One Kid’s Take on “The Last Airbender’s” Casting Fail
- By Corrina Lawson
- March 23, 2010 |
- 8:00 am |
- Categories: Armchair Geek
The other Avatar movie, The Last Airbender, is coming out on July 2.
My kids are considerably less enthused about this one than Cameron’s visual masterpiece.
It’s not that they don’t enjoy the television show that the movie is based on. To the contrary, they love it to pieces.
It’s that they feel nearly all the creative decisions in converting the cartoon to the movie have been the wrong ones.
I debated writing this post myself but my kids are far more familiar with the show and concept than I am, so I asked my eldest daughter (16) if she’d like to voice her discontent publicly.
Her answer was an enthusiastic “yes.”
So here’s why she won’t be lining up to see this movie:
WARNING: Spoilers below for the series finale.
“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. And although his Airbending skills are great, he still has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.”
-Avatar: The Last Airbender theme song lyrics, © Nickledeon
Summing up the complicated universe contained in the show without taking another hundred years would be a complicated task. The creators did it best, and I’m afraid the new live-action movie is going to do it worst.
Not only have the movie’s creators chosen to go with a largely white cast even though the show is clearly based on several Asian cultures, the image in the official trailer shows Aang, a person dedicated to peace, in a fight and using his powers to overturn ships.
I realize that money is likely behind these decisions. Producers think a white cast will appeal to more people. And they want to emphasize the action in a summer blockbuster.
But they’re doing this wrong. The ethnic elements are central to the story.
The cartoon Avatar draws heavily upon historical cultures for its “four-nation” universe and brilliant characters.
The Fire Nation mentioned in the theme song owes a large debt to imperialistic Japan. The characters may look rather pale, but their features certainly have a Japanese quality, one that is completely deliberate.
In many episodes, exiled Prince Zuko is shown to possess not only a uniquely unhappy family, but to have dwelled in a palace shown through flashbacks of his childhood that shares many features with a traditional Japanese royal residence. The style of dress, ponds, and shape of the buildings are very, very similar to the pagodas, elaborate etiquette systems, and traditional gardens that the Japanese palaces had.
Moreover, the attitude of the royal family parallels the expansionist dreams of pre-WWII Japan. Zuko’s sister, favored Princess Azula, is a prodigy at war strategy, diplomatic negotiations and military ventures. Azula, along with the first season’s General Zhao, are very much Japanese traditionalists and imperialists.
Azula is also arguably the best female villain in a Western cartoon ever.
The Earth Kingdom poses the most significant- if not an equal- threat to the Fire Nation. It is portrayed as a more agricultural and divided country, very similar to that of China’s Golden Age- and their characters certainly resemble the Chinese.
The Water Tribes are just what their name implies- a loosely organized collection of free people that live very much like the Innuit and dwell at the North and South poles of the world.
The Air nomads are essentially wiped out- with the exception of Aang, the sole survivor- and what little we know of their lifestyle leads us to believe that they resembled the North American Indians of the Great Plains.
The reason I explain this is so one understands that it isn’t merely looks that make the white casting for Avatar wrong. The societies portrayed in the show are actually very specific. How someone looks should arguably not be that important in how they play a role, but the extremely specific ethnic portrayals in Avatar make this a real problem.
The casting of the Indian actor from Slumdog Millionaire as Zuko does represent a shift away from white casting but one that was done at the last minute. And the Fire Nation culture is not Indian but Japanese.
Another problem is the trailer that showcases Aang’s fighting abilities.
Pardon my religious references, but when you speak of archetypes, Aang is essentially the Messiah- the boy in the synagogue who wants to save the world without violence.
Even in the climax of the series, Aang has never killed anyone. His goal is less to fight a war- in fact, Aang is almost afraid of fighting- and more to restore peace and balance to the world. He is a spiritual leader, and the pure of heart, which is why he does not change much over the course of the series. Even when Aang battles the Fire Lord, the Big Bad of the series, he not only refuses to kill the man, but disables his ability to bend fire through a transfer of energy. The creators of the cartoon have always had the intention of Aang being truly Good.
Because of this, Aang attacking and injuring people in the trailer does not sit right with me.
And I’m also worried about Azula. She strives in the cartoon not to be sexual for fear of being labeled as a mere girl, which epitomizes the infamous sexism of the period accurately.
I’m concerned that Azula will be sexualized, especially because implied emotional and physical- and possibly sexual- abuse by her father have combined to make her uniquely naïve at matters of social interaction- despite her brilliance on matters of the real world. And she’s only fourteen.
Overall, I am baffled at how the director and producers decided that this movie even needed a white cast.
Avatar already has a huge core audience. They do not have to draw in additional people through some sort of race-wipe, because their target age already loves the show and they could take the “risk” of casting ethnically appropriate actors to the characters, and there would not be any real problem.
Instead, they have alienated the fans in a way that is not only racially inaccurate and offensive, but untrue to the characters or archetypes.
The problem is Hollywood producers already assume they have the fans buying a ticket so all they care about is attracting non-fans. Look at virtually every adaptation or remake of late. They seem designed to anger fans. I’ve seen few that honor the source material. It’s bizarre that too much action is the problem given the fact M. Night is not known as an action director. I always said an M. Night car chase would have the cars racing along at 25 miles an hour and stopping at traffic lights. Until most adapted films loose money don’t expect the producers to take note of fan concerns. Even then they’ll likely not listen and just stop adapting cartoons and super heroes for a while claiming audiences are tired of the content and want something different.
Very insightful and well-written take on the situation. I agree.
Sorry, but this is a superficial and unfair analysis that relies on a superficial and flawed sense of history, along with a mistaken recalling of the original cartoon, to attack a film never seen and not even completed.
So many mistakes, just ones of fact, it’s hard to know where to start a response to this article. How about the central character - Aang? The author doesn’t recognize that the movie trailer’s scene of Aang destroying a fleet of ships is taken exactly from the cartoon, and that the conflict between being a bringer of peace and and a warrior (as well as a kid) are central to the original as the movie.
In fact, it seems to me and most fans who have seen the various trailers and teasers out there, that this film will follow the original cartoon plot almost slavishly - or as best as one can reduce 22 half hour episodes into one two hour film.
And Aang is no Judeo-Christian “messiah” come to save the world, not that the messiah of the old testament was ever clearly a man of peace or saver of worlds. Aang’s roots are in the ever rotating wheel of karma, one of a thousand Avatars before him and a thousand more to follow, in a battle for balance that never ends.
As for “Asian influence,” a hard look at the original will reveal a thoroughly distorted mash-up of a dozen Asian cultures, characters featuring ambiguous hair, skin and eye coloring, plenty of odd types (including all-American professional wrestlers, Cajun styled swamp hillbillies, Indian gurus, absent-minded professors and desert raiding nomads right out of North Africa). In fact, the clearest connection most of the characters have to the real world has nothing to do with Asian culture, but the concerns of adolescence from a largely American perspective.
If I were Japanese or Inuit, I would be rather insulted at the authors insistence that my ethnicity was behind a specific cartoon nation. For all their 20th century imperialism, the Japanese were never the genocidal monsters of Avatar, while wars for territory and power have been fought all over Asia for thousands of years. And Inuits have never lived at the South Pole, built magnificent cities of ice, or used boomerangs.
As for racially offensive, I will only point out that for these characters (who could arguably be any race), Shayamalan has been the first director in Hollywood history to cast major roles in a major film with South Asian actors. Why do the racial absolutists debating this film alway fail to recognize how unprecedented that is?
Taking Belseth’s comment into the mix about the action raising an interesting point. I remember seeing adds for The Professional as a child. While still an awsome movie, it was not the action pack thrill ride the ad promised. Until the whole of Avatar is seen, perhaps they did not overload the aggressive action, perhaps they focused on the few action scenes in the ad to draw in more audience.
As for Aang being less “good” in this translation, I ask you to look upon my dear friend Faramir (Lord of the Rings). His conversion from book to film destroyed the strong character he started as. But allowed the viewing audience to see the evil of the ring nearly trap him. And allowed people to see him “become” that strong character who was there from the start in the book.
Right or wrong, it’s what they did. At least with things the way they are now in hollywood. If their sales are low enough and enough blogs and websites gripe on the same topics. We could see a reboot in the next couple years where they may just do things right.
I agree with Argyle and Show. I couldn’t have made their points better, so I won’t.
I’m looking forward to this movie. Sure, it won’t be as good as the series, only because they had to take 3 seasons of the show and compact it into a tenth of the time to create a reasonable 2hr movie. Source material will get cut, rearranged, and reimagined. But we’ll have to take the movie on its own merits.
I liked the analysis but I believe the air tribe is represented by Tibetans or some group of Indians (From the country of India)which live inside the borders of the other nations. Think of the guru. Think of Aang’s teachers. But that is all besides the point. Whether the show is based on specific culture helps guide the style of the movie yes but the message of the story is more important to preserve. The main message I pick up on is that all four nations are all part of the same world and that their dislike of each other and desire to conquer one another is misguided. Aang’s journey gives us, the audience a chance to travel from nation to nation and to see how peasants of each nation are all nice people who are just trying to live peaceful lives. It is the misguided leaders who carry nations to war and spread misinformation and hate for the other nations.
Great write up by your daughter, Corrina! I totally loved Avatar, and watched it with my now 14 year old son.
When I heard about the film my initial response was “who needs that, the toon is perfect”, but when I heard who would helm it I just sighed and averted my eyes ;))
The problem goes deep, too, & shows that the producers KNEW what they were doing– the casting call for extras to populate the world of Avatar was for “Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Asian, Mediterranean, and Latino,” while the casting call for the lead roles was “Caucasian or Any Other Ethnicity.”
This is a great, teachable moment for kids– understanding the institutionalized racism in Hollywood– in America– & how it hurts EVERYONE.
I’d disagree with some of the points– I don’t think there is a 1:1 relationship between any culture in Avatar & the real world, & that a range of sources are drawn on from Polynesian to Mesoamerican to mainland Asia. It doesn’t take away from the core argument though: the “racebending” in The Last Airbender is no good.
Very thoughtful and well written. My only gripe is that we’ve only seen the trailer. Those previews don’t always show what’s actually in the movie. So I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised, or at least entertained. I doubt it will measure up to the original series simply because of the time alloted. We’ll see. Regardless, I’m going to go see it.
I’ve not watched the whole thing just the first 20 or so episodes. I was watching to decided if my son was old enough to watch and found he wasn’t. I did enjoy the show which is why I watched the first 20. Netflix didn’t send me the last disk so I have not seen season 1s end. I felt that most of the look had more to do with the artists then the story. You could have placed it in europe in the dark ages and had just as good a story. The art director did choose to go with the orental flavor and I feel that much of that will be muted in the movie.
I think also the fact that the series has to sale in Japan as well as the US had a lot to do with the look of the characters. I have yet to see a truly American looking Anime style movie. This could be from my lack of looking not that there is one out there.
As for the white washing of the cast I don’t think that was bad. Look at David Carradine he did a wonderful job (IMO) on Kung Fu. Do not sale the movie short before it has been seen.
Remember also the movie has to appeal to people who are not fans of the show just as much as the people who are. There will be changes made to get it there. Just like at Harry Potter some changes are going to be forced due to costs, some by the suits, and some by the lack of time to tell the story.
Please wait until we see the film then burn it in effigy
I wish I could be optimistic about the Avatar movie, but I can’t. You see, Hollywood has a problem, not only with casting, but with story as well. I think they watch a couple of episodes of the original and make it off that. I lost all hope on pretty much any future after seeing the Dragon Ball movie. Not only was the casting seriously screwed up, but everything else from story line to the actual characters were as well. We’ll be lucky if they get basic character traits right with this. Else, they’ll most likely just throw a well-known character name onto a convenient plot device. Hollywood should just stop trying their “live action adaptations”.
@M_Roberts: as far as i know it won’t be all three books of avatar will be packed in the movie, based on what i’ve read, the movie that will be shown this summer will be book 1-water, and if it’s successful they will create the 2nd movie as book 2-earth, and 3rd movie will be book 3-fire ^_^
@Corrina: i think the trailer was misinterpreted, you can’t judge a trailer w/out actually seeing the movie, it may only show some part where Aang needs to fight just like in the toons where he sink some ships and is forced to fight so he won’t be killed, but it doesn’t mean Aang has gone “bad”, and i think water tribes are eskimos who actually live in igloos, and air tribe is most probably tibetans
seriously Corrina? That was your 16 year old daughter that wrote all that?? Really? No help from you? She must be on her way to a master’s degree in history/english/journalism. [Despite all not ‘quite’ accurate]. When I was 16, I thought I was pretty smart for completely soaking in the intricacies of ‘chaos theory’ in Jurassic Park (book)!
@Argyle-fair enough dude, but for pete’s sake she’s only 16, give her a little slack!
Most 16 year olds I see in my neighborhood have cell phones glued to their heads and dialog consisting mainly of what doofus the Jersey Girls are currently banging!
http://mobias.blogspot.com
@Argyle, there are a couple of things that you said that are a bit off. The show isn’t a distorted mash-up of cultures, the series creators consulted cultural consultants to ensure that the elements used in the series would be accurate. I’m not sure what you mean by “ambiguous hair, skin, and eye coloring”–not all Asians look alike! Certainly there is a place for character archetypes like wrestlers, professors, gurus, and hillbilies in a pacific rim inspired fantasy world. And the desert raiding nomads “right of out North Africa” that you mentioned are actually based off of raiders from the Gobi Desert and silk road.
I don’t know how familiar you are with Asian culture but I can assure you that Asian kids and Asian American kids share similar “adolescent concerns,” too.
Shyamalan may be one of the few directors of color in Hollywood, but he has never put forth an a South Asian actor in a lead role. Even in The Last Airbender there is a glass ceiling where actors of color do not get the top billing of heroic characters like Aang, Katara, and Sokka but have been given roles as villains and extras. That’s not revolutionary, South Asian actors have been cast as villains in Hollywood movies for years now. M. Night simply hammered a few more nails into the glass ceiling.
@fakermage. Seriously, using Kung Fu as an example? That show was created by Bruce Lee, but they refused to put him on the screen and told him it was because he was Asian. They cast Carradine, despite his lack of martial arts experience. Kung Fu is one of the most egregious examples of Hollywood discrimination in history.
Excellent essay. It’s not a news article, it’s an opinion piece. People are still allowed to have opinions, right?
Hope your daughter doesn’t take these comments too seriously. Heaven forbid an Asian actor star in a Hollywood film or a teenager–boy OR girl–be able to write coherently and form an opinion for themselves!
It’s hard to stick up for something you think is right, or speak out against something you think is wrong, even for adults. For children and teens, the added peer pressure to shut up and go along can make this near impossible. To step up and make yourself a target for the apologists is a brave thing to do.
This young lady has a lot to be proud of, and so do her parents.
One needn’t apologize for facts. And while we can all be proud that a 16 year old has the wherewithal to put a strong opinion into words, it doesn’t obligate anyone to accept it or ignore errors of fact.
No one here has been rude to this essayist. And if she is going to put her words out for public consumption, she better start getting used to criticism.
@jedifreak: No matter how many “cultural consultants” were involved, with respect to its incorporation of culture, the cartoon “Avatar” is the very definition of “mash-up.” Sure, many of the individual parts are rendered correctly, but take a little China, a little Japan, a little Native American, a little WWF, a little Tibet, mix them all together and put them all on a new and imagined world - mashup!
I don’t know if you have ever been to Asia, but I can tell you, no matter what each culture owes to others, they all proudly stand on their own uniqueness. Of course, there is no tribe of Eskimos at either pole, and absolutely no blue eyed tribe, but yes, there is plenty of room for everybody, of any race, in an imagined world.
Please, let’s not play games about Zuko. First and foremost, we both know that Zuko is a hero, not a villain. This is an unprecedented for Hollywood, star turn for a young South Asian actor.
Great article! I totally agree with your views on the casting, and you explained it very eloquently.
Excellently written, darling and many kudos to you for having the guts to speak up like this. I even have issues standing up on this issues sometimes myself, so this is a wonderful thing right here. Don’t let the whitewashing defenders let you back down. *hugs*
Also, Aang’s people more closely resemble Tibetan monks, but they’re still on the side of peace than anything else. Other than that, you hit the nail on the head, dear. ^^-
What a well thought essay! Your analysis is very in depth, and you have obviously done your research. Racism is still alive and well in our society sadly. To those who say the original show is a mixture of cultures, yes that is true. It is a mixture of Asian cultures. The four nations are based on different Asian nation including, but not limited to, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Tibet. The only specifically non-Asian inspired nation is the Water Tribe, based on the Inuit people of North America.
Obviously, when any source is transferred to the big screen, be it a book, graphic novel, or television series, there will be changes. Aang as a darker character may not be a positive one to fans of the show, but it is not a movie-killing decision. The plot still works with that change. Changing the characters races, however, is a major change that goes beyond the plot. Most movies star white actors; this is not an accident. Therefore, the most obvious movie role models will be white. I’m not saying this is exclusively a bad thing, but it is not good when you realize that, in the context of our society, this means that there are little to no role models to people of color. One of the most important aspects of a role model to many people is their relatability: you can see yourself in that person’s shoes, being the good person that they are. Take for example Pixar’s Up. The character of Russell did not need to be any specific race. He would have been exactly the same way had he been white, black, or tan. But Pixar chose to make him Asian! While this does not affect the plot, he is now a role model to Asian children who saw this movie and identified with him, and want to be like him in his respect for the elderly and general desire to do good.
Race is a very touchy subject here in the States. It’s hard to admit how rampant racism still is, but that does not change the fact that it exists. Race is important, and we can not simply ignore it. Thank you for writing this article, and thank you for standing up for what you believe in.