So... anyone heard about the Avatar movie and it's casting?

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«minah»
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So... anyone heard about the Avatar movie and it's casting?

Post by «minah» » Jun 29th, '09, 18:30

Yeah, my cousin told me a few days ago that they're making an Avatar movie and they already have a trailer and.... omg, not sure if anyone would agree with me... but after seeing the pictures of the cast I was really disappointed. I mean, people who watch the series know that the characters, setting, themes, and lifestyle is based of of different Asian cultures and customs (along with Inuit and I heard like a bit of African too somewhere) So like, why is the main cast all Caucasian? Save for Zuko, who is played by someone of Indian decent... but! The role was originally given Jesse McCartney (sp?) but due to tours, he couldn't fulfill the role. AND the three most obvious main characters who OBVIOUSLY look non-Caucasian are well, played by Caucasian. (Aang, Sokka, and Katara)


Hm... let's find a link to the cast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender wikilink

trailer



http://last-airbender-trailer.blogspot.com/ someone's blog

lullabye
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Post by lullabye » Jun 29th, '09, 18:45

Yeah, I heard about it a couple of weeks ago. This adaptation is obviously not being geared toward fans but toward that mythical demographic that supposedly won't watch a film unless it stars white people.

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Post by loveless_soul » Jun 29th, '09, 18:55

I heard about it a while back but I only saw the trailer when I went to watch Transformers.
I thought it looks pretty cool aside from the all white people cast but um.. does it really matter? I've watched the whole Avatar series already and I love it but I don't think the all white cast will be a problem.
I think the fighting and CG stuff and everything will look awesome on the big screen but it won't be the same as the animated series. (cus obviously Sokka's humor can't be like the animated version) I just hope it won't suck? Lol. Hmm it probably will be more easy on the eyes than the Dragonball Z movie.

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 29th, '09, 19:21

Well, it's jsut that they're obviously not Caucasian, and when they were casting extras for the film, the criteria were Asian... like they specifically looked for Asians for extras, but during the main casting, ethnicity didn't matter. Just, why isn't it bad for their to be Asians, and if not Asians, at least people who resemble the characters? I read other people comments from other sites saying LotR casted Caucasians (and people who looked it, since I can't confirm everyone's ethnicity in the movie) to give it that middle-evil fantasy feel, so why not do the same for Avatar..?

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Post by RyuNoKami » Jun 29th, '09, 19:40

i dont care as much as long as they don't screw it up....although it would be weird watching so many Caucasians in Asian clothing....

Ladymercury
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Post by Ladymercury » Jun 29th, '09, 20:18

Avatar fandom has been wanking about this casting for about two years now. Its nothing new to us, and a lot of Avatar fans are not gonna watch it. There was just a lot of hypocrisy in the casting and minah touched upon it.

For the extras, they wanted asians. Anyone who basically wasn't white, but the for the main cast of heroes they were white and the enemies ended up being all Indian.

Just hypocrisy in the casting and defeated the purpose that the avatar series was founded on.

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Post by Puppet Princess » Jun 29th, '09, 21:11

It's America... and over 100 mill...?
High budget... what did you expect?
High budget is almost an automatic guarantee of a lack of minority.

Half that cast being Indian... even if they are the bad guys, is amazing in itself considering the budget involved.

I have to laugh pretty hard at Jackson Rathbone though. I know work is work... but that boy really needs to stop picking such stupid movies. He's gonna get himself stuck in the crappy tween adaption movie until he's 30 if he's not careful.

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 29th, '09, 21:19

Ladymercury wrote:Avatar fandom has been wanking about this casting for about two years now. Its nothing new to us, and a lot of Avatar fans are not gonna watch it. There was just a lot of hypocrisy in the casting and minah touched upon it.

For the extras, they wanted asians. Anyone who basically wasn't white, but the for the main cast of heroes they were white and the enemies ended up being all Indian.

Just hypocrisy in the casting and defeated the purpose that the avatar series was founded on.
Yeah, but I didn't know they were gonna make a movie on Avatar until like... two days ago >__> Was just wondering what were other peoples thoughts on it. Was kinda considering watching the movie when it came out... but I dunnoooo... Didn't see DBE (it just looked corny and stupid) But aw man... I dunno I feel stupid bringing this up >__<

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Post by Karate-ka » Jun 29th, '09, 22:12

Í just dont give a damn anymore about it, im so sick of hollywood and their stupid casting, it shows how ignorant they are.
Does it matter? yes it does how long are you going to make excuses for not having a asian lead. Oh no its al about the acting, thats true but are you going to say asians cant act...
Geez im waiting for dicaprio for casting smap in his Ninja scroll adaption if its going to happen. Then atleast they show its done.

Rozenrot
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Post by Rozenrot » Jun 29th, '09, 22:26

This just reminds me of the Dragonball film. Oh heaven forbid we have a Japanese lead in a hollywood film! Do they also intend to put them in high school as well, you know so the kids can relate?

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Post by Puppet Princess » Jun 29th, '09, 23:35

Karate-ka wrote:Í just dont give a damn anymore about it, im so sick of hollywood and their stupid casting, it shows how ignorant they are.
Does it matter? yes it does how long are you going to make excuses for not having a asian lead. Oh no its al about the acting, thats true but are you going to say asians cant act...
Geez im waiting for dicaprio for casting smap in his Ninja scroll adaption if its going to happen. Then atleast they show its done.
And why aren't there more white people leads in Asian movies? There are plenty of white actors and other minority actors that work in Asian media and can speak the language well. So why is Asia so racist against non-Asians? Are they ignorant? Can white people not act?

It's not ignorance or acting ability. Most movies, American or Asain, are not about art. They are about money. Statistics have proven that in America they will make more money with white leads than Asian ones. Popular actors over new ones. It's the same with Asia. Why was there only one white person in Sukiyaki Western Django if it was an English language "western"? Because it was made in Japan. Duh! If you are about profit you will sacrifice accuracy and culture to make more money. It's a lot less about Hollywood being racist than it is about them being greedy. The racism comes from middle America who has never actually seen a real live Asian person and so Asian led films do not draw their attention. Thus they are not profitable to make.

It's allll about profit. Why do you think they pay trailer editors so much. They slice in all the good parts of the movie to get you to show up and fork over the cash. Once they have your money they really don't give a crap if you liked the movie or thought it was any good. They already have your money. The deep films are usually only in the winter time since they are trying to get Oscars then. The rest of the time it's about making money for the studios. How many times have you seen a movie that seemed like a total bait and switch based on the trailer?

My favorite example of this is Bridge to Terabithia. The trailers were designed to be very misleading on purpose. Literature based fantasy adventures were in and Hollywood knew most of America hadn't read the book. So they tricked parents into taking their kids to see the lighthearted magical adventure movie. If they had known ahead of time that is was not actually fantasy and was really a depressing coming of age story about individuality and loss... I doubt so many parents would have taken their kids to see that movie. In fact, I'm pretty sure some kids were traumatized by that movie.

So please come off your PC soap boxes people. Until you can find a way to make an Asian led blockbuster film make a crap load of money for Hollywood... this is how things are. It's not racism, it's economics. Understand it before getting your panties all knotted.

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 30th, '09, 01:48

I already know that Hollywood just wants to make money. I mean, all of those bad sequels to movies (and those horrible Disney direct-to-video) but just because this is what they do doesn't mean people should just let it happen. It just would be nice that instead of Hollywood being interested in getting the money of the majority of Caucasians, that instead they just should at least keep the characters looking how they should be... (and just looks alone, because there are tons of Americans playing Jews and Europeans and just now I thought about Nodame's Europe SP that they used Becky and Eiji as the "European" characters, since they obviously look both Asian and European.) But man, just if Americans stopped being closed-minded and keep prompting the stereotype of elasticities and races, than yeah, I bet Asian would have blockbuster films. This is really just like back in the early 20th century where only Black actresses can mainly portray as "Maids, nannies, Mammys, etc" because of course Hollywood isn't gonna make a movie about a led Black woman in the 20's being very very successful in something besides being a servant. (Well, because the majority will not be pleased seeing a successful Black woman, and not knowing her place in the world......)

But if Hollywood can just at least risk a little and maybe cast Asians as main rolls (hopefully they will have main rolls besides being really smart or good in martial arts) it'll be nice. But this <i>is</i> America. We don't like risking things that can lose money....

It just... would have been cool... *siighs* (Hey, they should like.... bring Hiro over here and ma

Oh yeah, I have never heard of any of those people they listed. I suppose I saw the guy who plays Sokka (because I saw Twilight) but I dunno who he even was in the film.... Well, I don't watch many movies/remember names of actors/actresses

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Post by Puppet Princess » Jun 30th, '09, 03:45

That's a bit hypocritical though.
We are America so we have to be less closed-minded and feature Asian people in our movies? We even have to import them? However, Japan hiring born and raised Japanese people of mixed decent is enough for them? Becky and Eiji Wentz are VERY famous entertainers by the way. It's why they were hired. Not just because they are part white or because they speak English, but because they are popular. Last I heard Eiji was still being called the half-American who only speaks Japanese, so language skills were obviously not a factor at all.

It's not just "Hollywood." It's all film capitals.
It's all about numbers.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starting Kristin Kreuk, who is half-Chinese Canadian was a $60 million production. Kristen Kreuk is pretty famous in America too. The original Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme (white guy) was only made with $35 million. She got almost twice as much of a budget and yet Jean-Claude made $99.4 million dollars world wide. Kristen lost money because she only made $12 million world wide.

You can whine all you like about how America should be progressive or whatever BS you want... but no accountant in Hollywood or Asia is going to be "progressive" when these are the numbers that come back EVERY time.

And I don't even know how you connect Black entertainment in the 20s to modern stereotypes. You are talking about a time when they barley had rights. That's like saying, "OMG that woman didn't faint and get carried off by the big strong male lead in that movie." It's the 20s....

We now have black entertainment industries and woman's entertainment industries. These are still not the high budget blockbusters run by the Jewish fatcats of Hollywood. Hell, Hollywood is owned by the Jewish and we still get dozens of Christamas movies and like... two Hanukkah ones I can recall. They control the entertainment, why don't they promote themselves more? Because America is dominantly Christian. The Christians make them more money. If they can take advantage of that why are they going to make statements. They finance indie Sundance films when they want to make statements.

The only reason half the cast of The Last Air Bender is Indian is because M. Night Shyamalan is the director and thus had the ability to pull that. If the director had been someone else the producers probably wouldn't have let him have that much influence. Also notice it's Dev Patel, who is popular now because of Slumdog millionaire. Totally exploiting that.

Cliff Curtis is Maori and yet is always cast as Mexican or Arab and in this case I guess Indian. Not that we lack actors of any of those ethnicities. No one ever cares about things like that.

What about when Hollywood does the opposite? The HBO tv show True Blood turned the character Tara in to a black woman, however, she is white in the book. Should they be scolded for trying to diversify the cast some more?

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Post by pinklunchboxgirl » Jun 30th, '09, 05:40

I guess with Avatar, I hoped for a more diverse main cast. I mean, I do like that there are Indian actors, maybe just not that they are all Fire Nation. I guess right now the impression is that Fire Nation is Indian or Middle Eastern (again, not a good PR movie for America and slightly disturbing) and the main cast is white and the Earth Kingdom is Asian. Maybe we can hope for Toph being Asian. I guess I was kinda hoping for Asian Katara and Sokka because of their dark skin, but I figured Aang would be white.

I think it is strictly economics and marketing. Everyone knows this is an Asian culture display, I was just hoping for more diversity in casting. Less nationality and race homogeneity for different nations, because that is going to make blending in at different places in the story very ridiculous. I think the only reason we have Indian 'bad guys' is because of the director and it being okay for characters we aren't supposed to identify with to "look different". Ironically, probably the main influences on this type of decision are people who don't know much about the plot of the film except, action fantasy blockbuster with kids - aka should make us money. I wonder how much the director was influenced by this, whether he tried to fight it or just took what he could get. Who knows.

The ironic thing is I don't think Americans are as conservative as accountants and marketing projectors imagine we are. Sure, we don't normally see diverse ensemble casts have a non-white lead. Well, except for that Ugly Betty show. But that doesn't mean we won't go. And look at the cast of Gran Torino, even if it is a different genre, definitely a good indication even though the film was loaded with the question of race. It is a bit sad that Americans like Daniel Henney can get better roles in South Korea than America, but definitely something can change in the future. Plus, there have been more movies like Slumdog Millionaire, Speed Racer, and The Forbidden Kingdom. Yeah, the first is made by an English director and producers, but huge step for realistic portrayal of another culture, by using their citizens (for the most part) and filming on location. Speed Racer was Americans as the Racer family, but a multinational cast and Rain was picked because he is popular in America too. The cast in The Forbidden Kingdom made sense for the movie's plot. The difference I think between these films and Avatar is we all know that this is a story set in an Asian culture and we think we aren't going to see Asian people, and we are older than 4, so it makes a huge disconnect for us in terms of realism. I worry that white good guys, Indian villains, and Asian extras are going to be too clear cut groupings demographically to make a believable story.

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Post by Ladymercury » Jun 30th, '09, 05:59

Puppet Princess wrote:Why was there only one white person in Sukiyaki Western Django if it was an English language "western"? Because it was made in Japan. Duh!
\

Just to touch on Sukiyaki, the reason it was like that was:

1) Parody of Spaghetti westerns which were Italian "westerns" - Thus the term Sukiyaki Western Django
2) Tarrentino is a weeabo

Not to defend the Japanese movie industry, because it is indeed "racist" in a way, but Sukiyaki was like that because it was a flat out parody of spaghetti westerns.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starting Kristin Kreuk, who is half-Chinese Canadian was a $60 million production. Kristen Kreuk is pretty famous in America too. The original Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme (white guy) was only made with $35 million. She got almost twice as much of a budget and yet Jean-Claude made $99.4 million dollars world wide. Kristen lost money because she only made $12 million world wide.

You can whine all you like about how America should be progressive or whatever BS you want... but no accountant in Hollywood or Asia is going to be "progressive" when these are the numbers that come back EVERY time.
To be quite honest -- The movie shot itself in the foot. People didn't like her for the casting of Chun-li because she didn't look Asian enough. Fans didn't like the movie because it was a laugh in the face to SF.

And honestly, was there a need for a SF movie about Chun Li? There hasn't been a SF boom in years, and SF back in the 90s was marketing off of the success that MK had brought in. So a lot really plays into why the first SF was so successful compared to the Chun Li one.

And if we want to get technical, just use DoA. That was supposed to have a Theater release, but kept getting pushed back until it ended up being Direct to DVD: Because no one cares about Video Game to Movie adaptations anymore. Especially fighting games to movie adaptions. Who honestly cares about DoA? Maybe the fanboys who love Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
And I don't even know how you connect Black entertainment in the 20s to modern stereotypes. You are talking about a time when they barley had rights. That's like saying, "OMG that woman didn't faint and get carried off by the big strong male lead in that movie." It's the 20s....
Black stereotypes in movies didn't end in the 20s, and if you look at it. It's still going on today.
The only reason half the cast of The Last Air Bender is Indian is because M. Night Shyamalan is the director and thus had the ability to pull that. If the director had been someone else the producers probably wouldn't have let him have that much influence. Also notice it's Dev Patel, who is popular now because of Slumdog millionaire. Totally exploiting that.
I guess you're not familuar with the whole casting wank that happened with Avatar. The original Fire Nation cast was also white, people people had complained about it. They complained so much the studio had no choice but to change the characters... and who did they change it to? Dev Patel. Yes, he's "Asian", and it was also probably easy like you said to ride off of the Slumdog Millionaire bandwagon but still -- These were not the original casting choices for the Fire Nation.

The fact of the matter is that the Avatar show was praised for its diversity and rich storyline about a diverse land based upon Asian mythology and beliefs and it was stomped and crushed on by Hollywood standards.

The dark skinned, Inuit, based people of the Water Nation -- The Korean/Chinese inspired People of the Earth Kingdom, the Indian/Tibetian inspired people of the Air Nomads and the Japanese/Chinese inspired people of the Fire Nation have all been turned into a group of Caucasians and Indians.

That's the main issue with Avatar fandom. Now fandom is only going to see it for the lulz or not watch it at all.

The reason why these movies fail so much is because when you have a large fandom so used to seeing a certain character be a certain way, an adaption has to be true or fandom is going to turn their back on it.

Image

Especially when you have characters that look *this* diverse. Its easier when you're working with literature. Its harder when you're working with something that already has a visual reference.

What if they decided to make "Wolverine" Black? Peter Parker "Asian"? Tony Stark "Spanish"? No one would watch it because the fans would complain and make a big to do about how these characters aren't black, asian, or spanish. No one would bother to see it because it'd be a mockery of what they loved and enjoyed. Movies like these depend on the support of the fandom that got them to this stage in the game.

I'll admit, as an Avatar fan, I am pissed off about the casting. Especially being a mixed Asian and seeing how we basically got shafted for white people essentially.
Last edited by Ladymercury on Jun 30th, '09, 06:19, edited 2 times in total.

Karate-ka
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Post by Karate-ka » Jun 30th, '09, 06:08

Yeah wait a seccond, avatar okay is a American cartoon, so i can understand if the lead is white. But the other lead characters aint white at all, but they are casted as white people.

Whats up with that?
There is sense of racism in that casting.

I dont know i guese people expect this of america since its a very multicultural country, un like japan there is only a few people of other country living their.

Ladymercury
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Post by Ladymercury » Jun 30th, '09, 06:32

Karate-ka wrote:Yeah wait a seccond, avatar okay is a American cartoon, so i can understand if the lead is white. But the other lead characters aint white at all, but they are casted as white people.

Whats up with that?
There is sense of racism in that casting..
Aang's character isn't white, he's tibetian/indian based.
No one in the avatar universe is white, they're all some form of Asian.

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Post by Karate-ka » Jun 30th, '09, 07:08

Ladymercury wrote:
Karate-ka wrote:Yeah wait a seccond, avatar okay is a American cartoon, so i can understand if the lead is white. But the other lead characters aint white at all, but they are casted as white people.

Whats up with that?
There is sense of racism in that casting..
Aang's character isn't white, he's tibetian/indian based.
No one in the avatar universe is white, they're all some form of Asian.
Yeah... then thats ignorance then, sorry i dont know how the creators viewed anime and such.
I guesed they made him white since the cartoon was from america...
Thats what i thought!
So in that sense you cant do much about it.
But if its from Japan like they did with Dragonball that seems so stupid.

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 30th, '09, 07:27

This is like a reply to what Puppet Princess (sorry!) said like... on her third post I think? Sorry it's like on the second page.. I was kinda on and off with writing this and on the phone. And I'm very slow when trying to get my idea togethers.

And sorry for the long post. Geez, if I wasn't me I would just scroll this over because it is just too long...


I never said they should import Japanese people over here, but only saying it would be cool if Hiro would have been Zukko. I seriously would rather they actually find Asian-Americans right here in the States. And mentioning Becky and Eiji, I wasn't even thinking about the ability of speaking English, as they didn't even speak English in the SP. But if the show was going to have European characters, at least they hired those two to play the role. They are very good actor/actress (Because of that SP, I went to see what other dramas I can watch of theirs that have them as main roles), but I think they were also considering their features because well, they also look European too, and spoke Japanese (sine like, they are Japanese). Just to prove that you can get people who look European AND can act well... But they wouldn't hire like Maki and I dunno, Toma to play their roles (since they are very popular too, but were also going for looks as well) And I'm not saying that it's "enough for Japan to hire half Japanese actors) because if they could find a non-Japanese person to be casted as European and can speak Japanese, then go ahead. I'm all for that, and it would be cool. (I'm just using this as an example that looks AND acting can be done, not saying Japan follows this with everything because sometimes it's like.. looks > talent) But let me be honest though, I'm exactly understand what you getting at and I rather say that I'm stupid and don't understand completely what you are saying in the first part of your comment instead of BSing and thinking that I do. But you can like totally not, and I wouldn't mind.


I can't say much about the Street Fighter thing because I didn't see either of them (I could have seen the early one, but I don't remember... only snippets here and there)

And with movies in the 20's and early 20th century, no one in America were gonna spend their money seeing a Black person as a main lead, same with Asians. No, instead America would rather paint Caucasians' skin that races' color on a very popular actor/actress. All of those "Asian" American-made movies during that time didn't star Asians, no just Mickey Rooney acting like he's Asian. And yes, Black people didn't have many rights, but in the film industry, since the majority of audience were Caucasian, of course Hollywood is going to make a movie for that audience (especially since there weren't many (hardly) any wealthy Black people during those days, so Hollywood wasn't counting on getting their money, so they didn't care if it was offensive or not which just make more Blacks try 30x harder to try and get that same recognition) Because of equality, and the fact no one wanted to see a Black person as a lead, of course Hollywood wouldn't invest money in a big grand production like that. Of course now it's different, and now Blacks have a lot more opportunity than back then (and because things are a whole lot racially equal now then back then) there are movies just for that audience to watch and pay for. But their choices in how that character should act is very questionable (and usually stereotypical)

But now (because of many people standing up equality and not letting things be the way they are) we don't have to have Caucasians representing Blacks and Asians, (and their are lots of blockbuster movies with Blacks as the lead) so... why can't it be Asians too? They made Asian movies all in the early-mid 20th century and can't star an actual Asian person (unless they are a villain) and now, a heavily Asian-influence cartoon can mainly have Caucasian casted in its live-action? Just that it's sad enough that it has to take an "Ancient Chinese," or "Martial Arts" (not exactly talking about Avatar) movie to have actually star Asians and not just a regular normal movie where the lead happens to be Asian. And those Ancient Chinese, Kung Fu movies can't even star Asian Americans either (sadly).

And within those Christmas movies you mentioned and the one or two Hanukkah movies, are main cast Jewish (or practice Judaism) at least for those Hanukkah movies? Or do they an all Christian-cast for those movies as well? It's like since Caucasians dominate all other Hollywood movies, why also the one movie that could have had a predominately Asian cast? If not even that, than at least make it more diverse with the main characters. It doesn't give Hollywood the right to have to make the lead actor Caucasian in every remake from an Asian movie, or Asian-influenced TV show or just based on an Asian them.

And Dev Patel was only given that role because Jesses Mc Cartney was busy with some tour. I don't think Shyamalan had much of a say with the cast, and when Jesse said he couldn't do it, they could have been stuck with trying to get another person, and Shyamalan could have recommended him or something. And Since Patel was just in that movie, well it was just perfect timing. I dunno how it could have happened, but that is a possibility.

And with the Cliff Curtis guy playing Arab and Mexican, well, there are lots of people how have such unique looks that can play a large range of characters. Johnny Depp plays the British Barber Sweeny and was darn, I dunno how to spell that name... from Sleepy Hollow. Jenifer Lopez played Selena (and she acted as Italian in the Wedding Planner I think), who was Mexican and she herself is Puerto Rican. Zhang Ziyi (much controversy over this one) played a Geisha. Is it wrong to do that? I don't think so entirely. Yes, they could have gotten people who were those actual ethnicities. Is this compared to Yellowface? I don't think so... since no one is changing their own skin color and altering their facial features to look like that race/ethnicity. And who are exaggerating and promoting negative stereotypes of that race/ethnicity. I think if they at least resemble the character being played (and of course those people I listed are high profile actors/actresses) if Hollywood still wanted to sell with those big names. Ok, but when you have two characters, who are obviously brown-skinned, being played by two people are very pale... it's like, they really couldn't find other people who are still well-known, and looked somewhat like the character? I mean Aang's actor looks nice, but why does the main lead actor have to always be Caucasian? (This kid isn't known...) Sorry, but a show that obviously diversity plays a main part in the series shouldn't just be cast away. Some movies can get a way with it, because ethnicity and race and culture is not what the movie is based on.

I have never seen "True Blood," so I really don't know what the other characters are or if the TV show is reference off of the book and made its own version or if HBO kept everything else the same and just made the character black. If it's the second part, then yeah... HBO shouldn't have done that. I dunno how race fits into that show, but if they made the Black woman are stereotype, then it's really messed up. If not, maybe HBO is making an excuse of being "diverse" when they're probably hoping that the get more Black viewers for the show if they are (I dunno, because I'm not much of a TV person, ad I even forget I have HBO. I watch the main TV in my house which has the cable box with the encore movies and stuff, but not HBO... and I've gotten use to the comcast TV guide thingy, so I can't really look for HBO shows or movies they show, unless I look online... but I forget I even have the channel on mt bedroom TV)

I'm not saying that you're wrong, because Hollywood is about money, and don't really care about anything else unless it sells well. But I don't agree with the whole "We should just accept it how it is because it isn't going to change. It's all about money." I mean, yeah, whining and complaining isn't going to change anything, but just accepting it isn't going to either. Imagine if everyone just accepted the way they were being treated, or how the law is, then the world wouldn't be how it is now. I'm getting that kinda " if you're not going to do anything about, then shut up," kinda feel (I could be wrong) and I'm just not like that. Actually, thanks to many complaints at my college (which my....kinda-boyfriend) pretty much organized, the dorming system isn't exactly how the college wants it. But if we just let them "have their way," omg you don't know how I would be feeling throughout this whole summer. So no, I'm not going to just accept what Hollywood does, and I'm glad people like Martin Lther King didn't accept how Black people were treat, and other civil rights activist along with the many college students back in the 60's, or I wouldn't be where I am today. (yeah... getting a bit off-topic)

Actually, if I knew about all of this sooner, I would have done that protest thingy they had in Philly... but I'm like... six months too late and they already started filming... So now I can just not really pay to watch the film. Hopefully it would be like the Hulk. The first movie flopped and years later, they made a better one. (but that's just me judging the movie is going o suck before I actually see it. So yeah, that's not nice.)
Last edited by «minah» on Jun 30th, '09, 23:09, edited 2 times in total.

Puppet Princess
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Post by Puppet Princess » Jun 30th, '09, 10:23

My point was that every time a movie like this pops up the first thing people say is, "Hollywood sucks and is so racist, why can't they just get a *insert race* person."

But it's not Hollywood. It's every film industry. I think it's a little hypocritical to get so worked up over Hollywood doing it and not every other country.

I'm not saying I like or agree with the practice. I would go see movies with leads of any race if the plot appealed to me. But if I got worked up every time I know they purposefully cast someone based on race I would never enjoy any movie. People only ever make a big deal when it's adaptations and they have preconceived ideas anyways. When watching movies I can usually tell when they are using "Asian" as a race rather than ethnicity. Or another look-a-like race. I roll my eyes when I see an actor who is very obviously Chinese, playing someone Japanese but I let it go because there is no point getting upset over it.

Am I going to picket movie studios until they cast minorities in big budget films instead of white people? No. But then I usually don't care who is in big budget films because they are usually shallow and repetitive anyways. No one sees Transformers or Batman for the plot or acting. It's about CG and things blowing up. So who the actors are is really irrelevant. I wont loose sleep because they want to put the white guy in the poorly written movie designed for other white people who can't process good writing without making their head hurt.

So I'm not sure what from Hollywood. You want the whitewashed Asian playing the "white" guy? Who acts in movies like that makes no difference. You want them to be the culturally Asian in a modern America? You can't market that to white folks since they wont identify with the character and thus no sympathy. You want them to be martial artist super heroes?.... back to stereotypes.

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 30th, '09, 16:22

Geez sorry for the long post again. I hope I'm not making you upset with me because of my views.

I'm just saying that they should play other roles than just "the" Asian person, and half the time that's not even possible. And I should claify, I should be saying "Asian-American," and you're right, it doesn't matter what race the person is, because if the movie is about just some average American person (it can be a teen movie, matured-theme movie... whatever) then why not use more diversity in the cast, especially in those leads since you said "who acts in the movie makes no difference." Obviously it does, because whoever is the lead actor, an really determine what audience will mainly watch it. It's just not the actor alone that determines the audience, but also the story and other elements.


"You want the whitewashed Asian playing the "white" guy?" (No, but if the race shouldn't make a difference, then like why not? Specific movies where race is not making the movie, why isn't it bad for some non-Caucasian to star in it? And just be the regular Asian American.)

I dunno your last paragraph is just... I'm not sure if you are saying that I am saying, "I want an Asian American to play the martial artist." (obviously stereotype but I'm saying that even when they don't Asian Americans just average regular roles, they don't give them too many of these roles either. So if they're not getting roles... then what? They're usually getting roles if the stereotype is needed, and that's is an unlikely chance they get that.) and


"I want them to be culturally Asian in a modern society." (I really don't recall saying anything remotely similar to this. I know that there won't be any ratings for that. But how they can just be modern regular Asian American, with their ethnicity having nothing to do with the character? Let's see, the only movie I can think of that I saw recently that just had an Asian-American guy (I think he was born in the America, or got citizenship) is Twilight. He was just some guy who went to school with the other cast. And you know, it just really sucks that Hollywood have to cater to Caucasians if every major Hollywood movie is made for them to identify. Just with you saying " You can't market that to white folks since they wont identify with the character and thus no sympathy." just means there's a problem right there that these movies are mainly made for them. What, Isn't Hispanic/Latinos/Spanish-Speaking Carribeans (I dunno, the last one is how my kinda-boyfriend identify himself as, so yeah ) the largest minority group in America? But of course movies can't be made with this large group in mind because America is just "a white man's world.")

And the reason why I am just mad at Hollywood is because, American is made up of different people from all across the world. Other countries that where the race/ethnicity is 80-95% of it, then yeah I know it's harder for them to do. But are they making films about America, starring Americans? If they are.. then it's not that many. Or are they taking American (or any other foreign) movie and making an adaption, a movie that reflects their culture but referring back to the original source... as in storyline and the plot. I can't speak for every film industry out there, because I don't know how it's run and what they do, but if they're like Hollywood too, then they're just as messed up too.

But Avatar, it is obvious that the characters are Asian (Asian as in, Asia as whole, not being all specific with Southeast Asians, or Middle-Eastern because they're all in Asia.) And going by the pictures of the movie, and the fact the characters are kept their names, shows that it is still set in the Avatar world. If Hollywood wants to make films that "Caucasians can identify with," then why have make the movie in the first place? Caucasians aren't gonna identify by race/ethnicity for the film, they're gonna identify by what they're going through and the kids who watch the how at least know Sokka and Katara aren't white-skin. So why get two pale people to play the role? I'm not saying it's right to get any random brown person, but it will certainly be better than those two. This movie is just going back to how old films were. "Asian Americans aren't good enough to play themselves (nor even just a regular American person) nor Inuits or other people, so let's still make a movie based off an Asian-influenced world, but have mainly Caucasians star in it." For me, there are lots of films that bother me, and just like you, I don't get work up for every film that is not "political correct." And not even just films, TV shows, music video, etc (BET puts me to shame with half the crap they show, along with a lot of Black rappers and singers out there. It just makes me shake my head and just try to ignore it doesn't exist. Because the more many other Black people are going to think it's ok, then it's not ever going to change. And that's how people we view us, and then we get mad because they're "stereotyping" and the circle goes on) But not everything I'm just gonna let pass without having a few words to say.

I didn't get super worked up when Halle Berry won an Emmy just because she had sex on screen in the crappiest movie ever made, nor when Eddie Murphy have to stereotype big Black females in Norbit (but I surely didn't like his yellowface performance in the movie... very stereotypical) But man, I just know it is not right to have a movie, completely based off Asia, with its 4 main characters (except for Dev Patel, who, like I said was very fortunate to get this role) have to be represented by Caucasian. Do you know how many complaints (and maybe riots) there will be if Hollywood pull this crap if they made a remake of Roots, and made Kunta Kente white? It would defeat the purpose of making the film. And that new Star Trek movie, they have John Cho paying Hikaru Sulu. That character was originally Japanese American. So they can make sure Sulu is Asian, but not Sokka, Katara, and Aang?

And it sucks too that when a high profile Asian is in a movie... they're from a different country, because they have their foreign movie showcased here. But why can't Hollywood use its own Asian Americans? Because they're not popular and so they won't drawn in money? If they don't start somewhere, then of course they're gonna be unknown.

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Post by Ladymercury » Jun 30th, '09, 20:36

«minah» wrote:If Hollywood wants to make films that "Caucasians can identify with," then why have make the movie in the first place? Caucasians aren't gonna identify by race/ethnicity for the film, they're gonna identify by what they're going through and the kids who watch the how at least know Sokka and Katara aren't white-skin. So why get two pale people to play the role? I'm not saying it's right to get any random brown person, but it will certainly be better than those two.

THIS.


Avatar has been on the air since 2004/2005. Everyone knows who Katara and Sokka are. They know they are not white. They know they are tanned skin. So magically they become white in the movie?

Its not that hard to find mixed asians of dark skin in America (I'm one), its not that hard to go on an open casting call to find up and coming actors and actresses to play the characters on the screen.

The fandom knows that these characters are who they are, so why change it? The show became popular based upon what it was: Why fix something that wasn't broken in the FIRSTST place?

The movie is a big racial mess and a slap to the face to what fans had embraced and really against what the show was about -> No one race was better than the other, and that all should come together to put an end to it.

But whatever, I know I'm not going to spend 10 dollars of my money to see it.

foshio88
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Post by foshio88 » Jun 30th, '09, 22:05

Avatar the live action?xD oh wait i edit this after watch the trailer guys.. *giggles*

edited

ergh the effects are quite good, but im not sure about the casts though. Avatar's characters are all asian based, no white roots. O__O let's see then whether this can pulled out (coz Dragonball, Chun Li and Blood the Last Vampire are bleh), Come on hollywood, make more realistic film please? :roll

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jun 30th, '09, 22:58

I heard of a LA Blood the Last Vampire, but they actually gonna release it soon (well, in the States?) I wonder has there been any promotion for it *doesn't watch much TV*

Woah first, I'm sorry... I think I said Puppet Princess in a previous post (sorry! For some reason... I kinda get you two confused... *goes and fixes the name*)


See! I did it again! I did have the right name... oh geez... like I said... I dunno why I get you two mixed up....

So reallly really sorry about that. But yeah uh... I dunno I feel like you're arguing with me with something I agree on... And that last post... I agree 100% with.. I dunno.. I feel like you're mad at me. I'm sorry!

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Post by jupiter143 » Jul 1st, '09, 00:04

I agree with a few people here that it's not worth getting worked up over. Hollywood is just like every other production area in the world. The more famous the person, the more likely they are to sell tickets. What teenager is going to see a no-name cast in one film when their favorite star is in another movie? Kids don't care what the movie is so much as who is in it (that's why Johnny Depp movies are ALWAYS blockbusters), and kids/tweens are the demographic for Avatar. End of story. It's all about ticket sales, and that's the same no matter what country you're in. And honestly, it's a bit silly to complain one way but not the other. There are plenty of Asian dramas featuring Asians as Americans or whoever, speaking in broken English/French/Spanish/Whathaveyou. But that's just the way the movie and television industry rolls. It's less than awesome, sure, but to quote the fine Broadway musical, Avenue Q, "everyone's a little bit racist" - and movie adaptations are often where we see it happen the most.

foshio88
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Post by foshio88 » Jul 1st, '09, 01:33

minah, Blood The Last Vampire i fink its already out worldwide. xD well in Malaysia(where i am right now)is like weeks out in the cinema already. The graphic is sucks, oh well watching the making of really gets my nerves out haha then i go watch the movie (half and hour later, half ppls from the cinema empty) :unsure: :whistling:
But i tell myself to endure it, and i did. I knew it, Japanese Live action movie, let Japanese make it. :mrgreen:

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jul 1st, '09, 01:52

You know what... it hasn't come out here in the States yet. (And they most likely won't promote the film here either) ^_^U

Phillykat
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Post by Phillykat » Jul 1st, '09, 02:42

I heard about it months ago. Before it was announced I was talking to someone and remarked how the characters, esp. Aang were lighter than they should have bee. I should've known there. There were some demonstrations, but nothing happened. When Jesse McCartney quit due to his "scheduling conflict," I thought maybe they'd cast someone of Chinese descent, but we get Hindu. Right continent. I just hope it tanks.
lullabye wrote:This adaptation is obviously not being geared toward fans but toward that mythical demographic that supposedly won't watch a film unless it stars white people.
That is the best line I've read about the casting.

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Post by garnet07 » Jul 1st, '09, 03:50

Haha, thanks for the trailers since I haven't seen those yet. But I've heard of this movie coming a long time ago ... when it was first said on TV since my brother and cousins are crazy about the series.

I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, the director who casted all those whites and also the one who invented 'a little boy who can see ghosts'. But as many of you may feel, if he totally messes up this movie, his career is pretty much over. Kids are mostly the ones who are going to watch this movie and they are the future movie goers, so if this movie sucks, no one will ever go to Shyamalan's movies in the future. Good luck to him. At least have a decent storyline that follows the animation correctly. The director did say he has been watching the series with his kids so he should know what its about, right? :roll

foshio88
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Post by foshio88 » Jul 1st, '09, 07:03

minah, eh really really? :scratch: aish that's really weird. The producer was from Hollywood named Cory something. :O wau that's more weirder, no promotion towards this anticipation movie of this year?perhaps, maybe its true there's racism issue eh?^^;:
minah, dun watch it kay?hehe jk jk i mean i dun recommend to watch it, its really suck. :cry: :glare:

Rozenrot
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Post by Rozenrot » Jul 1st, '09, 14:15

Avatar is an American 'anime' cartoon. And it was fairly popular despite not having a non white cast hence why a live action is being produced. I think its pretty poor that the producers have decided that a non white cast won't be accepted.

There are many well known Asian superstars working in American films as there are many Asian films that do extremely well in American. Take the recent 'The Forbidden Kingdom' for example, which had an almost entire Asian cast, save one.

The fact is that fans of Avatar will expect a varied race cast. So I don't understand the logic behind 'if we have Asian and Black lead actors, the film won't do as well'. This may be an 'American' film, but its not actually set in 'America' is it? Its a work of fiction, the cast doesn't have to be a realistic representation of the American public.

Quite frankly, its racism, and its spoiling what would have been an epic film. Think about it, if the entire cast had been non-white and if it goes on to do extremely well, then wouldn't that be a landmark for American cinema?

«minah»
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Post by «minah» » Jul 1st, '09, 17:01

foshio88 wrote:minah, eh really really? :scratch: aish that's really weird. The producer was from Hollywood named Cory something. :O wau that's more weirder, no promotion towards this anticipation movie of this year?perhaps, maybe its true there's racism issue eh?^^;:
minah, dun watch it kay?hehe jk jk i mean i dun recommend to watch it, its really suck. :cry: :glare:

Well, Dragon Ball was released here after the Japanese release... so like.. I dunno. ^_^U It might have a small fan base like the JPN Deathnote Movie and stuff which was release in some American theaters. Well, if BtLV does come on cable TV (which it most likely will as soon as its released straight to dvd/blu ray) I might watch it.

But yeah. this movie could have been really strong since I heard the effects were nice and stuff... but the cast kills it though.

ImL0st
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Re: So... anyone heard about the Avatar movie and it's casti

Post by ImL0st » Aug 9th, '09, 04:03

«minah» wrote:Yeah, my cousin told me a few days ago that they're making an Avatar movie and they already have a trailer and.... omg, not sure if anyone would agree with me... but after seeing the pictures of the cast I was really disappointed. I mean, people who watch the series know that the characters, setting, themes, and lifestyle is based of of different Asian cultures and customs (along with Inuit and I heard like a bit of African too somewhere) So like, why is the main cast all Caucasian? Save for Zuko, who is played by someone of Indian decent... but! The role was originally given Jesse McCartney (sp?) but due to tours, he couldn't fulfill the role. AND the three most obvious main characters who OBVIOUSLY look non-Caucasian are well, played by Caucasian. (Aang, Sokka, and Katara)


Hm... let's find a link to the cast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender wikilink
I agree, it's a huge "turn off" to me when Caucasians play something Asian, what're they thinking? LOL.

trailer



http://last-airbender-trailer.blogspot.com/ someone's blog

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