Jun 23
2009
03:13 PM ET
'Avatar: The Last Airbender' trailer: Does it make you forgive M. Night's questionable casting decisions?
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@Chris- Stories can be set in an ‘Asian World’ without the characters of that story being Asian. The world of Avatar is a fantasy world and as such the characters therein are not necessarily of Asian decent despite the series obvious Asian influences. The only people who can truly answer that question are the series creators. Why not let them decide who is right for what role in the live action movie or at least have the decency to allow that they may,in fact, be okay with the casting?
Thank you, Ra.
And, to Chris, your outrage would have more weight if you were airing your grievances towards a TV show that’s been on for four years with 60 episodes, than a movie that isn’t finished yet.
I am glad the movie looks better than I though it would…I think I’ll wait until the full trailer is out until I make my final judgment. When I first found out that they were using white actors to play the Asian characters, I was furious. Are you kidding me??? They did that with Dragonball Z(and look how horrible that movie was)! I don’t understand. “Well, the characters don’t look Asian”. – Are you serious? Look at their clothing, the places they lived, THEIR NAMES. Their names are CLEARLY Asian names. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, Suki, Ozai…white people do not name their kids those names. God, I swear, people are so stupid. It’s so freakin’ obvious. Um, so what if the voice actors aren’t Asian? They’re just VOICES. Sheesh.
[IMG]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/genesis777/angryaang.gif/IMG
It’s not good enough. Not just the casting, but the horrible comments of the cast and the casting directors? I’m right out. I hope this great show gets a reboot in a few years with a cast that isn’t completely whitewashed.
In general M. Night should not be making this film. The Avatar series had an amazing story line, better than Dragon ball Z. They should have used a mixture of actors/actresses in order to grasp the feel of the Avatar series, however they did not. Dev Patel only got the role because another actor pulled out. M. Night has not made a good movie recently and it is sad that he had to ruin such a wonderful story line. With its combination of dreadful casting and an inconsistent director I am certain this movie will not live up to the cartoon series. People are arguing on this blog, but is failing to realize that casting plays a huge part in the feel of the movie. Look at the Lord of the Rings series, simply amazing. Fans of the Avatar cartoon series understand why the casting is important, casual watchers do not.
Ima huge fan of the cartoon and though I don’t think M Night was the right person to adapt it, it does looks good so far even if there’s some details i’m not to crazy about but i’ll wait to get a peek at the actual trailer.
http://theninthdragonking.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/incoming-avatar-the-last-airbender/
I agree with the so so casting but I’m not so much bothered by that as much as M Night directing this film, this is a great cartoon series with an awesome story line and I’d hate to see it get butchered by bad directing. I hope he doesn’t stray to far from the series.
WayBeyondSoccerMom,
The series was BASED on Asian culture! I agree, it’s not that big of a deal, but can you even think that it might be nice to see an accurate cinematic portrayal of the Avatar Asian influences???!!?!? I don’t understand why you’re so uptight about this.
And for Pete’s sake just because your kids watch manga and anime doesn’t mean you’re the ultimate universal authority on Asians. That stuff poisons your mind.
HELLO!!! Last time I checked the Air Nation was not Japan. Or the Fire Nation. This is sci fi. It is a metaphor for the modern world NOT a historical play. There is a lot taken from Asian culture but the complaints about the “whitewashing Of the cast” is like complaining because my son’s karate teacher is black. So what! It looks like this kid can BE Aang. My kids are blown away by the trailer and we will be there for the movie next summer.
Yeah, you’re right. Fantasies should be exempt from race accurate casting. I want to see Robinhood played by a black man. I want to see Buffy from Buffy the vampire slayer played by a Hispanic girl. I want to see Wonder Woman played by a short fat Swedish woman. I want to see a reboot of Xena where she’s portrayed by a Japanese woman. Jame Bond too.
omg dev patel does not look like zuko. what the f.
hmm, I wonder how John Wayne would look like if played by an Asian? Yeah, I think that would could totally work, just put a cowboy hat on, or US military outfit, oh yeah because an Asian can pass as an All American guy with the accent and all. Why not? please people, if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s Ok. We need a new comedy skit anyway.
@Ra & WayBeyond – An Asian/Inuit world without Asian/Inuit people in it? That’s hijacking someone else’s culture. And that’s pretty much what the film version is doing, which is why so many people are offended and upset. But I don’t think that the original Avatar series made this mistake. Since nothing suggested the kids were ever meant to be Caucasian, then logically it would follow that they were Asian and Inuit, just like the cultures we saw onscreen.
Tell me, how weird do you think the Lord of the Rings movie would have looked if it was an all Asian, Hispanic, middle eastern, or black cast with all the European Culture surrounding them? Wouldn’t it be out of place?
@WayBeyond
And why should I get mad at the TV show? They didn’t do anything wrong? Or you trying to say I should be mad that they didn’t put characters eyes slanty enough for them to be counted as Asian?
People, if you are so “above and beyond” race, then you shouldn’t be so offended that people of ALL races are calling for Asian actors. How many white kid actors are there for children? Basically the entire cast of every American kid show ever made.
How many Asian actors are there for kids to look up to?
((resounding silence))
It’s fine if YOU are beyond race, but that’s not fair to people of color who want their cultures recognized, not appropriated 4 entertainment purposes.
It’s oh so obvious that Avatar is based on Asian cultures. How many white Americans grew up drinking green tea, practicing martial arts, talking about yin/yang, …BEFORE THE 1940S????
Not very many; It’s Asian.
Yes, it’s nice to respect and not focus so much on race. But it’s NOT nice to be “color blind” & totally appropriate someone’s culture that was heavily discriminated against in the recent past.
I can’t believe this has happened and I can’t believe the director didn’t stand up for people of color
Good lord people! It’s a movie! I think some of you have lost perspective. This shouldn’t be a cause for civil war among fans! If you’re upset because the cast mostly white, deal with it. If you really really want to, write a letter suggesting they should consider Asian actors for later appearing roles. But if you’re just going to keep posting on this comment string about how upset you are and yet still go see the movie, I and all the true fans would just prefer you went on your merry way.
To all the true fans reading: I’ll see you at the theater.
Actually this is not the only blog about authenticity and there were petitions and protests but by the time they came out it had been to late. I also remember hearing fans were not allowed q&a after a preview at one of the major conventions. I also saw many great asian actors online vying to participate in this film ala Elijah Wood for the role of Frodo. So dude people tried it just fell on deaf ears which is why they rant. Why shouldn’t people rant its healthy, you want to see that people feel the same way. That is kind of the point isn’t it.