Comments on: White-Washing Avatar: The Last Airbender?

By: VIP20000

VIP20000 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:40:55 +0000

totally agree with you

By: VIP20000

VIP20000 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:39:51 +0000

it does matter what they look like. the movie will not make sense because the theme of this series is more asian than white, the martial arts, the chinese at the beginning of each episode, the theme is just asian. its not gonna make sense to have some caucasian doing martial arts. even the names are more asian than caucasian. aang, sokka, zuko, zhao, iroh? lol how many caucasian have these names. and for your information “Look at the Death Note movie or other live action movies you may have seen, it just looks weird having Asian actors playing white looking characters” thats what everyone is complaining about a different race acting out different races……..so like what ppl are getting at “it's weird having white actors playing asian looking characters”

By: nemogbr

nemogbr — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:44:08 +0000

http://www.racebending.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/racebending

Several sites that are continuing the protest.

By: jay

jay — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:21:07 +0000

I dont know where to start… I’m a 31 old white male and I’m so frustrated, angry, saddened about the casting of this film. I am a huge fan of the animated show and was so excited to hear about the film. I was the first of my friends/family to find the show and by the end of the 3rd season, my friends/family were all in love with the show and excited there was a film being made. However after reading about the blatent disregard for the source material as far as casting, none of us are going to see this movie that we looked so forward in seeing. Its a damn shame, Avatar is one of the best written, smartest shows animated or not. I don’t understand how they can say that 4 white kids were the only ones they could find to play these roles. I utterly refuse to believe that. I really wish Shayamalan and his casting director’s would have taken a que from Chris Weitz, the director for the second Twilight movie. He insisted that the Native American werewolves had to be played by Native American actors. He spent months auditioning thousands of Native Americans, all of whom had to have papers proving their heritage to even be considered for the role. I have nothing against the actors they cast to play Katara, Sokka, Aang or Zuko, hell I dont even know who half of them are, I’m just saying that i refuse to believe they were the only actors they could get to play these roles and it saddens and angers me that this wonderful work of art is being ruined by some of the most blatent racial bias we’ve seen.

By: It’s almost over: the final week of L.A. Comedy Festival | Los Angeles Metblogs

Sun, 10 May 2009 09:05:20 +0000

[...] World Premiere of “AVATAR: The RACE BENDER,” (see Moye’s previous 8Asians post: White-Washing Avatar: The Last Airbender?) which also includes a sketch about Korean cannibalism (you’ll have to go to find out what [...]

By: 8Asians.com » One Show Only! Catch 18MMW and OPM Comedy together at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival

Sun, 10 May 2009 08:01:04 +0000

By: nemogbr

nemogbr — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:08:24 +0000

These people were so concerned over being authentic. The new film after Twilight had to bring thier birth certificate proving their heritage.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-04-21-newmoon-side_N.htm

>>>>>>By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY
It took a couple of months and thousands of hopefuls to find a quartet that fits the requirements for New Moon’s wolf pack.

No. 1 on the list: Native American or First Nation ancestry, because their characters belong to the Quileute tribe, based in La Push, Wash., both in the book and in real life.

“They had to have papers that proved their heritage,” says director Chris Weitz, who was the one who insisted on hiring within the community. “And they had to be in good physical shape.”<<<<<<<<

By: nemogbr

nemogbr — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:06:07 +0000

To Tim:

You are jumping at the end and it is obvious, you have not read any of the previous posts. Here’s a few you missed:

This Link provides a paper on whether the Anime look Asian or Caucasian.
http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html

I presume you read Lord of the Rings and perhaps saw the film?
Why did they all look Caucasian? I think the only ones we could think of as people of colour were the badguys in the last film. Even then we could think of those as white people with tans.

In this film:
The main cast was changed to Caucasian or other = Caucasian.
The extras = Asians, especially with Martial Art skills.

1. the setting was Asian (most likely Chinese)
2. the martial arts was Chinese (Hung Gar, Taijichuan, Bagua, Shaolin Northern Style)
3. THE NAMES SOUNDED ASIAN (ever see a white guy named Aang, Sokka?)
4. the armies had Asian armour on
5. the characters looked Asian/ Native (although there is a strong suggestion that Natives are of Asian descent soo yea kidna rules in favour of Asian). Look at all the photos and you will see that Katara and Sokka are Inuit.
6. the Air benders had temples, and thier monks looked alot like Shaolin monks
7. the whole godamn theme was Asian

If you mention that the show was made for the American market.
That’s the reason for the language.
It has also gained a following in Malaysia and it has been translated into Malaysian.
Dragonball was Japanese translated for the American Market.

The company who made the cartoons were based in Korea, not America.

If you also mention that the voice actors were mostly white. someone already answered.
Bart Simpson is voiced by a woman.
Apu is voice by a white male.
Would we even contemplate a film with an Actress playing Bart Simpson and a White Actor playing Apu?

The only non-Asians in this cartoon series were the creators and the language.

Any more questions???

By: tim

tim — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:05:07 +0000

I’m kindoff jumping in at the end here, apologies. but I think many here have missed a few things.
find a site that has a pic of the map and look at it. what do you see? not china, or korea or any other asian nation. it is an alternate earth were the entire planet is “asian”. with hogmonkies, and other nonexistant animals.
look at aang what do you see? pale white skin, round caucasian eyes. other characters are similar.
this is eastern influenced yes but not real asian, not chinese not korean. you all probably would have had a problem if all actors where japanese even though that fits as well as anything with the alternate earth continuity.
what I’m saying is this, you are telling them what their vision is even though you don’t seem to understand it yourselves. these characters are citizens or the four nations, not china, korea, japan, holland, russiam whatever.
I think you are seeing race (being racist perhaps) more than anyone invovled in the casting.
give it a chance. I would be suprised if noone of asian descent whas in the movie, since some of the original (NOT all) where asian.

By: ATLA Fan Club Pres.

ATLA Fan Club Pres. — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:30:37 +0000

interesting…I also would like to post an update.

The trailer will be out June..either 4th or 9th i don’t remember…It will be in the transformers 2 commercials…so…yeah…