The Last Airbender

[PockyMePink]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

Are you talking about the movie?

The anime is almost entirely influenced by East Asian culture. And the majority of that is Chinese. Only the Inuit looking, Southern water tribe is the exception.

It sounds like Shyamalan re-imagined the world which I suppose takes care of the racial controversy but then a whole other controversy arises.

First of all to fans it is blasphemy. I mean how would Batman fans feel if Gotham city resembled Miami rather than New York in the next Batman movie. Perhaps an exaggerated analogy but you see my point I hope.

Second of all it raises the question... why?

Finally, if Shyamalan hadnt reimagined the world or toned down the Asian influence present in the cartoon, the racial controversy would still be a valid concern I think. To show you how I would like to ask you the question.

If the main characters of Lord of the Rings were a mix of Africans or Asians... would that effect your experience of it in any way?

To me it would. A world based on European folklore with Africans or Asians running about the place would make the world unbelievable.

That doesnt make me racist.. It makes me closed minded sure... But I dont mind being closed minded when it comes to my imagining of how a people should look in a particular type of imagined world.

Yes, I was talking about the movie.

For me, the races of Avatar are complete opinions. I grew up on Avatar forums, and there were always 20 page long discussions over what race these cartoon characters were. Some said Katara and Sokka were black, or Zuko was white, or Aang was this, and Iroh was that, momo was mexican, etc. Many people interpreted their races differently, including myself. I saw the Asian influences, but evertime I saw Aang, I didn't think "Asian boy", I thought "Air Nomad". Their races were always speculation, but the real races of these characters were just like the Avatar world -fictional.

So we all imagine the world differently, which is fine. But now that one interpretation won over another, something had to go down

I've never seen Lord of The Rings. But since these races are so speculated, the most I could have asked for was at least a decent portrayal of the characters personalities. I didn't get that, but changing the main character's races to Asian and Inuit wouldn't make the actors portrayal any better.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by mrpawn

The main problem being him not thinking of the air nation and water nation being different nations, or it not mattering. Instead he made the water tribe white and aang white. he probably was being pressured into stronger diversification so he hired a famous person of another ethnicity: Dev Patel. So then he cast him as prince zuko and made the fire nation dark skinned and it all went down hill.

I heard he was pretty hell-bent from the outset on the girl he cast as Katara, which probably screwed up his options from the beginning as then he was more or less forced to make Sokka Caucasian too. Whether or not he bowed to pressure later is one thing, he might have done but more to the point is that the official story of Dev Patel's casting is he was called in by chance only because the guy Shymalan originally wanted couldn't make it to the actors training camp due to prior commitments. So even there, he's ~admitting~ his only ethnic protagonist actor was only a substitute and not his first choice.

Originally Posted by PockyMePink

For me, the races of Avatar are complete opinions.Many people interpreted their races differently, including myself. I saw the Asian influences, but evertime I saw Aang, I didn't think "Asian boy", I thought "Air Nomad". Their races were always speculation, but the real races of these characters were just like the Avatar world -fictional.

The problem is, that's all fine and dandy if it's just in your head; it not going to offend anyone if you say, 'well i imagine that they're all X', because you're not forcing everyone else to see it the same way. I can make Harry Potter a Peruvian if I really fancy, write fanfic about it and mostly get away with it. But when it's going into a major public portrayal where the actor's ethnicity is clear cut, then that's no longer going to fly. Shymalan had all the cultural pointers in the anime, he should have followed them. Instead he insisted on forcing his head-verse, and it's backfired.

It's a matter of credibility as well; Ronin's Lord of the Rings comparison kind of makes sense; the series is heavily Norse/Anglo-Saxon in the surrounding mythos and atmosphere. Even the language. So Samual L. Jackson playing Aragon (which actually sounds kind of awesome now I write it) with Jackie Chan as Elrond is going to look incredibly odd. Also explains why there was a significant British slant to the casting as well, and even the guy who played Sam had to go away and learn a specific British dialect for the role.

[orewasenshi]

I hated this movie.

It was absolute garbage. The only really good thing about it was the 3-D effects of the movie. I really expected it to be good. The trailer looked really good.

As for the race of the characters, I think that people have different views on it.

The majority of the nations are Asian, and the Water nation looks really similar to Native Americans. I don't really know if that's right or not, but even in the anime, it's kind of noticable.

[PockyMePink]

Originally Posted by Columbine

The problem is, that's all fine and dandy if it's just in your head; it not going to offend anyone if you say, 'well i imagine that they're all X', because you're not forcing everyone else to see it the same way. I can make Harry Potter a Peruvian if I really fancy, write fanfic about it and mostly get away with it. But when it's going into a major public portrayal where the actor's ethnicity is clear cut, then that's no longer going to fly. Shymalan had all the cultural pointers in the anime, he should have followed them. Instead he insisted on forcing his head-verse, and it's backfired.

....which is pretty much what I had already said =\

[Kyousuke]

went to see it opening day. i've never seen the avatar shows but wanted to see the movie and it sucked bad. like others have said the pacing was fast. and the actors weren't that great. i actually fell alseep around where they get to the water village

[YukisUke]

Okay first of all, they made Appa look like a complete monster!!! He looks gentle and kind in the show. Momo has batlike wings, NOT feathers!!! They cast Jackson Rathbone(AKA Jasper) as Sokka and some unknown girl as Katara. They didn't get Dante Basco(Guy that plays Zuko's voice) to play Zuko, which makes me wonder why it was made a movie anyway. I admit, the boy that plays Aang looks just like the cartoon character, but that's about it. What's worse is that the Kiyoshi Warriors aren't in it and they're a very crucial part of the show. This is the worst F**king movie ever. And it's gonna get worse.

[Sinestra]

Crap movie as i expected. The min i heard who was going to be directing it i knew it was going to fail he is M.Kight is a terrible director and anything touches turns to crap. Very disappointed as this had the potential to be a great movie and he ruined it.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by PockyMePink

....which is pretty much what I had already said =\

Oops, sorry. I must have misinterpreted your slant. I thought you meant something slightly different.

[YukisUke]

Originally Posted by Sinestra

Crap movie as i expected. The min i heard who was going to be directing it i knew it was going to fail he is M.Kight is a terrible director and anything touches turns to crap. Very disappointed as this had the potential to be a great movie and he ruined it.

I felt the same way. When I found out who was making the movie for Avatar, I flipped my lid!!!!!!!!! I swore that I would never see that movie and I'm keeping my word. LMFAO!!

[TalnSG]

I am SOOOO glad my plans got fouled the other night and I missed it. After reading this thread I don't care to see it. There are fewer than 5 anime that I can say I really enjoyed and this was one of them. But from the casting to some of the production issues I have noticed in the ads, this is was poorly thought out.

I completely agree with Columbine. This was a serious mistake, both in overlooking the clear cultural links and in failing to seize an opportunity to bring a remarkable film out of Hollywood.

This is a failure on the level of Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto". Badly done and insulting to the cultures that it was supposed to honor.