Opportunity to not be racist, missed

[salinea]

I love my flist for it already said everything I might want to say about the first solid news we get on the cast of the Avatar live action movie : here, and here, and here, and god why here.

Is there some kind of rule that says liveaction fantasy must be pasty white regardless of the BLATANT pointers in the text/animated canon about the fact that characters are in fact of colour? It feels like the Earthsea adaptations all over again :(

And yeah, people's eagerness to downplay, justify or rationnalise away this shit is making me want to scream.

Comments

[redcandle17.livejournal.com]

I guess Avatar is joining The Prince of Persia on the list of movies I would go to see if not for the racist casting choices.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I pisses me off because the animated series itself is so respectful of the various cultures it mixed for its worldbuilding and thought out in its choice not to have any white character... and vlam, all that wasted into yet another case of appropriation and orientalism :(

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

The worst part for me is that, when people were pessimistic and said they'd probably cast white actors, I always said that it would be silly to think so because Shyamalan himself isn't white.

Yeeeeeah. So much for optimism.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I was really clinging to hope as well :(

[haremstress.livejournal.com]

Dude WTF. If I didn't know better I'd have assumed this was a joke.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I wish it was one! I actually hoped they could not entirely fuck up this adaptation :(

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I think I'm near tears because I don't get why we can't be better than this.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either. I don't get they assume that white kids - I guess their main intended audience - would be so racist to be bothered by people of colour on the screen... I mean newsflash, usually kids aren't racist that way yet, and way to teach them how to be respectful about other cultures while you appropriate them for your own entertainment.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

That really baffles my mind. First, why not expect that Asian-American or Native American children belong to the target audience of that show as well? Second, are white American children really that racist? As a child, I never had problems to identify with Native American characters in the many books I read about such a setting, or whith Chinese or Mongolian looking people in Russian movie adaptations.

[williamjm.livejournal.com]

Children seem to be expected to identify fine with talking animals or robots or anthropomorphic cars which are far more exotic than any race so the suggestion that they can't identify with children of different race is absurd.

I'm sure there are quite a few examples of successful children's movies with non-white lead characters.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

Children seem to be expected to identify fine with talking animals or robots or anthropomorphic cars which are far more exotic than any race so the suggestion that they can't identify with children of different race is absurd.

Exactly. And I find it very regrettable: that the default for human experience in mainstream media is always white. And I say that as a white person who thinks that the diversity of the humanity is awesome. Regarding Avatar, it's really a missed opportunity to show that The U.S. are a diverse country, and that people of colour can play other roles than stereotypes.

Unfortunately, I can not remember any children's movie with protagonists of colour (from a Western country). But that doesn't mean that it should also be like that.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I can not remember any children's movie with protagonists of colour (from a Western country).
France made several animated movies like this. Kirikou and Azur and Asmar for example.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

That's good to know, and I even think I know what movie you mean. (The title was different for the German release.) Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to watch it.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

And yeah, people's eagerness to downplay, justify or rationnalise away this shit is making me want to scream.

That's always the most amazing thing. DON'T WORRY, THEY ARE GOING TO BLACK-FACED THEM. I mean, what?

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that one was... special. You'd think some people had never heard of minstrelsy. WTF people? Educate yourself!

[cloud-wolf.livejournal.com]

What?!

God, they really don't want us non-White people to have anything, do they?

I'm really glad the Earthsea tv series came out before I cared about Earthsea, or I would've punched something.

[cloud-wolf.livejournal.com]

I'm coming back to this and would like to add that doesn't make any sense. Such a good chance to cast asian actors and show the world some diversity and this is what they come up with. This is even worse than what redcandle17 mentioned, Prince of Persia. WTF.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

There's just no excuse. There's a great post about it there. It's not that they can't find talented actors, or at least actors for the main characters, they just didn't care :(

[cloud-wolf.livejournal.com]

Yes! (that link is awesome btw, I love intelligent ranting)

I keep headdesking over Jesse McCarthy. Somehow I doubt he has the acting skills to play Zuko.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Sucks doesn't it? :(( ali_wildgoose actually is organising a mail protest campaign. I think I'll participate from Europe.

[modillian.livejournal.com]

Oh maaaaaaan. I join a fandom that's awesome only partly because it's so fantastically inclusive and spot-on about gender equality and racial diversity, because the creators GET IT. And then shit like this happens. :|||||||

And yeah, kita0610 is made of win.

[werthead.livejournal.com]

I'll lay money on the producers, writers or director saying they are using 'colour-blind casting' at some point. It seems to be a new buzzphrase in TV and movie circles at the moment and an explanation for the casting not making an sense at all.

Each movie is based on a whole season, right? I guess that means in two years we get to see what masterful casting choice they come up with for Toph :-O

[imadra-blue.livejournal.com]

I am so angry right now, that I'm close to turning green and breaking shit. >:|

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

Je suis affligée.
Et comme toi, je le suis encore plus par les gens qui essaient de discuter "mais c'est un univers alternatif ! Rien ne prouve qu'ils sont vraiment asiatiques !"
Et je n'ai même pas l'impression que c'est un but de changer les origines ethniques des gens pour faire réfléchir (comme ces versions d'Hamlet où tout le monde est noir). C'est le contraire. Ils n'ont pas réfléchi du tout. Ou alors, juste à la partie commerciale.
J'étais prête à admettre que Aang soit blanc, s'ils avaient peur de problèmes d'identification. Mais tout le monde ? A quoi ils pensent ?
Je veux dire, il y a des histoires où le fait qu'un personnage soit blanc, ou noir, est juste un hasard, et dans ce cas on peut changer ça sans changer toute l'histoire (même si ça les changements à l'adaptation me dérangent toujours, c'est esthétique, comme changer une couleur d'yeux, pas idéologique). Mais là, ce n'est pas comme s'il n'y avait pas des origines culturelles profondes !

[rebbe]

You've linked to a whole bunch of sources that I have not yet seen -- thank you!