The Last Whitebender?

Okay, I know the M. Night Shyamalan movie does not come out for another two months, but i read an LA Times article today that kinda annoyed me... http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-racebender-20100523,0,6501983.story

Now I know that Hollywood has a history of casting Caucasian actors in minority roles (usually to comic effect, or in order to stereo type, or in earlier days because some races were not allowed to be in staring roles), but i think that the "controversy" surrounding casting in The Last Airbender film is a little over blown, not to mention premature.



Yes, the Nickelodeon Avatar series was based on Asian Animation styles and culture. It also seems to portray a mostly Asian world (which is common in most eastern animation styles, called "Anime" for the un-initiated). However everyone seems to forget a few things. One is that while it is based on Anime styles, it was an American animated series. The voice actors were from many different cultures, with most of the main cast being Caucasian, however there was no uproar about white washing the voice acting, (at least to my knowledge). Why is it suddenly a huge controversy that SO FAR (and I must emphasize this a couple of times through out this post) most of the main actors seem to be caucasian? The other thing is that while the setting and certain thematical elements seems based on asian philosophy, the "elements of nature" are actually the classical Western elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) as opposed to the traditional "Eastern Elements of Nature" (Fire, water, metal, wood, earth).

My *POINT* being that the creators of this series seem to have been, from the very begining, trying to blend both Western and Eastern concepts into one cohesive universe, not one based SOLEY on the concepts of Eastern Tradition. I mean the very concept of the show (An Anime styled AMERICAN animated series) should be a big give away that the show is about a blending of cultures. HELL the Avatars' PURPOSE is to bring Balance to the world, he does this by being able to learn the different bending techniques, there by learning about each Nation. In learning about each nation, the Avatar becomes a unifier of all the nations. they call the Avatar "The Bridge between our world and the Spiritual world" but really the Avatar is a "Bridge connecting all four nations to each other," so that in effect they are not only Four individual nations, but ONE WORLD. That I think is the essence of the Avatar series.

So far of the four nations portrayed in the show we see GLIMPSES of three. In the animated series: We see The Water Nation (who some critics have described as based on native american tribes), then we have the wind nomads who seem be be based on Shaolin Monks. Then we have the Fire Nation (who seem to be based on Imperialistic Japanese culture)

In the film Aang (the last Airbender) is being played by a Caucasian actor named Noah Ringer. We have not seen any other Airbenders in the trailers so I do not know how the rest of the Wind nomads are being protrayed, but it is possible they could still be portrayed as Asian. Personally, in the animated series, Aang always looked like he was drawn to be more like a caucasian in appearance, while the rest of the Air nomads seemed to be more clearly Asian. So the fact that Aang looks to be Caucasian in this film does not bother me, as it seems more true to the character (the kid looks alot like Aang).

As for the Water Nation, so far we have only seen three, Sokka played by Jackson Rathbone, Katara played by Nicola Peltz, and Gran Gran played by Katharine Houghton all three Caucasian actors. However, these are only three characters from a Small tribe in the south (there is another much larger Tribe in the North) except for one other actress Seychelle Gabriel, chosen to play Princess Yue of the Norther Tribe we have no idea how the rest of the Northern tribes look like. (Princess Yue has white hair and blue eyes and as such stands out completely from the rest of the tribe) Yes they all seem to be decidedly lighter than how they were portrayed in the series (being portrayed to look copper skined, earning them the comparison to native Americans) However Shayamalan had been quoted in an interview with People Magazine defending his decision on Castin Nicola Peltz in the Role of Katara saying,

"I told the studio I didn't want to make this movie without her...I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley [Joel Osment] in 'The Sixth Sense' auditions."

The Sixth Sense was one of Shayamalan's greatest films, and its the film that skyrocketed Hayley Joel Osment to fame. I trust that this means that Shayamalan chose Peltz for her abilty to portray Katara as a character (a character that is both strong, and complex) and not based on her skin color, so i am going to trust his choice on this one.

The Fire Nation is more obviously diverse. They seem to be represented by mostly Indian or middle eastern decent, Prince Zuko being played by Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame).

There is another Nation yet unseen (except for a Desktop background of an as of yet unnamed actor, and some casting information that has slipped out). This is the earth nation, from what i have heard (and what promo images i have seen) This seems to be represented by mostly Asian actors. Now, the reason why we don't know more about the Earth Nation is because the earth nation does not appear prominently (Except for one episode)until the second season of Avatar, which is almost exclusively set in the Earth nation.

Shyamalan and Frank Marshall (one of the producers) have stated that

"Our vision for the movie is of ONE world, made up of four nations, influenced and inspired by the Asian undertones of the series. This world will have an ethnically diverse cast that represents many different heritages and cultures from all corners of the globe"

Again this is the first part a of three part series. And what has been released to the public are only bits and pieces of a much larger story. We have not seen much of the Earth Nation, and what we have has shown leads me to believe that Asian cultures and influences will not be ignored. Again, we have not seen the rest of the Air Nomads as well, they could very well be Asian actors as well. To judge a film before it has even been released or even previewed is narrow minded at best. if you see the movie and still wanna bitch and moan about ethnic diversity or acting, or casting go ahead, be my guest, at least you gave it a try. but unless you have seen it or have some intimate knowledge of it all you are doing is blowing out hot air.

I've seen the trailers, they seem pretty cool to me, i for one can't wait. i am only slightly annoyed that Zuko's scar looks more like a bruise than a burn, but so long as Patel can portray the gravitas of Zuko's character I'm willing to overlook that small flaw.

so yeah, believe me, if the movie sucks, i will be the first one on here complaining about everything, including Zuko's scar, until then i am cautiously optimistic that this might be as good as Shyamalan's earlier work.

End rant.