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doop-doop In reply to Turquoise-Cherry [2012-07-05 02:19:05 +0000 UTC]

Actually no news about a sequel being greenlit has been given at this time. Right now it's all speculation, and as the cast keeps getting older, it probably won't happen.

Hopefully.

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doop-doop In reply to VividSunsets [2010-12-31 03:08:07 +0000 UTC]

Indeed. Many of them are from Asian and Inuit societies.

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VividSunsets In reply to doop-doop [2011-01-01 01:31:57 +0000 UTC]

I must admit that, but weirdly zuko is white. would'nt you expect him to look more asian???????????

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doop-doop In reply to VividSunsets [2011-01-02 00:22:36 +0000 UTC]

I think you've lost me somewhere in your diction. I don't quite know what point you're getting at, but I believe Zuko to look quite Asian.

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CaitlinDancer In reply to doop-doop [2011-11-25 02:38:29 +0000 UTC]

I disagree, to a certain extent, but only because I see the Fire Nation to be very similar to Great Britain here in the real world. One tiny island colonizing and conquering other areas of the world in the name of their country - there are quite a few political parallels there. A lot of the design of characters from the Fire Nation (Zuko, Azula, et cetera) however, is very Asian-inspired.

I didn't see this movie in theaters - can't remember why, but I did rent it from Blockbuster...I fell asleep about halfway through, and my boyfriend didn't bother to wake me up because he disliked the movie just as much as I did. I was upset because of the casting as well, but not for the same reason. I think, even though Avatar has MANY asian-inspired characters, casting for said characters should have been done based on how well that actor/actress portrayed the personality of that character. Granted, the writing for the film sucked so much I felt like sending a sympathy card to Nickelodeon expressing my condolences about the murder of AtLA's storyline. But that's a beef to be expressed another day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I think if M.Night had kept the original show's storyline, the race issue wouldn't be nearly as prevalent - the actors stumbled through the movie doing and saying things awkwardly (another tally to my point about casting for acting talent/quality over appearance) and to be honest, they didn't look like they should have been doing/saying them. I think this is cause the writers and the director twisted the story AND the mythology of the show, making it wayyy more at the center of the story than it ever was in the cartoon.

I'm all for racial equality in casting, but I think this movie was doomed to fail not because of prejudice, and because it just wasn't the story we know and love from the start.

This is a very ranty comment, and pretty disjointed, and waaaaayyyyyy after the fact, but I somehow felt the need to put my two cents in anyway. I don't mean to be incendiary in any way - just wanted to provide another viewpoint.

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doop-doop In reply to CaitlinDancer [2011-11-25 03:35:01 +0000 UTC]

Well, since the movie came out forever ago, and is basically a dead horse by this point, I don't see the point in kicking it. I've had this argument a thousand times, and I don't feel like going into lengthy detail, so I'll just say this:

Yes, the film was doomed. Yes, the writing, directing, pacing, acting was atrocious so I agree with you on that.

However, no, racially appropriate casting is always a necessity. It should not just be blindly handed over to "whoever can act the best", which is what M. Night said he had done. Media is important, what we see and hear actively shapes the way we subconsciously view the world. So erasing people from their own storyline, their own culture, actively erases them from our collective social subconscious.

So thank you for your two cents. But please keep in mind what you are saying when you use the excuse of giving roles away to those who can act. There would have been plenty of people, of appropriate ethnicity, who could have done the job better; doomed film or no.

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VividSunsets In reply to doop-doop [2011-01-02 13:55:31 +0000 UTC]

I.....oh! now I get it! thx.

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doop-doop In reply to meks-the-gypsy [2010-12-01 08:34:04 +0000 UTC]

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about your cousin!

See, this is why I was so against the casting! This movie would have been a brilliant opportunity for Asian and Inuit actors to get out in the movie business. Not to mention A:TLA was really one of the first, and best, examples of television shows that feature an entire cast of people of color. A lot of children need shows like that, so to have the casting so messed up can be really damaging.

It was a beautiful show and it's upsetting to see how horribly Hollywood adapted it.

And don't worry, I love hearing from people like you! I love it when people bring something new to the conversation. Thank you for commenting!

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meks-the-gypsy In reply to doop-doop [2010-12-01 09:08:41 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, and I completely agree with you, A:TLA was a beutiful and unique show, it would of been a great opprotunity to have a really interesting Asian and Inuit cast. Its just a bit sad that time and time again people replace really interesting ethnic characters with well... white people. D//x (Not that white people are bad!! Just a bit over-used in movies)

Another example of a movie that had similar issues is 'the prince of persia', I was really looking forward to seeing some persiany (not a word, I know) looking people, but everyone was... yeah. It was a good movie though and the actors acted well, so that saved it. The Last Airbender Movie was just... crap. The only good thing was Appa. (In my opinion)
But yeah, what really upsets me is not that they HAVE white actors in A:TLA, its that they PASS OVER OTHER, more suitable actors just so they can have white characters as the lead. Thats messed up.

And thanks for your comment about my cousin. I told her to take the movie Katara as a completely different person from the cartoon, parallel universe if you will (The cartoon one as the 'real' Katara ) That cheered her up a bit. Actually it cheers me up a bit too thinking of the whole movie like that.

Well, I gotta run anyways.
See ya.

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doop-doop In reply to meks-the-gypsy [2010-12-01 18:47:52 +0000 UTC]

Oh god, it's like you can see into my ~soul~

Hahaha okay corny dialog aside, I agree with everything you said. Movies about white people aren't bad, it's just so common, and it doesn't show the diversity of America at all. Not to mention movies like Airbender and Prince of Persia should has specifically called for Asian, Inuit, and Persian actors in the lead role as opposed to the background/non-speaking/villainous roles.

And I'm glad you were able to cheer your cousin up! I'd hate to think of all the children who walked out of this movie upset!

Thank you again for the wonderful conversation!

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doop-doop In reply to Assija [2010-11-01 01:22:27 +0000 UTC]

I was really blindsided when reports about the movie being completely sexist showed up. I was so focused on how awful the casting was, I never even expected the female leads roles to be god awful as well.

It's amazing how M Night could take a show that was downright flawless and make it one of the worst movies in the past decade. Honestly, I can't imagine how he even did it.

And I hope you're right. There better not be a sequel, and I fear what would happen to Toph.

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Assija In reply to doop-doop [2010-11-01 15:39:55 +0000 UTC]

They probably are going to make a boy out of Toph, on which isn't blind, since blind girls can't be that strong and win fights against two meter big gigantic men.
I don't understand that either, you could almost call it art or even skill to manage that (even if it is negative skill)

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doop-doop In reply to Assija [2010-11-01 20:08:24 +0000 UTC]

Good news I guess is that a sequel hasn't been given(and hopefully NEVER will get) the greenlight.

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Assija In reply to doop-doop [2010-11-01 22:28:51 +0000 UTC]

I hope so too^^

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doop-doop In reply to KataraTophTay [2010-10-15 23:34:07 +0000 UTC]

You're a bit late to the party aren't you? I've gone over this numerous times with other people here. Aang was, in fact, Asian. If his mannerisms, religion, spirituality, dress, writing and overall culture didn't point out that he is incredibly Tibetan then I advise you to take a culture studies class at school. It is quite a fascinating thing.

And you're right, there were no black people in the original show, but as Avatar is one of the only shows that is entirely steeped in a Pan-Asian setting, there was no need. The show was just about Asian and Inuit ideologies and mythologies. So we've covered that.

As for voice acting, while many characters in the show where voiced by Asians (such as Zuko and Iroh) voice acting is not an accurate representation of character. It's the same reason why Nancy Cartwright, a middle aged woman, can play Bart Simpson, a young boy. Voice acting is only looking for "sound". Because we can not actually see a voice actors face it allows us to suspend disbelief. This is why men can play female characters, or woman can play male character while voice acting. It's not an actual representation of the character.

And I do not believe I have taken a personal stab at any one person. The racist casting is, in technicality, no ones fault. It would be easy to blame M Night, but even then he's just a poster-boy for Paramount. And Paramount is still running on old school hollywood practices of bias and racism.

It is this practice that is unfair, but I do not believe anyone purposely set out to be racist, but I do believe we need to send a message that asking white people to play the role of someone--anyone--who is not ethnically Caucasian is wrong, and incredibly racist.

How I have personally offended you is beyond me, but I believe I addressed all of your complaints.

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doop-doop In reply to Cure4 [2010-09-13 01:49:34 +0000 UTC]

Ah, I'm not sure how familiar you are with the fans against racebending movement, but I've been following it (quietly lurking lol) since the casting was released in...late 2008? The actual time frame escapes me. Either way I need to point out that we have never contacted critics to tell them to give the movie a bad review. We have however contacted movie critics to inform them of the show it was based on and what the characters ethnicities originally were.

And if I am thinking of the same photo manipulation you're talking about, I don't understand why you're so upset about it. The "white" Aang that was created looked like the how the characters in Otomo's "Streamboy" movie were animated.

But frankly, the studio never should have allowed that casting to go through. A:TLA was a fantastic story just like you said. It was very rich and rooted in multiple Asian and Inuit cultures. It's very offensive they didn't think Asian characters should be played by Asian actors.

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Cure4 In reply to doop-doop [2010-09-16 05:14:34 +0000 UTC]

Really? That's not what I heard, but in any event why bother contacting the critics? Isn't it there jobs to look into the movies they're about to see and the material it is based on as well as characters and setting, etc.? Of course the research varies, but still, isn't that their jobs?

It isn't so much as the picture, it was more about how that article was written, the author kind of took things a little further than they should've in the opposite direction and ended up sounding rather ignorant...

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doop-doop In reply to Cure4 [2010-09-20 02:59:59 +0000 UTC]

As I'm not a film critic myself, I can't tell you how it actually goes down, but most Movie critics probably don't really get into the source material of what the movie is based on. Racebending was just giving them a heads up is all.

And I don't remember the article very much. Everything just blurred into one big epic Airbender fail, but I'm curious what it was that upset you so much about that article. I don't remember it offending me, but again, it feels like ages ago.

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Cure4 In reply to doop-doop [2010-09-20 22:23:57 +0000 UTC]

In just about every single review I have ever read that is for a movie that is an adaptation o something the author always makes note that they are based on a an already existing comic, cartoon, TV series, anime, manga, video game, etc. A critic should just review the movie, not get into racial matters, just so there's no detraction from the coherency of it all. I'm sorry, but contacting the critics was a bit of a lame duck move, those of whom that weren't contacted made mention of the TV series and even what it was set in and based on what cultures.

Regarding the article, I think what this guy had to say summed up my and a few others opinions on said article-
[link]

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doop-doop In reply to Cure4 [2010-09-21 02:35:59 +0000 UTC]

I guess our opinions differ, but contacting movie critics didn't really bother me. Most reviews I read didn't call into question the race, just the abomination of the film. (save for a few like Roger Ebert, but the man is practically my god of the movie reviewing world so he gets bonus points for calling paramount out.) And the few other critics who did mention the race of the original characters still don't think the movie was racist, despite it's obvious practices of bias.

And it's true, with every animation character designs will change. In some cases race doesn't matter at all and the animation will display that by drawing everyone with an overall appearance. However, the manipulation in question wasn't so much of a "All animated white people look like this" sort of thing (though some of them do, like early Ghibli films or Otomo movies)the point of the manipulation was to point out that Aang's features are predominantly Asian, more specifically Tibetan. And the creators were aiming for that. If they wanted to show Caucasian features they would have. Maybe not exactly like the manipulation displays, but either way, they would have.

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Cure4 In reply to doop-doop [2010-09-21 04:51:39 +0000 UTC]

"Most reviews I read didn't call into question the race, just the abomination of the film."
Which isn't a bad thing, as when I read a movie review, I want it to be just about the movie, and if the discussion of race is put forth, keep it subtle and don't create a side argument, be base as possible.

"(save for a few like Roger Ebert, but the man is practically my god of the movie reviewing world so he gets bonus points for calling paramount out.)"
*Laughs* I wouldn't be surprised how many Racebenders now adore Ebert for calling Paramount out on this( Common for certain groups of fanbases to go after the one who pretty much expressed what they were saying all along)

AS far as I'm concerned( and no that has nothing to do with his statemnet on the race matter) Ebert's a hypocrite, and some of the time he doesn't know what he's talking about either. I can cite a number of examples where he falters, off the tip of my head...
1. He forgets the name of the killer in Wes Craven's Shocker( Siskel had to even correct him on national television)
2. Complains about the surrealism to the film Armageddon and brings up how an asteroid the size of the nearest Wal-Mart would be enough to kill us all when that itself is a very ridiculous statement to make as one of that size would burn up before it'd ever reach the ground.
3. Comparing the visual effects of Spawn to Blade Runner? Really?
4. As far as being a hypocrite will go the man lashes out on Transformers 2 for being too surreal, weak on story, and too long but praises 2012 when it also lacks in story, is too long and is surreal as hell?

Speaking of which that whole article he wrote on the people who actually liked Transformers 2 was out of line, and just purely ignorant. Which leads to number 5...

...On that little rant of his, he uses an image of Jetfire and says he's Starscream, wow, how can you get that mixed up? He also confused Snake Eyes for Duke in the chase scene in G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra.
( Just had to get this out of my system...)

" And the few other critics who did mention the race of the original characters still don't think the movie was racist, despite it's obvious practices of bias."
Because for them, its not that big of an issue, what they see on screen they want to leave it as that and not go into the furthest of details and it might go against what they signed on when writing for this or that site or paper, magazine, etc.

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doop-doop In reply to Cure4 [2010-09-21 15:10:04 +0000 UTC]

Wow...okay. That's fantastic. I'm going to draw this whole shindig to a close now, since the Ebert bashing is getting a bit off topic don't you think? And I've stalked Ebert for years on the Chicago Sun-Times, not just since the Airbending article.

And look kid, pretty much what this whole argument should come down to is "I think the casting of the Airbender movie used old Hollywood practices of bias, racism and whitewashing." Whether you agree with me or not is entirely up to you, but I'm not sure what point your trying to make by saying informing critics of an old school practice of racism is a bad thing, or that Roger Ebert bashed some horrible films like Transformers. Neither of these get to the root of the problem.

So if that's all you have to say, I think this conversation is over.

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doop-doop In reply to amyheartless153 [2010-09-01 19:12:00 +0000 UTC]

I haven't seen it either (because I boycotted and all that jazz) but from what I've gathered from the movie critics, the internet, and all my friends who saw it: YES. It is one of the worst movies anyone has ever seen ever.

I'd stay away from it and save your money for something more enjoyable.

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doop-doop In reply to Burnouts3s3 [2010-08-09 03:10:46 +0000 UTC]

Heck yes! Preach!

Love your enthusiasm!

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doop-doop In reply to mangachick26 [2010-08-05 23:28:52 +0000 UTC]

Racist is a pretty strong word, and I don't want to throw it around willy-nilly, but I do believe the casting was racist. Mostly because their casting calls preferred white actors over any other ethnicity, which is pretty dang biased, not to mention it doesn't follow the ethnicity of the original characters.

And it's amazing isn't it? They had such a great source material, a really well developed world, realistic characters, and an amazing mythology...but the movie just...tanked. I can't even imagine how someone could ruin A:TLA so much. It just looks like everyone stared at the screen with a blank face and called it acting.

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mangachick26 In reply to doop-doop [2010-08-05 23:32:47 +0000 UTC]

I think the dude who played aang was the worst...the speech he gave to the earth benders in the camp was horrendous...so awkward to watch

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doop-doop In reply to superjay15 [2010-08-05 23:35:45 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, that's what really bothers me too. They latch on to a certain series, or book, or something that has a strong fanbase, because it has a strong fanbase, but then they totally alienate their core audience by changing everything but the name.

You'd think with a movie costing well over 200,000,000 dollars they'd actually put some effort into it! From what I've heard the effects, the acting, the 3D--everything that made it a big budget film--was absolutely awful. One would think they'd actually try to make a good film while they were tossing around so much money.

I thought about seeing the movie, friends have offered to download it for me, but I think it would just make me really angry, or want to vomit. So I'll probably never get around to seeing it.

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superjay15 In reply to doop-doop [2010-08-06 03:12:19 +0000 UTC]

I'll probably be dissapointed when i see it like when i saw Twilight. Loved the book and then the actor for Edward killed it, plus parts that were in the book didn't go to the movie or vise versa. but i still wanna see avatar the movie to see for myself an not just rely on what people say. what matters most is your personal opinion from personal experience. But everyone makes their own choices.

ur right about them using that much and more of that money and they should put some interest and effort in it. i mean i saw the trailer and i didn't like the casting. Katara and her brother are white skin, unlike the show and Zuko is kinda tan compared to the show. seriously, they could at least put the cast right. but the damage is done and all we can do is talk about it.

i do wish the show would continue. my fave character is Zuko. whos urs?

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doop-doop In reply to superjay15 [2010-08-09 03:17:05 +0000 UTC]

Ahha...Twilight. I honestly hate that series just about as much as I hate M Night's crappy remake of Airbender, but you know, that's just my opinion. And generally speaking, I normally try giving things a chance, just so--like you said--I can make my own opinion rather than follow every ones lead. But if I were to go watch Airbender I feel like I'd be supporting racism. If not that at least biased casting practices, so I'll sit this one out. It wouldn't have mattered if it was a good film or not, the old school hollywood practice of whitewashing was enough to turn me away.

Oh and heads up! Avatar: Legend of Korra hits TV next year! It's going to be a spin off series of the original!

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superjay15 In reply to doop-doop [2010-08-09 03:26:05 +0000 UTC]

i heard about the new show of Korra and it sounds interesting, though sad that all our fave characters are gone. but i guess we'll get to see Aang's son!

anyways, i saw the movie and i now feel horrible and i now see what everyone says about it. good thing u didn't see it, u saved yourself a lot of pain. i mean from begining to end, Aang was serious and so was Sokka. Momo was mentioned once and prince Zuko was disapointing. His uncle was nothing like in the series (also no humor in him). there was just no humor at all. it was all rushed and it ended with the firelord introducing zuko's sister, as if there will be a continuing part. i hope they don't make another one cause it's just not gonna go anywhere. i seriously don't know what that guy was thinking. now i just wanna watch the show to clean myself from that horrible movie. it's seriously the worst movie i ever saw. and it was short. but yeah, i should have not watched it, but it's good that i didn't waste money on it cause that would have probably killed me.

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doop-doop In reply to superjay15 [2010-08-10 19:57:13 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, M Night really took the fun out of everything. I don't know why he though her needed to take the joy out of the film. Or annihilate the so much. I heard Katara was awful too.

No character development whatsoever.

And I saw the sequel bait at the end, but honestly it'll never happen.

The movie's already been out for a month, only now has it broken even with it's budget, and that's not even covering marketing! Not to mention that a big chunk of their revenue has to go back to all the theaters that played the movie. There is almost no way a sequel will see the light of day. Unless Shyamalan foots the bill.

Anyways, I'm glad you didn't have to pay for that monster of a train wreck!

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superjay15 In reply to doop-doop [2010-08-15 21:30:20 +0000 UTC]

totally agree. it better not happen

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