Comments | cjandre: RAGE: Casting!Fail for Avatar Movie - whitewashing at it's most damaging

cjandre

RAGE: Casting!Fail for Avatar Movie - whitewashing at it's most damaging

Jul 31, 2009 10:47

I admit to having lived under a fannish rock for the two years or so. I haven't been writing fic, I haven't been reading outside my tried and true fandoms, and I have been actively avoiding all meta and kerfluffles. Life was just too stressful to stress over TV shows and movies. I just wanted to have fun ( Read more... )

the girl

Comments 6

helene94 July 31 2009, 16:38:41 UTC

That's. Wow. I don't know what that is.

Wait, I do! IT'S A BIG VAT OF SUCK!

My kids love Avatar (frankly so do I and my husband), and I'm going to have to tell them no because Hollywood has it's head so far up its ass that they couldn't take a golden opportunity to discover some new actors and run with it!

Grrrr

cjandre July 31 2009, 16:51:34 UTC

If it is any consolation, I'm pretty convinced that the script for the movie is going to suck as well - based on the changes they are making it might not even be recognizeable.

If you google Racebending there are several sites set up to network about the protest.

I am so livid I can hardly think straight on this topic.

I need a smiting icon or something.

bbuttercup July 31 2009, 17:58:13 UTC

My niece is 15 now, but I remember sitting and watching Avatar with her. We went to see "UP" (I think it was Up) and there was a trailer for Avatar before the movie. She leaned over to me during the big reveal and said, "ummm, that's not what Aang looks like." I just sighed and said, "Yeah, I know."

Now, we're Caucasian and she's your typical blue-eyed, blond-haired target group, but at 15 even she knows there are other races out there, and she's a bit peeved.

cjandre July 31 2009, 18:03:15 UTC

I'm not surprised! Anyone who is a serious fan of the animated series is going to resent the casting.

It reminds me of when they cast the Earthsea miniseries. AGAIN, a Pacific Islander type of character was recast as European. For no good reason.

It is really annoying. And how do you explain it? I mean, your niece is 15 now, so she's probably becoming aware of the sorts of trends and currents in modern society, but for younger kids? They aren't going to get it.

*sigh*

bbuttercup July 31 2009, 18:38:06 UTC

Younger kids aren't going to get it, at least consciously. But it's going to register somewhere in their little sponge brains that Asian culture is cool as long as Asian people know their place in it. And it really ticks me off.

When my sister and I were younger, we were lucky enough to travel and live in other countries and experience other cultures. I can't imagine how utterly uninteresting my life would be if every face I ever saw was exactly like mine. So I point it out, every chance I get, to my niece and have since she was teny tiny. And she has been fortunate enough to find herself amongst a very diverse group of friends, which can be difficult in our very white state.

cjandre July 31 2009, 22:57:15 UTC

We live in a very rural area where the racial divide is polarized between blacks and whites. We hardly have any Latinos and my daughter is the one, the only, Asian/Pacific Rim student in her school.

(I know this because I was discussing testing demographics with the principal one day that caused her to say she didn't think there were ANY kids in the testing demographic group "Asian/Pacific Rim" and yet there was my daughter's name on the list.)

I use media (movies, books, mangas) to broaden her horizons and keep her from suffering too much from a feeling of isolation.

Avatar the movie? NOT HELPING

I think living overseas is a wonderful experience. I hope someday I can give that chance to my daughter.