"It's a cartoon and the ethnicities weren't obvious!"
"Who cares if the culture is based on Asia?"
"I fought for the correction pronunciation!" (And yet... failed. I thought directors had the ability to tell actors how their characters' names are pronounced)
"I made it the most culturally diverse movie serie of all time!" - by changing 'eskimo' to white, compressing all the cultures that inspired the cartoon into 'Asian' and adding 'mixed' and 'darker' (than mixed?) as races.
"It's a CARTOON! A FICTITIOUS CARTOON!"
"Aang looked white to me!"
"Just because it's made in Japan doesn't mean the characters are Japanese!" (It's an American cartoon)
At this point I'm claiming Bingo and going back to ignoring that movie with every fibre of my being.
Of course it's racist. Hollywood films are racist and much as he claims to be some kind of special maverick who lives by his own rules, he's not. When you constantly get obviously English or mainland European villains, that's racism too, the same as the way gay characters are stereotyped in hollywood films, or certain stereotypes of black people, or asians that crop up over and over.
That said, since the article says that the heroes are caucasian but the main character (or at least, the titular character) isn't caucasian, that'd suggest someone maybe didn't look too far.
Aside from the bottom four photos not being consistently lit (presumably a pretty conscious choice by whoever made that), I had been assuming the cartoon -was- some kind of anime. Hadn't realised it was an American show just co-opting a different culture. In an American film of an American TV show, made in Hollywood, why would you expect it to be packed with Asians? Hell, look at Mark Dacascos' career on the IMDb. The man's Hawaian, but look at the ethnicity of a lot of his characters.
Look at the action movies about someone white and box office worthy going to japan/china to have exciting adventures because having a japanese or chinese star might not make enough money.
By the way, if the character of Aang is meant to still be Asian, are you saying that someone who isn't Asian shouldn't/couldn't play someone Asian? If so, why?
The second transformers film was -offensively- racist. It was pretty much up there with a full-on minstrel show and jokes about fried chicken, but once the initial release was over, no one cared.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 11:14 am (UTC)"I'm Asian so I can't be racist!"
"It's a cartoon and the ethnicities weren't obvious!"
"Who cares if the culture is based on Asia?"
"I fought for the correction pronunciation!" (And yet... failed. I thought directors had the ability to tell actors how their characters' names are pronounced)
"I made it the most culturally diverse movie serie of all time!" - by changing 'eskimo' to white, compressing all the cultures that inspired the cartoon into 'Asian' and adding 'mixed' and 'darker' (than mixed?) as races.
"It's a CARTOON! A FICTITIOUS CARTOON!"
"Aang looked white to me!"
"Just because it's made in Japan doesn't mean the characters are Japanese!" (It's an American cartoon)
At this point I'm claiming Bingo and going back to ignoring that movie with every fibre of my being.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 11:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 11:23 am (UTC)"That's rough, buddy."
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 11:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 03:34 pm (UTC)The three leads are Asian and when the first casting call went out it was for Caucasians. They have Causacians playing Asians. Wrong.
I can see why Mr. Shyamalan feels the way he does, and perhaps he has to say what he is saying to keep his job.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 05:08 pm (UTC)That said, since the article says that the heroes are caucasian but the main character (or at least, the titular character) isn't caucasian, that'd suggest someone maybe didn't look too far.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 05:44 pm (UTC)Look at the action movies about someone white and box office worthy going to japan/china to have exciting adventures because having a japanese or chinese star might not make enough money.
By the way, if the character of Aang is meant to still be Asian, are you saying that someone who isn't Asian shouldn't/couldn't play someone Asian? If so, why?
The second transformers film was -offensively- racist. It was pretty much up there with a full-on minstrel show and jokes about fried chicken, but once the initial release was over, no one cared.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 05:48 pm (UTC)Google racebending and read about the original casting call.