I just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU to all the professionals who put their good names down on the petition to protest the discriminatory casting of The Last Airbender. There were over 125 professionals from all across the arts and entertainment fields who pledged to boycott this movie unless the casting of the lead characters were properly rectified. I just wanted to let all the supporters know that the petition was mailed out early last week.
If you need a reminder as to why this fight is worth fighting, simply take a look at this. When viewed in one gulp like this, it's just overwhelming and terribly disturbing. Asians have been constantly maligned and forcibly excluded from the screen--and thus from the fabric of America--since the beginning of cinema to this very day. This Airbender casting is just further insurance that it never ends. Whether you signed a petition, wrote in a letter, or just made your disappointment known publicly, thank you for doing your small part to fight this.
I want to end this with this fantastic YouTube video from Chris Rock in celebration of Black History Month, starting from 4:36:
Chris Rock, I could kiss you. He so succinctly and pointedly gets to the heart of the inequality at work here. One of the most prevalent defense of the white lead casting of The Last Airbender is the "they just found the most talented actors, race doesn't matter/it's just as racist to exclude white actors" argument. The saddest part is I've actually heard this argument from Asian Americans who don't see the greater picture of equality. When Chris Rock says, "True equality is the equality to suck like the white man," he really shines a light on the misdirection in that line of thinking. Rock continues, "When I watch the Oscars--okay, these are the people that made the good movies. What about the people that made the bad movies? That's most of the industry. I wanna be like that! Not that I want to be bad, but that I wanna have the license to be bad."
White roles go to white actors who are phenomenal, mediocre, and shitty without condition. Why shouldn't that be the case for Asian actors going after roles of Asian characters? The argument that only extraordinary Asians should be allowed to be on the screen is completely unfair and, if you're Asian yourself making this argument, self-defeating. When they go to cast "Rob Roy," are they really trying to find the most talented actor? No, they are trying to find the most talented white actor. As it should be--that role is for a white Anglo-Saxon character. As such, a role for an Asian character like that in Avatar MUST go to an Asian actor, even if the best one they can find is simply mediocre. (You know, like a million kids' movies like "The Chronicles of Narnia" starring mediocre white actors.) Or else we don't have true equality.
This kind of exclusion also makes it very difficult for that phenomenal Asian American actor to emerge. Were the first 10 white actors in cinema history the best white actors ever? Well, then you can't have those kind of expectations of Asian Americans either. We need to be able to grow too. Just pointing fingers at some mediocre Asian American actors that are around today when there are so few opportunities for Asian Americans to begin with doesn't mean anything. Maybe if every one of those leading roles that should have gone to an Asian American in that first link actually had gone to one, maybe we would have had that great actor by now! You can't find gold if you're not even allowed to dig or approach the river.
(I'm not saying there aren't great Asian American actors already. Just pointing this out to the people who don't like the current crop.)
Thank you again to all the supporters and human beings of simple empathy out there!
20 comments:
wow, great video. so, poignant.
Simply Amazing. There are no words that I can write to express my feelings. Chris pretty much said it all. Thank you Chris and thank you Derek for all your hard work, and bringing to light what should of never been in the darkness to begin with.
Hi, anonymous person here who stalks your blog! I just am really glad people are taking this seriously and I've been really talking tabout this to all of my friends and they are outraged as I am. And the topic of why not Street Fighter and Dragonball Z the movies be fought just as hard as this has been brought up more so jokingly. Well, I agree it should but the reason why I pull for Avatar harder is simply because it is purely asian/inuit culture and it really hits hard to home because they don't sugar coat these cultures (and especially 'cause I'm korean and Japanese) and you rarely see Korean culture ANYWHERE in american media. (It was funny because I was reading my friend's huge book of costume designs all over through history and I was completely infuriated that they had a big section on japanese and chinese culture but the korean part was not there. Like we don't exist! Not to mention a teeny image for tibetan and thai costumes, anyways that's another topic.) It makes me so mad that asian people are kind of considered the underdogs in american media because we aren't taken seriously and it is blatant racism that these white kids get to play asian roles because we asian people are absolutely inadequate to act, but maybe not so much because we're lucky enough to play extras and bad guys who do martial arts. Great. This should be fought and we asian people need to be recognized more and acknowledged. So now me, my family, and my friends are spreading the word and trying to boycott this movie in our community. Sorry if I sound way too angry but I am, haha. Sorry for the rant.
I mentioned the casting catastrophe on the podcast I co-host with two other guys.
It's episode 125, and can be heard here: http://www.fanoff.com/shows/alterego/
thanks for posting that great Chris Rock clip. i think that's the first time i've seen him in non-stand-up-comedian mode and i was really moved! that Yellowface LJ post made me fuckin' CRINGE.
Derek,
Do you have a copy of the petition you could post here?
Also I just want to say that usually when I see these types of things in the media, I get frustrated but figure I can't do anything about it anyway and go on with my day. So I'm glad someone in the arts and entertainment community had the guts to organize this. I know you've been taking a lot of heat from angry internet people.
Anyway, keep us posted!
Just a reply to "anonymous person here who stalks [Derek's] blog!"
What you said about Korea being almost completely shunned by the American media (unless it somehow involves the NORTH Koreans, those dirty dogs... because you KNOW there are so many of them plotting to take over the world from next door) kinda hit home for me. It really upset, and even infuriated me, whenever I would open the history book in my social studies class in junior high. China would have its own huge chapter... Japan would have a comparably smaller, but still significant chapter.
And where was Korea? Tacked on, almost as a sidenote, to China in the back. It was almost like saying that we didn't have as much history as the other two countries, like we didn't exist for nearly half as long as China or Japan did. Which clearly isn't the case.
I prolly should apologize in my own right; I didn't mean to rant so much! But since we all seem to be in rant mode... :)
Thank you Derek, for all the work you've done (as well as all the people who signed the petition!). Corny as it is to say, it really is an inspiration.
Thank you for this post and Chris Rock clip. You're right, Chris Rock says it best that we need the "license to suck". That really is not something that minorities have.
In response to my other anonymous people:
Why not Dragonball: Evolution or Chun Li?
The reason I'm not getting flippant about Dragonball is that they did have Akira Toriyama help with the restructuring of the story. Also, like Derek mentioned earlier about TLA casting Dev possibly being okay because of a concept change, they obviously change some of the concepts of Dragonball. Goku is in high school in teen angst mode and not in the woods going crazy alone. Also, Grandpa Gohan still seems to be alive. I can let Justin Chatwin go because you got to make some exceptions to get those Asian actors and shows out there. I for one never thought everyone in the Dragonball universe was Asian because they never specify what cultures are represented. Sure I thought Goku, Gohan, Chichi those people were Asian. However, I thought that Krillin (who is not even in the movie it seems which is a horrible oversight), Bulma, and some other characters were possibly American or of some type of white ancestry. Even so, Dragonball is going far and beyond TLA in giving us talented Asian actors (Joon Park, Chow Yun-Fat, Eriko, Tamura, etc.) and up-and-coming Asian actors like Jamie Chung. Although, I did think that the Nameks and Piccolo were the closest I was ever going to get for sort of positive Black characters in Asian media-must have been the voice acting or me being Black and all (I was sad and enthralled though when I learned James Marsters would be Piccolo).
As for Chun Li, the fact the got Kristen Kreuk is a step up. She is at least half-Chinese, Chun Li being Chinese and all. Also, Hollywood gets the marketable name they want. It's sort of a win-win for them.
As for the oversight of Koreans and Korean culture, I think it's true, but false at the same time. Prior to college, it was kind of "who are these Korean people you speak of". However, I majored in International Studies with a concentration in Asia. During my Modern East Asian class, we learned about Japan, China, and Korean and Vietnam. We even had to read Lost Names, which is a very touching and sad book about the Japanese occupation of Korea during WWII (You should definitely read this book if you have not.). Also, during my Asian Politics class, we barely touched on China and Japan and looked at India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other less acknowledged Asian countries. I think perhaps they stick to China and Japan during lower levels because people are more familiar with it, and go more into depth during upper levels. Anyway, I'm currently learning a little about Korean culture teaching English in South Korea and all.
Another recent stalker of your blog Derek, fighting the fight by helping to enlighten others.
jezz-valentine: Very interesting points you made, especially the one in reply to the reply I made about Korea. :)
As for the book, I'm definitely checking it out, thanks!
I had a similar thought after attending a local play in my city, where the cast was predominantly black, the first show of its kind to be staged at this particular theater. The reviews of it were brutal, and to be honest, mostly true.
But what did people expect? The actors in the production were almost wholly amateurs, made up of volunteers from the recently incorporated "minority theater company" in the city. Most, if not all, had not had significant professional acting experience. And the reason for this is obvious; every other play staged at this theater is exclusively white. How in the hell are people supposed to get experience if the rarely ever get a chance, rarely ever get material to work with?
We need "bad" productions if people are ever going to get the experience necessary to to do better work. But missing the learning opportunities often given to white artistic professionals, minority artists are at a severe set back. They have to be faster at picking up things than their white counterparts.
Great post! Great words! I just gotta ask... (pulls out Asian Card...) where oh WHERE can I sign the petition to boycott this movie's casting?
Now, although I am not a professional in the art field, my wife and I both completely agree and want to stand up with you. We are HUGE Avatar fans, and both of us agree that this is just unfair. This casting is absolutely an outrage, and I have slowly felt myself rotting inside every time an Asian is NOT allowed to have a role in a movie or show -- unless they are doing kung fu, of course. Or, in the case of Dragonball Evolution... not.
Please let me know where the petitions are. I'll sign every one that I am able to.
u r da man!!!
This is great, but wile trying to "do my part" I sure do run into a lot of hate against white people.
Do you part, and chill out people!
Gin--
Petitions by non-professionals are easily ignored, which is why the people at Aang Aint White put up a letter writing campaign.
http://aang-aint-white.livejournal.com/
Any and all letters help.
impressive. that was really good chris rock.
More people cast:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090316/entertainment/centertainment_us_shyamalan
You do realize that the characters in Avatar aren't necessarily Asian, right? They just live in a world where the cultures mimic certain medieval Asian cultures. Aang and the other could be of any so-called "race". This seems like a windmill you're charging
The best way of cast for this movie would be Shyamalan to watch and study the Avatar series again. Zuko, Azula, Osai, Iroh, Agne kay are japanese names and terms, so the Fire Nation is associated to old feudal Japan. Omashu, Ba Sing Se, Toph, Raru, Bumi are Chinese names and terms, so the Earth Kingdom is the ancient China. Katara, Sokka are inuit terms, so the Water Tribes are associated to the inuit people. Aang and the monk´s way of life are associated to the ancient Tibet and so it is the Air Nomads. This film is made to be a total failure to the fans.
I believe you may add the exceptional first nation actress, Tantoo Cardinal to your list of actors opposed to this casting decision. I spoke with her about the casting, and she said in a lovely email she called strengthinging our house she summed up her feelings on this. Tantoo was in such standouts as Dances with wolves, and the Education of Little Tree. Two rare films that highlight either a native perspective or a western perspective at least respectful of Native cultures. Her career is along one and spans more than fifty films.
"I understand your consternation, this type of ignorance is generational. It has been part of my trail since forever. The only way it comes to me to change it is to put more support behing our own directors and producers, and influence casting decisions when I can."
Is there any more updates on the casting of this movie since you sent the petition? There are so many ideas/comments that I want to share about this issue, but I feel like I am too late by a few months.
In all, I am not calling this racist, but it's certainly disappointing for a show that had so much potential to be an epic, live-action be miscast. I am sad for my (American) nation that Hollywood studios still think that they need to pander to "White American" audiences for a film to be a lucrative release. That's the sneakiest kind of racism around, but it's still powerful stuff, especially for kids (of all races). I am surprised, however, that not much has been made over the decisions to cast middle-eastern actors as the Fire Nation in a not-so-veiled attempt to use current events to mark an easily identifiable villain. Molding young Americans with media...reprehensible. The whole thing is tirelessly disappointing, especially with such a great show.
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