ooookaaaay....

[Norgarth]

Just got back from seeing Transformers 2. One of the preview trailers was for a live action film of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now I'm not an avid fan
of the series, but I know enough to be certain that there is no way to condense the whole thing down to 3hrs or less. (maybe they plan to make a trilogy?)
More off putting is that the director is M. Night Shamalan.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Matrix Dragon]

Yes. I've seen trailers, teaser images and such... Everything I've seen about it scares and disturbs me.

[Herr Bad Moon]

I could see it if they made a movie about each of the books. Book 1: Water, Book 2: Earth etc...

But yeah, at last we can see how Hollywood ruining somebody's childhood affects somebody still in their childhood!
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Shyamalan does in fact plan to make a trilogy.

Most unsettling is the fact that almost everyone in the cast is white. >.

[Ayiekie]

What the hey, Penny Arcade said it best.

Aang? Aang who does kung fu?

Also, yeah, it's totally terrible to get an A-list director and big budget for your live action treatment. I mean, Dragonball didn't have ANY of that,
and look at...

...at...

...yeah.

[NotDavies]

I haven't seen but clips of the series, but I thought the preview looked much more faithful to it than that of the GI Joe movie.

[M Fnord]

Pro: Getting an A-list director for an adaptation of a largely-obscure Nicktoon.

Con: The A-list director is M. Night Shyamalan.

That plus the whole whitewashing thing makes me cautiously pessimistic.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Ayiekie]

"Whitewashing". Really? Really?

[M Fnord]

Ayiekie wrote:

---

"Whitewashing". Really? Really?

"Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's take this series where all the characters are based on North, East and South Asian racial types and cultures
and - this is the best part - cast white kids in the roles! It'll be super!" Fuck, they originally cast the whitest white guy on the planet -
a guy who makes *me* look ethnic - as the heavy and only changed to Dev Patel at the last damn minute.

So yes. Really.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Ayiekie]

Hey, you know what the Waterbenders are based on? Inuit. How come noone's complaining they didn't cast Inuit as Katara and Sokka? Why should they be
"Asian"?

So, I'll ask the same question I always do here: Why is it you only care about them being "Asian"? I mean, ignoring the fact that Avatar is
fantasy and that some of these "Asian" people have, oh, for instance, blue eyes. But let's take, say, Aang. The Airbenders are stylistically
based primarily on Tibetan monks. But you don't care that a Tibetan wasn't cast, just an 'Asian'. So, it's cool to cast a Chinese person
instead? How about Japanese? Vietnamese? Polynesian? Indian? Is any "Asian" good enough? Why is that, precisely? Why exactly are all
"Asian" people basically interchangeable, and why is that somehow not racist?

You do know M. Night Shyamalan, who did the casting, is... (drum roll) Asian, right? Is he racist against himself?

[M Fnord]

Hey, you know what the Waterbenders are based on? Inuit. How come noone's complaining they didn't cast Inuit as Katara and Sokka? Why should they be
"Asian"?

NEWSFLASH: They are complaining, jackass! That's the key of
the complaint - they took not-white characters and cast them with very white actors. It amazes me that somebody who waves the leftie flag as
hard as you doesn't seem to give a shit about institutional bigotry. I guess since Shyamalan's one of Those People it's okay?
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Wiregeek]

"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Ayiekie]

M Fnord wrote:

---

NEWSFLASH: They are complaining, jackass! That's the key of
the complaint - they took not-white characters and cast them with very white actors. It amazes me that somebody who waves the leftie flag
as hard as you doesn't seem to give a shit about institutional bigotry. I guess since Shyamalan's one of Those People it's okay?

You weren't. All you cared about was "Asians". Which Inuit aren't. Also, the Avatar characters are fictional two-dimensional drawings from a
nonexistent world that is not Earth and who have genetically inheritable magic powers. They do not have a human ethnicity, and therefore I care a lot more
about the ability of the actor to portray them than I do about where his/her ancestors came from. So too, apparently, does the director.

I love how you start with "picking white actors is RACIST!", hear "the guy who picked them wasn't white", and then come back with
"Well, for thinking that's okay you're obviously RACIST". Because only a racist would think a guy probably isn't racist against his own
race, I guess. Whereas the people who think all Asians are generically interchangeable aren't racist even a little bit, of course.

Being generally left-leaning does not mean I have to jump up and wave the "OMG Discrimination" flag at every given opportunity. Particularly in this
case, and the Dragonball case, where all the people whining about discrimination are being more racist than the people they're complaining about.

[M Fnord]

Well gee goshums, Sally. I guess wanting to see Native actors play Native-based characters, or Asian actors playing Asian-based characters, is the height of
racism 'cause M. Night Shyamalan isn't white. Thanks, forums poster Ayiekie, for pointing that out.

To sum up in simple words:

1) Picking white actors is racist,

2) M. Night Shyamalan doesn't get a bye 'cause he isn't white. It's still racist.

3) You're terminally clueless.

HTH, HAND
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Ayiekie]

1) Picking white actors to play characters who are not Asian or indeed any other ethnicity is racist because... um... something something something. If you say
it often enough, I'm sure it'll become true without any need to actually support it with evidence or reasoning!

2) M Night Shyamalan is racist against his own race because he didn't pick a generic interchangeable Asian to play Aang. That makes total sense and is not
actually insane in the slightest!

3) Sure, bud, whatever you say. At least I am aware that there is a difference between a Japanese and Vietnamese person.

(Edit: I agree this is getting political. So I'll decline to respond further as long as it's in this forum.)

[robkelk]

Bob, is this thread at the point where it should be moved to "Politics..." yet?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Okay, one last stab:

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say - at a minimum - that casting white actors for two characters that are explicitly designed as not white, what with
the dark skin and all, is fucking racist.

This is racefail. Ignoring it is even more fail. Making excuses for it is damned impressive fail.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Ayekie?

Saying "where all the characters are based on North, East and South Asian racial types and cultures" is not
the same thing as saying "where all the characters are Asian."

The only person here making the "generic Asian" claim is YOU.

Stop accusing everyone else of saying things they are EXPLICITLY NOT SAYING. If you want a debate
or an argument, please base it on something that has actually been brought up.

--Sam

"I weave a lethal net of baked goods that few can escape."

[Ayiekie]

(sigh) Sorry, but having someone flatly lie is rather hard to take without comment. Quoting from M. Fnord's own link:

"or we were somehow racist because we thought that since the world takes place in an Asian fantasy world, they should have cast Asians and
Native Americans."

"1.Lack of Roles to Asians and Native Americans"

"...rarely get the opportunity to see Asian heroes they can get behind and cheer for."

"bet you can count on one hand the number of films that were made in the US that had cast Asians as the leads..."

"Aside from the rare period piece like Geronimo, I don't think there has been a leading role for a Native American."

"Avatar should have been the launching pad for young Asian and Native American actors to finally break through that wall..."

I could go on if you like. At no point does he ever, ever suggest that Aang has to be Tibetan. Him being "Asian" or, even better,
"Asian-American" is plenty good enough. And Cherokee is as good as Inuit. I'm sure there may be some fan somewhere who is arguing that Aang being
Japanese isn't good enough, but it isn't the norm and pretending that I made up something that isn't there by pointing out that fans are calling
for "Asians" as if they're an undifferentiated mass is simply a lie. That is what they're calling for, and if you think it's right, then
you ought to defend that rather than pretend it doesn't exist.

I do not have the time now, but I will make a longer and more serious post and put it in the politics forum tomorrow.

[Bob Schroeck]

Bob, is this thread at the point where it should be moved to "Politics..." yet?

It is now.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bluemage]

Man, it'd be so nice if we could get one, just one, adaptation of an anime or video game that wasn't doomed to
suck worse than Paris Hilton at a Mensa meeting.

The only *remotely* decent one I know of is Mortal Kombat (it's a shame they only made
one movie), and opinions are split on that one.

EDIT: I just looked at this post, rephrased it, and turned my original ideas into links. I need to stop visiting TVTropes...

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[ECSNorway]

I guess since Shyamalan's one of Those People it's okay?

To be blunt about it, Fnord, YES.

It is an article of dogma amongst the American left that only whites are capable of racism. To the point where they have published schoolbooks listing "Oppression of non-whites by whites" as the only dictionary definition of the term.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Ayiekie]

Psst: I'm still not American, ECSNorway.

Also, I will leave it up to rational people to decide whether doubting that an Asian man is racist against Asians is an expression of a) "leftist dogma
that only whites are capable of racism", or b) common sense.

[Wiregeek]

Personally, I classify the conceit that "a member of any given subgroup is incapable of being discriminatory against that subgroup" to be just plain
stupid, but thanks for the attempt.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Norgarth]

It's quite possible for an asian to be racist against other asians. Japanese can and have demonstrated prejudices against koreans and chinese, for example
(and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it goes the otherway as well).

For that matter blacks can be heavily prejudiced against other blacks (see the various 'ethnic clensing' in africa), white against white, and so on.

And that's before you start to toss in religious prejudices (catholic vs protistant, Shite vs Suni, ect)
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin