I saw in the paper today that people are whining about that most of the cast in The Last Airbender movie aren't Asian. Supposedly fans of the series are "offended" that Asians were bypassed for a white cast. I guess people will cry about anything anymore. Don't people have anything better to do with their time?
I am so amazed right now, wow. Your entire reply just screams "bigot" to me.
I appreciate that you are sincerely concerned my dear but it appears you might be going a bit over the top with regards to
who you name-call in regards to this discourse.
I'd prefer it if we keep the term "Bigot" out of this discussion in context to people who have not actually made bigamous remarks. If someone had stated that "Those -insert racist remark- Asians are always so whiny about everything! Now they are complaining about white kids taking their acting roles!" I'd be full up
behind you and would most likely delete the comment for its inflammatory nature. However, what was said seems to be more of a "Seems like anything can be the point of contention for fans these days." No where in that did the writer mention a race of person complaining. Merely that race was being argued over by fans and that, to this author, it was overblown.
While I certainly understand your disagreeing with THAT statement, lets keep our enemies clear; the points of argumentation, not the people making the arguments.
Further more; I'd like to re-address a point that was dismissed I feel unjustly. The point of Fantasy in this debate.
Unless you can specifically point out to me a real life account of a people call the FIRE NATION/WATER TRIBE/EARTH KINGDOM/AIR NOMADS, and give me historical documentation on the nature of their clothing, customs and appearance, I am going to have to assume that these four "Nations" are nothing more than the brain child of very creative writers and animators who used real life basis for their fictional story. Yet, they never stated in one single episode of their creation any actual tie to a real country/people/race. In fact, many different periods in many separate cultures were used in congruence with separate nations (meaning you might see Xin Dynasty markings in the Earth Kingdom as well as Fire Nation, but have both East and West Jin Dynasty styles in Fire Nation and give nothing of that to Earth Kingdom).
So, as we work under the knowledge that each nation is, while based primarily on a few specific ethnic markers, a fictional creation of authors and animators, we can begin to respect the work in a way that allows us to understand that, anything can be possible. Blue-eyed medium brown haired women with a hazel colored skin would have certainly looked odd in historic Inuit villages, but with the span of time may not be so odd as many peoples have become mixed into almost every race. Katara herself is certainly no good example of a traditional Inuit women. Her personal look actual derives specifically from (as far as my anthropologist undergrad friend can guess)Northern American Indians and Inuit cultures. Leaving her a bit lighter than her elders in the show, and without as many of the traditional Inuit features in favor of a more basic palate (which lends itself to easier animating).
I could nit pick each and every person in the show and explain how over the years the mixture of cultures in one race to another has prohibited anyone from clearly stating that THIS is what the people should look like. The difference between Ozai and Iroh is striking in the show to me. But the basic summary is that there is a basic guideline for each of the different nations, but it is by no means set in stone. And while we may not like that certain attributes have been re-worked for certain main characters I think you will have to agree at the very least that we can't know how much the initial casting will effect the end result of the look of the character until we see the finished film.
Another thought that arose in my head is choices;
How are we to know how many Inuit actors and actresses came out for auditions... and how many among them had the talent and the endurance to put themselves through what is sure to be a grueling movie filming experience. Shyamalan is no stranger to casting No-names in important roles, or people he trusts immensely. But if they aren't good, or wouldn't stand up to the pressure, he has a very cold way of dealing with you. This has been stated by many of his closest work companions. He wont put up with anything below excellence and if you aren't able to stand out on location for 14 hours a day and get nothing done and have to come back tomorrow and do it all over again... perhaps these were the people who endured, regardless of what they
looked like and so he chose them for the hard roles.
I don't know the full story, none of us do. I do know that I deplore the shouting of fire in a crowded room and I have the same feeling for shouting racism in a charged climate. Unless you really mean it and you have the absolute evidence to back it up, all you are doing is creating chaos for the sake of chaos. Nothing we say is going to change the casting, or the directorship, and the endless debate on who is right merely creates dissension, not acceptance. We burn bridges with this kind of talk, we don't create them.
I dunno, I am a Granddaughter of a Cherokee Indian, but you will never catch me at a Pow-Wow because I'm not an Indian, I'm the Granddaughter of one, and I draw that distinction very clearly.
