Slog
News & ArtsThursday, January 22, 2009
Film Worse Than The Happening?
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Derek Kirk Kim, who wrote the great little collection of comics Same Difference and Other Stories—think Adrian Tomine before he got Carverier than Carver—just put up a post complaining about the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan movie Avatar: the Last Airbender. It's based on a popular cartoon and manga series for kids. In the comics and cartoons, all the characters are clearly Asian and Inuit. All the actors cast for the leads in the film version, so far, are white. There are two passages from the blog entry that really cut to the chase:
I was speaking with Gene Yang (author of "American Born Chinese" and National Book Award nominee) about the casting and he said it best: "It's like a white Asian fetishist's wet dream. All the Asian culture they want, without any of the Asian people."
and
Or let me draw a closer parallel—imagine if someone had made a “fantasy” movie in which the entire world was built around African culture. Everyone is wearing ancient African clothes, African hats, eating traditional African food, writing in an African language, living in African homes, all encompassed in an African landscape......but everyone is white.
How offensive, insulting, and disrespectful would that be toward Africans and African Americans? How much more offensive would it be if only the heroes were white and all the villians and background characters were African American? (I wince in fear thinking about "The Last Airbender" suffering from the latter dynamic—which it probably will.)
Just when you thought Shyamalan couldn't fuck his career up any worse, it looks like he has.
1
everyone knows there aren't any asian actors. give him the benefit of the doubt, he will probably fix this all with some creative eye makeup.
oh, wait.
oh, wait.
2
Avatar is epic and the nerd rage directed at Shamalan is deserved. The movie will never exist as far as I'm concerned.
3
It doesn't matter that Avatar shit is horrible even for kids' entertainment. Terrible, terrible garbage.
4
Woe. I enjoy the show and had hopes it would be made into a good film, though making a film with this much "magic" in it live action seems more difficult than necessary.
Shyamalan made a stupid mistake, and if he backs out of it now, he'll have to start from the beginning.
Shyamalan made a stupid mistake, and if he backs out of it now, he'll have to start from the beginning.
5
Yeah, but if they cast it with Asian actors, you know it'd be Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi, because they're the only Asian actors in the entire damn world.
10
@2 "It doesn't matter that Avatar shit is horrible even for kids' entertainment. Terrible, terrible garbage."
Hallelujah. OH NO MY PRECIOUS ANIMES MARKETED TO MANCHILDREN ARE NOT PROPERLY JAPANESU
Hallelujah. OH NO MY PRECIOUS ANIMES MARKETED TO MANCHILDREN ARE NOT PROPERLY JAPANESU
11
"Avatar is epic and the nerd rage directed at Shamalan is deserved. The movie will never exist as far as I'm concerned."
laffo
this entertainment is pure pap
laffo
this entertainment is pure pap
12
Goddammit. I've never seen Avatar, but I feel compelled to write letters. Stupid Hollywood. Stupid Shymalan.
14
Avatar was awesome. Fans have been up in arms since M. Night Shyamalan was announced as director, but now I'm worried he's going to screw it up even worse than I thought...
15
Fnarf @8: "I must protest, Miss Go-Lightly!"
-good call.
I think the Mickster is still available, he should place a call to his agent.
-good call.
I think the Mickster is still available, he should place a call to his agent.
16
Avatar is on Nickelodeon and is a kids show. As kids shows go, it is really good and has some great Asian voice actors.
17
And @: the haters -- The cartoon was actually really good. There was a strong anti-war message, discussions about tolerance, and some really darkly beautiful stories about dyfunctional families.
Animated doesn't automatically equal crap or DBZ.
Animated doesn't automatically equal crap or DBZ.
18
This is like that half-Asian girl from Smallville being cast as Chun-Li in the upcoming Street Fighter movie. Apparently she's just Asian enough that the casting director thought she'd satisfy the fans, but not Asian enough to scare off the white people.
19
@13: I don't appreciate your blanket statement. As a nerd, I for one am TERRIFIED of asian women. I sleep with a weave of wolfsbane and garlic under my bed to keep them at bay.
20
Dumb, dumb, dumb. But then, Hollywood never found a role they couldn't shoehorn a white actor into.
If you want to get REALLY picky, Katara and Sokka should be played by Inuit actors, the actor who plays Aang should be a mutt, and pretty much everybody else should be Chinese.
If you want to get REALLY picky, Katara and Sokka should be played by Inuit actors, the actor who plays Aang should be a mutt, and pretty much everybody else should be Chinese.
21
The Stranger: providing politically correct leftists with up-to-the-minute "Is This Racist?" analysis since 1991.
23
@5 Don't forget Chow Yun Fat and Harold from Harold and Kumar. And Sun and Jin from Lost. And Hiro and Ando.
24
@21 not in so much racist perse, just a lack of appreciation for the original work. I hated that they put Michael Clark Duncan in as Kingpin in "daredevil", just because the kingpin is the connsumate white mid 80's mafioso, not because I hate black folk.
25
Gene Yan is seriously off-base. A white Asian fetishists dream involves a world without Europe, the Americas, South, West and North Asia. Also, no Australia. They want to BE a Japanese comic book nerd, because being a white comic book nerd who reads Japanese comic books is one step removed.
Also, they desperately want an Asian girlfriend.
Also, they desperately want an Asian girlfriend.
26
Avatar has always had a higher quality than most of the rest of the shows on Cartoon Network, plus, as mentioned before, better voice actors.
In addition, it actually talks about real issues, as opposed to a cartoon view of the world as Good vs Bad.
In addition, it actually talks about real issues, as opposed to a cartoon view of the world as Good vs Bad.
27
This is a shame. Avatar is actually a really great series with a very tight, very engaging plot line. It's not simple good v. evil, there's a lot of middle ground. It's a huge step up from most animation in terms of development - hell, it's a huge step up from what's on TV period. Rent it, it's very worth a watch.
28
@23: My point was sort of that the same small pool of actors turn up again and again, even though China and Hong Kong, especially, have such huge film industries and dozens of respected actors. Not to mention all the Asian actors born or already working outside of Asia.
Related to my point is the fact that Asian actors can't seem to get many roles that don't specifically call for Asians.
As an Asian nerd, it was HUGE for me to see Grace Park (whom I didn't know before) own a sci-fi role that wasn't given to her because she was supposed to play an exotic Oriental temptress or beautiful alien ... just a *character.*
Related to my point is the fact that Asian actors can't seem to get many roles that don't specifically call for Asians.
As an Asian nerd, it was HUGE for me to see Grace Park (whom I didn't know before) own a sci-fi role that wasn't given to her because she was supposed to play an exotic Oriental temptress or beautiful alien ... just a *character.*
30
@21: really? Of all the things to hate about that movie THAT's what got you riled? I actually thought that was the one piece of inspired casting in the film and that he was the one saving grace for an overall sucktacular spectacle. And it's not like the major comic publishers have a great history of convincing black characters anyways.
And as for Avatar, I haven't seen this kind of whitewashing since Aunt Polly's picket fence.
And as for Avatar, I haven't seen this kind of whitewashing since Aunt Polly's picket fence.
31
If anyone wants to see a recent parallel, years ago the Sci-Fi Channel made "The Wizard of Earthsea" with an all-Caucasian cast (except for the token black actor, Danny Glover, I think)-- and the kicker is Le Guin's characters were ALL dark-, brown-skinned people. The adaptation was stupid, Le Guin was livid, and now she's leery of selling anything to TV or film.
I'm not surprised Shyamalan's made this move; he's a walking tragedy-- a brilliantly gifted director (the man has crafted some of the finest scenes in cinema), if only his ego were not so big that he'd let other people write his films...
I'm not surprised Shyamalan's made this move; he's a walking tragedy-- a brilliantly gifted director (the man has crafted some of the finest scenes in cinema), if only his ego were not so big that he'd let other people write his films...
32
People need to stop turning cartoons of any kind into live-action films. Now. Is this some form of sick "Howard the Duck" nostalgia? Wasn't Jim Carrey as the Grinch horrible enough? Has anyone else heard the sound of a barrel's bottom being scraped in Hollywood?
34
I'm guessing the people dissing Avatar have not watched it. It is one of the most intelligent, highest quality children's shows that has ever been produced. I hope this whole movie disappears. It sounds like a major disappointment.
35
@28
Oh, I totally agree with you. As I was writing my previous post, I was like, "Oh, wait, it's not so bad anymore..." But still, the situation could be better, I agree.
Oh, I totally agree with you. As I was writing my previous post, I was like, "Oh, wait, it's not so bad anymore..." But still, the situation could be better, I agree.
36
This was a great show for what it was. Heavily influenced by Asian culture, but it's debatable as to whether the characters were all intended to LOOK like Asians. Certainly a lot of them were.
Anyway, yeah, it's a pretty big issue for nerds everywhere that movies based on comics, games, and cartoons never really even approach the level of accuracy movies based on novels do.
Anyway, yeah, it's a pretty big issue for nerds everywhere that movies based on comics, games, and cartoons never really even approach the level of accuracy movies based on novels do.
37
M. Night had two and a half good movies in him. This movie would suck chunky donkey spunk even without knowing that he had Charlie Chan'ed the cast.
38
Wow can't wait for his Fat Albert:The Movie starring Kevin James and Lawrence: the Cable Gentleman.
39
@20: I always thought the Water Tribe in the show was based loosely on Ainu culture, with the other 3 nations being modeled on Japan, Korea and Tibet.
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