The Last Airbender: The main four have been cast

[SiorX]

The cultural aspects of the cartoon was to give the characters a basis of origin for their bending styles, it was never the main focus of the show. Due to that I'm sure many viewers didn't ever know the cultural difference of the characters.

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

I see what you're saying, and it'd be fair enough if we could make an adaptation of Avatar in a cultural vacuum.

Unfortunately, we can't. Whitewashing characters or 'normalising' them to better suit the demographic Hollywood imagines will fail to respond to a character of colour is an ongoing problem. So to my mind, a message of bringing all nations together regardless of culture is tainted when it's told by once again rendering invisible faces which aren't part of the one culture which is rampantly dominant in popular entertainment, to the exclusion of diversity.

Colourblindness is too often used to mean 'pretend everyone's white'.

 

[Christopher]

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

Are you seriously trying to argue that an overwhelmingly white cast is somehow an expression of cultural inclusion? Congratulations, you've invented the art of logic-bending.

 

[exodus]

The cultural aspects of the cartoon was to give the characters a basis of origin for their bending styles, it was never the main focus of the show. Due to that I'm sure many viewers didn't ever know the cultural difference of the characters.

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

I see what you're saying, and it'd be fair enough if we could make an adaptation of Avatar in a cultural vacuum.

Unfortunately, we can't. Whitewashing characters or 'normalising' them to better suit the demographic Hollywood imagines will fail to respond to a character of colour is an ongoing problem. So to my mind, a message of bringing all nations together regardless of culture is tainted when it's told by once again rendering invisible faces which aren't part of the one culture which is rampantly dominant in popular entertainment, to the exclusion of diversity.

Colourblindness is too often used to mean 'pretend everyone's white'.

Name four young Asian actors to cast in those lead roles that the mass American audience that is going to know and pay top dollar for?

Remember, the actors that play Jack & Kate make every cover of any magazine about LOST, not the actors that play Sun & Jin. It's still a business and cash is still the reason & the answer.

 

[exodus]

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

Are you seriously trying to argue that an overwhelmingly white cast is somehow an expression of cultural inclusion? Congratulations, you've invented the art of logic-bending.

As I said in my first sentence, the message within the show transends any one culture or race.

What's more important, the message that this boy can unite all four nations to save the world or the fact he's Asian?

 

[LaxScrutiny]

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

Are you seriously trying to argue that an overwhelmingly white cast is somehow an expression of cultural inclusion? Congratulations, you've invented the art of logic-bending.

Sokka and Katara magically turned white after the first season of the cartoon show.

Plenty of fantasy stories mix races and cultures to make it seem exotic or different, like coming up with a tribe of aboriginal redheads. The races and culture don't have to match real life for the purposes the culture is used for.

I can't believe you are seriously trying to argue that using generic Asian actors to play Inuit or Tibetan characters is either true to the cartoon or meaningful of anything. It's not meaningful, it's a bigger insult to the cultures, meaning that anyone with funny eyes is interchangable. It's actually a lot more respectful to just throw out the idea of race, and make it a fantasy world where the cultures don't match Earth races.

 

[exodus]

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

Are you seriously trying to argue that an overwhelmingly white cast is somehow an expression of cultural inclusion? Congratulations, you've invented the art of logic-bending.

Sokka and Katara magically turned white after the first season of the cartoon show.

Plenty of fantasy stories mix races and cultures to make it seem exotic or different, like coming up with a tribe of aboriginal redheads. The races and culture don't have to match real life for the purposes the culture is used for.

I can't believe you are seriously trying to argue that using generic Asian actors to play Inuit or Tibetan characters is either true to the cartoon or meaningful of anything. It's not meaningful, it's a bigger insult to the cultures, meaning that anyone with funny eyes is interchangable. It's actually a lot more respectful to just throw out the idea of race, and make it a fantasy world where the cultures don't match Earth races.

Exactly!

 

[Manticore]

The point of the show transends any one culture. The point was these children backed the Avatar because they all believed in uniting all the people of all the nations regardless of their culture, heritage or race. If the massage is bringing all types of people together in harmony, then it shouldn't matter what race or culture the cast is because their ideals represent all of us.

Are you seriously trying to argue that an overwhelmingly white cast is somehow an expression of cultural inclusion? Congratulations, you've invented the art of logic-bending.

Sokka and Katara magically turned white after the first season of the cartoon show.

I remember them being distinctly brown-skinned in later seasons, especially compared to white-as-the-driven-snow Toph and Aang. Hell, Aang's whiter than me.

Personally, while I'm not optimistic about Shyamalan, I'd rather have good actors rather than phenologically accurate ones, and the depiction of the cultures be faithful. It was the unique cultures (along with the gorgeous animation and design work) that made Avatar so rich to me, not what the people looked like.

That said, I wouldn't mind more minority casting in Hollywood in general, but not at the expense of acting quality.

 

[Graywand2]

You know, there is an entire writing campaign out there to get these people fired simply because they're white. As a person of mixed White, African-American, Native American, and Chinese heritage, and a Star Trek fan, I find that utterly repulsive.


I would like to point out that a very similar racism argument could be put out for the fact that they're making a Prince of Persia movie, starring no Iranian or Indian actors, except Ben Kingsley, but instead Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Alfred Molina, and no one is making that argument.