Racebending.com

[Leaf]

Why does it seem like the website has became nothing more about racism in itself ironically?

[Aanglover]

Dec 1, 2009 23:40:53 GMT -5 Leaf said:

Why does it seem like the website has became nothing more about racism in itself ironically?

idk...lol.
but it seems like people are being racist about the whole rascism thing...
if people think that just because the characters aren't the right skin-tone that it'll ruin the movie...well then...that's their beef! i think that most of the actors chosen are pretty well suited for the parts...it's just Shymalan (sp?) that i'm worried about.

[Leaf]

Whenever there is an argument regarding race; both sides usually end up racist altogether. Though, I do find it funny when whites complain of racism for some reason. I liked the site better when it focused on why Avatar (Not Blue Furries Yiffing) had more Asian inspired culture and why it should be respected. The site now is just pathetic.

[Musogato]

Whenever there is an argument regarding race; both sides usually end up racist altogether

I don’t entirely agree with the generalization, but it gets heated because race is a very personal subject. Everyone’s affected by it, and everyone has their personal view of it based on… well, everything. Who they are, where they lived, how they grew up, the people and media they grew up with or that left an impression on them, the challenges they did or did not face… it’s an unavoidable facet of life.

As for Racebending.com, they’ve expanded their mission to include the latest racebendings of other movies, as well as providing info that’s related to the subject. The pages regarding ATLA are still there, I don’t know what more they could say about it that hasn’t already been shown. I really don’t see how that’s pathetic. They’re growing; not staying stagnant or withering away.

[Zidaneski]

Trying to force certain races to specific roles is the same thing as not having a certain race for a certain role. People just get so uptight about it cause they think if there is something they don't like that gets shown on a grand scale that now everyone who watches it will automatically use it as a basis of prejudice.

Imagine if there was a school play of Peter Pan and a black guy wanted to be Peter Pan and was really good at the role, but then he doesn't get the role because people felt that Peter Pan should be white cause of the original source material. Instead of looking on the outside people need to look harder on whats on the inside.

Simply put Shymalan isn't strictly following the animated series. Its his movie and he can make it however he wants.

[Musogato]

Trying to force certain races to specific roles is the same thing as not having a certain race for a certain role.

….Uh, what? In the first one they’re looking for something specific while in the second one it’s (in theory) anyone’s game. How is that similar? As for people using bad qualities/stereotypes from movies as a basis of prejudice against people in real life… uh, yeah, there’s a long history of that happening. Hopefully it’s not as bad now with more populations being intermixed and the internet and everything, but there’s still a lot of old-way thinking and prejudice out there, not to mention good old impressionability.

As for the school play example, yeah, if the black kid was really good at being Peter Pan, he should have gotten the role. Since it’s a school play, I wouldn’t think that the teachers would be so uptight about preserving the original source ethnicities, although I guess it also depends on where the school is.

Even if your example was for a movie production, if the director and producers wanted to go in that direction, I'd think that’d be pretty cool. There have been tons of white Peter Pan plays and movies; it’d be interesting to see it retold with a black perspective, or any other race's perspective for that matter. A gender-bended version would be interesting too.

But, the difference here is that Airbender isn’t a classic book - it’s unlikely to have multiple retellings like many other works or even rebirths like TMNT and Batman. In addition, Airbender is one of the few American-made shows with a large cast of well-written Asian characters/cultures that had wide-spread popularity.

Clearly Shyamalan and whoever else making decisions is making their own movie and doing whatever they want. But that doesn’t mean people who don’t agree with it have to be okay with it, especially when the changes they’re making aren’t “We’re putting a different twist on this” (see black Peter Pan) but “We’re toning down the Asian qualities and doing more of the same.” (see white heroes with brown villains, and asians once again pushed into the background.)


….and once again I’ve built a brick wall of text. *sighs*

[asian malaysian]

What Musgato said. ATLA not only featured asian characters but clearly and respectfully featured aspects of asian cultures as well. More importantly, it was all done with care, forethought and had a lot of heart. The casting is only one aspect of the movie but when you consider it in conjunction with the other reported decisions (with regards the martial arts and the chinese caligraphy), you see all kinds of decisions being made out of expediency, not care and consideraton for the source material. I dont see how any fan of the series cannot feel at least some dissapointment at that.

[Zidaneski]

Dec 8, 2009 21:53:08 GMT -5 Musogato said:

Trying to force certain races to specific roles is the same thing as not having a certain race for a certain role.

….Uh, what? In the first one they’re looking for something specific while in the second one it’s (in theory) anyone’s game. How is that similar?

Oh I was referring to what the fans want. The fans don't want certain actors to play certain roles, why? Cause of their race. As far as the culture being down-played it is dissapointing, but just like anyother movie if there is something I disagree with or don't like I just don't watch the movie. I'm not gonna complain every chance I get to stop other people from enjoying it.

[Zidaneski]

Well the fire nation isn't evil at all. And besides, Zuko is a well liked character, whatever race he is gains instant hotness points.

[valentine]

It absolutely kills me that people care so much about what race the actors are. Isn't that the LAST thing we have to worry about? The only thing that worries me is if Shyamalan will do this show any justice.
And from looking at the trailers and tv spots that are out. I am not really concerned about the casting choices. I will choose to judge them AFTER I have seen the movie and if they did their job...not by what race they are.

[asian malaysian]

It absolutely kills me that people still dont understand that the heart of the protest was the disrespect shown to the source material. Anyone who says they watched Avatar didnt notice anything asian about it are referring to James Cameron's movie.

Unless, we were talking about a feature length cartoon, the cast is the most visible expect of any movie so, yes, the casting choice was and is the first and most visible sign of what we can expect from the movie. Its not the only sign. Other signs include dropping the chinese caligraphy and the martial arts which served as a basis of the bending forms. All these issues have been raised time and time again.

Regardless of how the box office take goes, I hope that Shyamalan will have the grace to address these issues at some point in time. Im sure Paramount leaned on him to give the show more "mass appeal" in return for the big CGI budget to make the movie. Given his past record in box office takes, Im guessing he didnt have much bargaining power in the matter. Still, he claimed to have taken the job out of a love for the source material which was introduced to him by his own daughter. If the show does in fact do well enough for Paramount to OK the sequel, I hope that he will use that bargaining power to make the show truer to the source material. If the drill seige of ba sing se comes out looking like a splice of "Troy" and "LOTR" Im sending Combustion Man after him.