Come on. There's Chinese right in the logo. Avatar's world was conceived from day one to be based on Eastern mythology and culture. The creators purposely drew from non-Western sources and hired experts to help them with the martial arts and design of that world. They even managed an amazing degree of multi-ethnicity within that Asian-themed universe. To argue that the characters weren't Asian goes against the entire point of the show. A fantasy world, that for once, wasn't all white.
And good chunk of the cast *was* Asian - The dearly departed Mako as Iroh, Dante Basco as Zuko, Jennie Kwan as Suki, and others.
I've said what I've said. As an Asian American, I do not identify these characters as Asian, despite the heavy Asian influences. Fusion food is heavily influenced by Asian cuisine, but that by no means defines it as "Asian", but, instead, as a means to appeal to what non-Asian Americans think is exotic and, thus, expensive. (that was a tangent, but slightly relevant
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I don't watch Fullmetal Alchemist so I can't talk to that, but with Narnia and Middle Earth, those were fantasy worlds based on European myths created by Europeans. This is a fantasy world based on Inuit and Asian cultures created by Anglo-Americans. The very fact that they're trying to cast Asia as a fantasy world, or vice versa, is regressive and culturally insensitive, no matter how much "authenticity" they attempt to add. I'm not saying it's inherently wrong for white people to be interested in Asian cultures, but here their interest in Asia manifests itself as the fantasy itself, which smacks of old-fashioned orientalism; it blatantly places Asia in a world of exoticism and magic.
It's not the hypothetical "white people in the Avatar universe" that I'm claiming are hijacking Asian cultures, but the white creators of that universe.
maybe i just disagree with the controversy because i think the very point of avatar is arguably racist in the first place so it's not like they're doing anything different.
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http://aang-aint-white.livejournal.com/1007.html
Come on. There's Chinese right in the logo. Avatar's world was conceived from day one to be based on Eastern mythology and culture. The creators purposely drew from non-Western sources and hired experts to help them with the martial arts and design of that world. They even managed an amazing degree of multi-ethnicity within that Asian-themed universe. To argue that the characters weren't Asian goes against the entire point of the show. A fantasy world, that for once, wasn't all white.
And good chunk of the cast *was* Asian - The dearly departed Mako as Iroh, Dante Basco as Zuko, Jennie Kwan as Suki, and others.
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I don't watch Fullmetal Alchemist so I can't talk to that, but with Narnia and Middle Earth, those were fantasy worlds based on European myths created by Europeans. This is a fantasy world based on Inuit and Asian cultures created by Anglo-Americans. The very fact that they're trying to cast Asia as a fantasy world, or vice versa, is regressive and culturally insensitive, no matter how much "authenticity" they attempt to add. I'm not saying it's inherently wrong for white people to be interested in Asian cultures, but here their interest in Asia manifests itself as the fantasy itself, which smacks of old-fashioned orientalism; it blatantly places Asia in a world of exoticism and magic.
It's not the hypothetical "white people in the Avatar universe" that I'm claiming are hijacking Asian cultures, but the white creators of that universe.
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