That last link did not work. Is this what you mean:
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This is not surprising. At all. I mean…. I expected this. I’ll be surprised the day they cast actors who match races described/portrayed in the novels and cartoons. Whitewashing is a norm.
And not just whitewashing: 9.9 times out of 10, they (mainstream, “Hollywood” production or whatever call it) completely ruins and disrespects someone else’s culture and history.
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@abagond yeah that’s the one
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Not a literal brother. As a source of fascination. WWII did have a big impact on the relation between the two countries.
Shinichi Kudo aka Edogawa Conan. Can’t deny the brown hair/blue eyes.
Himura Kenshin. Doubt that redhead samurais existed back in the day.
Sakura kinomoto. Brown hair/green eyes. The guy on the left is Chinese.
Three examples in which characters are clearly Japanese based on their names, behaviors, and speech.
There are some patterns in which distinctively Japanese heroes are used. The hero may or may not be or/and appear distinctively Japanese (Gon from Hunter x Hunter, Digimon, Lupin III as a hapa), but there are almost always sidekicks that are or/and appear distinctively Japanese (Leorio from Hunter x Hunter, Honda from Yu-Gi-Oh, Sasuke from Naruto, Otakon from MGS series).
And then there are other anime shows in which the setting is clearly Japanese, but these often have references and jokes that are only applicable to Japanese people. So they are obvious if they were to depict a non-Asian foreigner in the show (Crayon Shinchan, Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, etc.)
I’m going to just copy what someone else said on a different forum since this thing is just getting too long.
“When little children draw self-portraits at an early age, they usually follow the same pattern: circular face, two dots for eyes, some kind of indicator for a nose, and a smiley face. It is only when racist indoctrination sets in that “ethnic” children are forced to draw their eyes in slants or otherwise caricaturish features. White children are allowed to continue to see themselves in the most default and natural way possible, whereas ethnic children are forced to used modifiers in order to signal their differentiation from the norm (just like a big yellow Star of David on their face).
To the Japanese, drawing their characters with big eyes is no more a repudiation of their race than for the Americans to draw their Simpsons characters as yellow. However, to a world that demands its non-Whites to distinctly identify themselves and know their place, this kind of race-free thinking is annoying, and perhaps even threatening. What would happen if the Asians pulled themselves out of their pigeon-hole? Oh god, the horrible possibilities…
That being said, I don’t quite know how you can take an anime character with green hair, blue saucer eyes, and a needle for a nose and proclaim him or her to be White. The only reason this happens is because since the character is not signified to be Asian (aka “slitty eyes”), it must belong to the default light-skinned race: the Whites. It’s the same principle with people saying that somebody like Kristin Kreuk looks White because she’s not distinctly Asian. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know ONE White person who looks like her. But in an Asian-White dichotomy, the absence of any blatant racial identifications means that the person is White. This is a Western way of thinking, and it doesn’t work everywhere in the world, though its proponents believe it to do so.”
It is in the hands of few that these animations are created, shaping the culture of Japan. Japanese people, youth especially, may or may not be affected by this inferior complex/racial confusion about self, but you can bet that these creators are. There’s a chance that it may be done due to marketing, and it often is for video games for instance, but there is a reason why some people laugh at the idea of Tom Cruise as a samurai or a white actor portraying Goku in the movie.
And on the blond stereotype for Americans, it’s not just that. Ranma 1/2 is a stereotype of Chinese people if you look at it. The way the Chinese speak, their all-encompassing knowledge of martial arts, etc. And that series was at least twenty years ago.
Anime, like other forms of media, is an outlet to dream and fantasize about things unfulfilled. That is what hyper reality is. Fantasy based on reality. What the creators are portraying through their anime creations are Western/European/American influences. When I went to Germany, I couldn’t help but notice just how similar some things were. (the train system, how the street is structured to accompany small houses in rows, etc.) Added to the European influence after the reconstruction was the influx of Western culture. America being the forefront of it. Fashion, TV shows, music, you name it, you bet it had an effect on the anime creators’ sense of perception. Taking what they consider to be best bits of the other culture and morphing it with everything Japanese while maintaining the distance from otherness. The result is anime characters with appearance that differs from both Japan and the West in a way, but still culturally Japanese.
Anime creators that practice this have an influence on the youth. When I was little and lived there, I watched the shows I mentioned above. Back then, I had no concept of racism. Dragonball Z was just a kick ass show with characters that kicked ass. It wasn’t until I came over to the States that I was introduced to the idea of racism. Then when I analyzed these shows with that knowledge, the appearance of these characters took a different meaning. You can’t just tell me that Japanese animation was influenced by Bambi and other Disney creations and that is why they have big eyes. Mr. Popo from Dragonball Z and Jynx were influenced by the racist portrayal of black people from back in the day in America. The latter is not okay.
And that is the point of my criticism. Creating these anime shows is a responsibility. It can and does change the way people think. The medium itself is the platform in which it can fight the racism ingrained within.
People talk about racism in America. This blog is a commentary on racism in America. My point on criticizing Japan is no different from that. Japan, like any other country, has racism. It exists. You say smugness, I say a passionate outburst toward a topic I care about.
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Total BS on the studio’s and Shymalan’s part. Didn’t Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon have an all Asian cast and the movie was a box office success? I am so sick of these white folks save the day movies, that’s why I refuse to watch Blindside. I never saw the TV show and now have more reasons not the see the movie. I can’t believe that in 2010 crap like this is still happening. When will humans finally evolve, even after millions of years we are still fighting the same battles we fought when life just began.
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Jules Verne:
Excellent comment.
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@ Mabel –
I completely agree with you about the “BS on the studio and Shymalan’s part.”
I’m not so sure about your take on the movie “Blindside”. It is a TRUE story and not ‘fantasy/fiction’.
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The Airbender program takes place in a fictional SF universe, so why can’t the producers cast whoever the hell they want for the live action movie?
Regarding Manga/Anime, the Japanese producers of those things make the characters look Occidental because they are trying to SELL a product to occidental people.
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WHAT. THE. F***. IS WRONG WITH SHAMALAN?!!!
It baffles me that a person of colour could be so ignorant and useless about this kind of thing, especially someone of his age.
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It happens to be one of my favorite shows and I am not ashamed to say I have it on my saved to my dvr. If you know anything about the show you know that it is ancient Asian themed, even down to the characters names and costumes and practices for an example Momo the main characters pet is Japanese for peach. Names like Aang, Zuko, suki, iroh. Places called Ba sing se, Kyoshi island, chin villiage, and Wa shi tong. I can’t seem to understand how someone can take an overly obvious Asian cartoon and whitewash it, it is beyond my comprehension and It makes me angry because when i heard they were making a movie into my favorite cartoon i was excited and then to see the trailer… such a disappointment. Smh
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I’ll definitely agree that the casting to this film was completely idiotic and makes no sense at all.
I do also think that this isn’t the right way to picture Asians even if the creators of the series are white Americans and it’s okay with it them.
I do however don’t think that this will in any way damage the way children see, for example ,Indians. I would imagine that the majority of young kids today are the way I was back in the days and that means that the coolest person on the screen, that everyone wants to be, is the badguy.
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All of you screaming about race seem just as racist (and impotent) by denouncing these people. Has it occured to anyone that these actors might actually do a good job. And on the subject of an Asian playing the villian, you are being incredibly short sighted. Zuko is one of the most deep and well written characters in the series. Lighten up people, you people act like this movie is going to have impact of star wars or Harry potter, good greif.
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trust me i dont like this at all as a african american i see many rascist thing h ave a close japannese fan we both love the series but when we saw this mess it brok are heart man rascitt casting
nick fury white actor sameul jackson black
goku asian actor i dont care white
it is clear sokka and katra are indian not white as snow
asian do need to stand up mecians to we need to show a black a asian a mexcian can play in a movie not based off of sterotype
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…Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender would probably enjoy this June 29, 2010 Mr. Media Radio interview with graphic novel/manga co-authors Dave Roman and Alison Wilgus in which they discuss the creation of the movie tie-in The Last Airbender: Prequel: Zuko’s Story, their “inspired by the movie” adaptation of the M. Night Shyamalan script and much more!
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Jackson Rathbone,Justin Chatwin is are pathetic. They come up with these flimsy excuses for why they take parts in movies they have no business being in.
Are they really that pathetic and hard up they can’t see what there doing is wrong. But really the blame goes to these movie executives who can’t stand the ideal of anybody not white in the lead.
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@ Abagond –
Hey, I was just reading an interesting Q & A session with M. Night Shyamalan and his casting decisions, concept of the movie and “anime” characters. Regarding his words on race/ethnicity and his concept of you “see what you want to see” – I thought fascinating from his “CONCEPTUAL”. (What he was envisioning.) Whether I agree or not, i did find his comments believable.
It was very interesting. I believer there will be more articles going forward.
I did not want to copy and paste that entire article here out of respect for your blog, but I did want to ask you if it was ok -or- if you could “recap” it here or link it?
Thanks. . .
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Provide the link. Maybe I will do a post on it.
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This movie definitely won’t get my money. But it’s certainly interesting for doing a research on the issue, so additional information is more than welcomed.
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Not only did Ebert think it was wrong to change the original by casting whites as the heroes, he thought the white actors were not even good:
“This casting makes no sense because (1) It’s a distraction for fans of the hugely popular TV series, and (2) all three actors are pretty bad. I don’t say they’re untalented, I say they’ve been poorly served by Shyamalan and the script. They are bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing.”
More:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100630/REVIEWS/100639999
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Oh, yes, don’t get me started on that one. I know nothing about the kids, but Jackson Rathbone sucks. So much for the “casting the best possible actor regardless of the race”.
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Right, that is the least they could have done.
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Abagond,
But they claim they did cast the best possible actors! I’m not saying casting Meryl Streep* would excuse them (it would still be unclear why they chose to cast white actors), but at least people would be able to believe a talented actor was cast.
*Or whoever is considered the best of the best
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LOL, where does that kid get off saying:
“I think it’s one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It’s one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.”
…getting a tan and shaving his hair does not make him Asian or Inuit, looks or otherwise.
Man, what this type of thing does to the subconscious is crazy. Always putting “white is right” and somehow above everyone else concept out there at every angle. I also seem to think of that stupid movie Will Smith played in as the drunken, can’t quite do anything right, black superclown.
I actually wanted to see the Air bender movie, but now if I see it, it will be on bootleg–def. not paying to watch it. 🙂
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Im not going to get caught up in all the racism that is occuring here, though believe it or not so much is being thrown towards whites it is making the majority of you look hypocritical.
Not going to even comment on the last airbender, because one of the main heroes is the guy you marked as a villain actually. And he goes from a light skinned character to a darker one. Yes i am referring to Zuko.
What i came here to mention was the dragon ball z arguement where blonde hair and green eyes are mentioned. In the ultimate saiyan form goku has black hair and green eyes, so sorry….does that mean blondes cannot be enlightened to their fullest potential? Or is that saved for the dark headed? Your arguements in that matter are foolish at best…
Lastly to the person who refuses to watch blind side because “im sick of these white folk save the day movies”, it is mentioned in the movies multiple times that the boy saved her, and he is african american. He also saves her son’s life at one point. So many of these baseless accusations and childish attacks on whites are really quite pointless.
I for one am white, and i want noone to look up to me nor do i expect it. I have made no racial remarks in my lifetime towards anyone, though i have heard and taken so many from the “minorities”. Many of you dont base your judgement off of qualities, you much rather see the white man lose….racist much?
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when I watched the last air bender I was so excited what would be the result, if it make in real, if the visual effect is amazing and are the story still the same?, Suddenly , I am disappointed cause I am expecting more from the movie, and second thing the their are to serious, It will make me bored.
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[…] race thing, my bad. Some random searching online for funny pictures of the cast directed me to https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/the-casting-of-the-last-airbender/, so why don’t you click that link to read a more in-depth examination of the […]
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Hmn I think just from the facial characteristics they got Katara and Sokka down alright, but definitely the WRONG colour, the fact that the actor for Zuko looks NOTHING like Zuko, upsets me. Yes I had to say SOMETHING positive about their choices (even if it was the only thing I could come up with). Still the fire nation where the white people in the show and they were kinda cool in their own right.
Maybe it is because I am white, but what disturbs me the most is NOT the racism here. It’s the total disregard for the sanctity of someones works. The betrayal of the story and origin of it all is worse for me than the racism alone (and yeah I know I am not going to make any friends with that statement, not racist just an artist and art trancends everything save god).
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Poprockz, maybe you should actually WATCH Dragonball Z. If you watched it, you would know that the final form for Son Goku has black hair.
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The movie sucked balls, I’d rather watch a movie that had all asians in it….in the series..Zuko and the fire nations were not…Indians…I’m pretty sure they were asians in the series….I know Katara and soka were a little darker in the series, but everyone else was..asian related…Thumbs down for me.
In the Movie…Aang..looked so weird….they should’ve used an Asian for his roll, too. 😐
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Oh, and they crammed too much into one movie as well, which made it suck even more.
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I didn’t have the time or patience to read all the posts. So, I apologize in beforehand…
I went to see this flick with my son and his friend. And yes, I’d already seen the animated series. I was somewhat surprised that ethnicities were so strongly portrayed in this film. None of the main cast were as far as I know, well known actors.
If you really think about it, the whole series is based on pseudo-oriental mythology/folklore/manga stuff. So, basically ALL the feature roles should’ve gone to ethnic minorities. And the northern/water elemental tribe roles should’ve gone to inuits/eskimoes, instead af nordic/viking types. The fact that there were many Indian roles is probably due to the fact that the director is Indian.
Personally, I think the film SUCKED. One of the worst films I’ve ever seen.
The positive side is, that my son liked it. And he has never, and hopefully never will, show any signs of racism. What he saw was a film, not a study of how Hollywood should cast minorities in (crappy) films.
Peace.
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—That is all.
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I don’t know what any of you are talking about I like the Green Mile. I didn’t see it as a Magic Negro film but a film about injustice and black man who is noble to the bitter end.
I felt like crying when the film ended it still kind of chokes me up like Lady in White.
I’m not interested in the Live Action Airbender movie because I love the animated show better and I hate most live action adaptions of animated fare because most of the time they just water down then essence of the show.
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I thought the movie MIGHT be good, until I saw the previews and noted that there were NO Asians in it! I love the Airbender series and used to watch it with my son when he was younger, so I felt a bit insulted and gypped when the live-action movie bore no resemblance to the series. Same with DBZ and Speed Racer – great animated TV shows but crappy live-action versions!
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Well, people, let’s face it, many (most?) of the animated movies adaptations suck. Same goes for comic books. And not to mention video games.
So, all in all, the movie had a great fail potential right from the start. The fact they managed to be both bad AND disrespectful/racist just made the whole thing much worse.
PS- As for the “Green Mile”, I always thought the character was Christ. This, arguably, makes it a Magical Negro movie. But I had no idea people hated it so much. I liked the character.
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Hollywood strikes again with cult classic anime Akira revolutionized animation and arguably saved the Japanese film industry is being adapted to live action. I still have the VHS
I heard about this last yeat and heard Leonardo Di Caprio may be Tetsuo which is weird because the guys in the film are teens.
but now they are many other white guys up for the leads Tetsuo and Kaneda
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yes it was despicable to see Will Smith play James T West in Wild Wild West… as well as the black characters that always seem to make it into Robin Hood era movies… they are always wander Moorish heros… lame… they should cast all movies the way the stories were written, but it does go both ways
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Do you really not understand the difference, Skippy?
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Do you just like to complain? If they cast it like the real show the bad guys would all be Chinese or Japanese, and there wouldn’t be any African Americans. And what race do you think monk Gyotsu was? The whole world was actually under oppression by the fire nation. But no, I’m sure he was just trying to put whites at the top… And did you even watch the movie? I’m pretty sure the “blacks” (who were actually Asian) saved themselves.
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@Noyb
It appears that you like to complain…because that is all I see from your replies on this and other articles.
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Wow… Good come back, Michelle 😛
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Being a dragonball geek back in the day I have to mention this…..Goku’s “blonde” form wasn’t his most enlightened stage.
Going Super Saiyan means going into a more murderous mode of thought and basically embracing the killer in you.
And yes; its never really dealt with that I can remember but it is kind of disturbing that Goku etc….taught children to reach this state of mind.
So its closer to saying white people are the most monstrous murderous killers in existence than the most enlightened and awesome people alive….and I suspect its not actually doing either of those.
As for the Blindside I can see why people might have problems with it, from what I’ve heard in real life the guy was already one of the top football players in the state when they met him but in the movie they pretty much have to teach him how to play football and he’s barely able to form coherent sentences when they first meet up….. That and the fictional bit where she confronts gangsters…..basically “based on a true story” doesn’t mean as much as you might think it would.
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@ V4
I beg to differ on the DBZ thing, going super saiyan was the ultimate form, you were now in a superior mode (they used the actual word superior) and its something to be envied and achieved. Looking at Japanese pop culture today, and not just anime, it really makes one wonder.
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Sure; it was something to be achieved/envied it was a more powerful form and made it so you could fight stronger beings and become stronger.
But it wasn’t “more enlightened”, its not like Goku become a buddhist monk with aryan hair…….
It was achieved by going into murderous intent, admitably I’m going by the english version, I couldn’t tell you what it said originally.
But it wasn’t like they attained some higher form of existence.
They weren’t a superior form of human being in the mental or moral sense or get a better more accurate view of the universe ala wise person on the moutain top.
Just got mentally geared up to kill some one and bam go to the next level.
Of course considering the sheer amount of saiyans that didn’t seem to mind killing people and violence in general it seems weird there aren’t more but maybe thats because killing was just that casual to them.
Anyways DBZgeekiness aside; its not really an example that fits here.
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When I first saw this I thought “how racist and dumb” and dismissed it. Like…I HATE the casting, why are Katara and Sokka white? However, even though I still don’t like it…I don’t think it’s as racist as everyone has made it out to be. Has no one considered the actual logic that could be behind it?
The fire nation, you think warm, desert-like regions…so darker skin. And fair skin tends to go along with colder climates. Has no one thought that “hey, maybe it actually makes sense”..I think maybe that is what he was going for, besides Prince Zuko is NOT a bad character, he is a lost character..but not an ultimate “villain”. The earth kingdom was depicted by Japanese (I believe?), fire nation has an indian look and water tribe is caucasian.
The one thing I would go back to saying is racist is Aang doesn’t fit with the way the rest of the air tribe looks…however, I think he is one of the better casted characters.
All that rambling aside, I think overall the casting could have been better. But it is what it is and I don’t think “racism” is really the right word for this particular movie. Perhaps that word is used too loosely nowadays. I mean, most of the voice actors were white anyhow…Can you claim I’m racist just because I like one fit better than another?
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My son watches the animated version on television, “sigh” I knew the moviw would be crap and it was, I love the casting of whites in asian roles and if they could cast whites in “black” roles Holly-would..What is so fascinating is that u never see any black folk in these films the illogic being that blacks were not present in this period or geographical location which is complete and total bull.
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There are blacks in the film. That sounds like a good thing but guess what: in the film they belong to a black-and-brown nation that is at the mercy of the Fire Nation. They are saved from genocide by the three white heroes. Hollywood never seems to tire of Mighty Whiteys saving Helpless Darkies.
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