Less good news (but hey, at least there's something you can do!)

[sophinisba]

Say, does it bother you that only white actors are being cast in major roles for the movie version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, even though the cartoon is inspired by Asian animation and Asian cultures and its characters look like they come from different ethnicities and part of its message is about people of different cultures needing to work together despite their differences? Maybe you're like me, a white person who's insulted by studio executives who think you'll only see a movie if its cast looks like you. Or maybe you're upset on behalf of the Asian-American actors who can't get decent parts and the Asian-American kids who are missing out on the chance to see people who look like them as heroes on the big screen.

If so, please consider writing a letter to Paramount executives to tell them this is not okay. I haven't watched the show myself but I figure this issue is important enough for me to spend 15 minutes and a stamp on. You can get more information, tips, and a sample letter at aang_aint_white.

If you don't see what the problem is, please consider reading one or more of these posts:
Avatar: The Last Airbender by glockgal
Angry Asian Man: A break-up, of sorts. by vagabond_sal
Fear of a Black (Fantasy) Planet by tablesaw

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I just linked to this post in my links thingie! Just such a ridiculous issue and one that continues to infuriate me when I think about it! Thanks for posting these links!

[sophinisba]

Thank you for linking omg! Like I said in the e-mail, the more I read about this the angrier it makes me. >:(

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

Excellent post.

I know nothing of this movie or the cartoon, but this is a resurgent problem in Hollywood. For some reason, they seem to want to grab white males aged 18-24, or so, so they do things like refuse to make movies with a female as the primary character (Warner Brothers) and change the main character in movie adaptation of The Water Horse from a girl to a boy. I've vowed never to watch that movie, as a result.

It's appalling that they're refusing to cast Asian actors in any of the major roles in a project like this. It's also immensely stupid to ignore any demographic, and I'd think they'd have learned that by now.

Catherine

[sophinisba]

Yes, it happens over and over and it's insulting to everybody. I hadn't seen the cartoon before either but I've been reading about this in the last few days and it just seems like such a no-brainer that you would want a diverse cast for a project like this. :/ There's also some concern that the movie will be giving less attention to the female characters than the show did.

[bunniewabbit.livejournal.com]

Wow, I hadn't heard about the casting of this. In the show, many of the characters are ambiguously drawn, but many are clearly Asian. I just always assumed that they were all Asian. It really is stupid to cast the film this way. :/

[sophinisba]

What I've been reading is that some of the characters are more clearly based on East Asians (both as far as facial features and as far as cultures) and others on Inuit and other groups. It's an American show with a fantasy world and I don't think anybody's calling for an all-Asian cast, but an all-white cast? WTF?!

[sayhello.livejournal.com]

I was reading about this yesterday. So very, very stupid and narrow-minded. I'm not really that familiar with this particular anime, but if you know *anything* about it, it's amazingly asinine for them to white-bread out the entire meaning of the show. I mean, they might be great actors, but the cast they picked couldn't be more white-bread if they tried. I'm not sure if it's ignorance or arrogance, but both are no excuse.

Hewene

[sophinisba]

It's even, I mean, I'm sure they're nice kids and all, but it's not even like they've chosen to go with big names rather than take a risk on a lesser-known Asian-American actor. But as far as I can tell we don't have a picture for the kid playing Aang because he hasn't been in any movies before! It just... argh! Like I said I have never even seen this show but this is so obvious and angry-making! (And yet the casting news isn't completely confirmed, so maybe if people make a big enough stink there could be a change.)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you, brighteyes.

[sophinisba]

♥