M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

Hmm, anyone know why any post over a certain length will cause the quotes past a certain point to missfire?

 

No one should have to make that choice in the first place.

Of course, no one should have to, but billions of people across the planet, of all backgrounds, make the choice between prideless pragmatism and steadfast idealism every day. Standing up for your beliefs requires such sacrifice, there are those who literally can't afford it, including White people. I'm certainly not advocating making a choice between a full heart or empty pockets, but that choice is a reality for everybody, everywhere. Western White people don't face the consequences of it as frequently or deeply as other groups, but they do face it.

Privilege that is only extended to White Americans.

I deeply disagree with you here. In the first place, privilege is a misnomer, because it implies something that can be taken away on the basis of merit or lack thereof. The embedded system, which, among other things, demands the cast of the Avatar movie be a majority of White people, doesn't make concessions or reduce its power and influence unless it decides to. Pressures can certainly be applied in the form of protests and bad press, but the decision to reduce "privilege" ultimately rests with those who fall under the label.

Secondly, you and I both know there are plenty of people across the pond and elsewhere, mostly White, granted, who are a part of and exploit the advantages of the embedded Western social system of power and influence.

Third, it's less a question of race, and more a question of money. Yes, a lot of White people control a lot of money, but this is not solely a White problem, and neither is it entirely an American problem. The obvious indicator of the moment is Obama and his $42,000,000,000,000,000 world economic stimulus package, but there are also the oil barons in the Middle East, the nuclear-eager in Pakistan and India, human rights crises in Asia and Africa, and so on. Racism, greed, and influence (earned or not) are all interconnected and stand as principal motivators of human conflict. I believe the larger issue of this triangular interplay and the effects rising from it comes down to a Race issue--moreso the entire human race than any particular section from any particular region of the world. And I do not believe the problems caused by these three issues will ever entirely go away, because they are in our nature.

The fact that you are asking it academically is part of your privelege.

True, I'm posing it as such, but so is every person in this debate on this forum, including yourself, in one way or another. Yet, I realistically make the decision between what I can sacrifice, whether I can afford it--in every sense of the word--and live with the choice I make, like anyone, anywhere. And I still don't think it's a privelege because if I wanted to be totally aloof and separate from practical, exemplary consequences and choose to dwell exclusively in theory and abstract possibility, I couldn't think of anyone who could stop me from doing so, or even stop me from considering making such a choice, besides myself. Again, the extent of "privelege" comes, I think, exclusively from the "priveleged." It doesn't come down to a question of giving or taking something away, which is the essence of privelege.

 

Well argued. I'd doff my hat to you, if I was wearing one.

 

Dev Patel talks a bit about The Last Airbender

 

My friend just tried out for a speaking role in Philly. Apparently, they didn't give him any lines in the audition, but said that he was a member of the Water Nation - they began to explain this to him, but he told them he knew all about it - and that he should imagine being a very eager young warrior cresting a hill, only to reach the top and to see the entire Fire Nation army advancing. They told him the Water Nation was essentially bow and arrow level tech while the Fire Nation had tanks and stuff, and they wanted to see his reaction.

And that was his audition.

 

Fascinating! Let us know how he does.

 

More casting info:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/959/959705p1.html

According to the Washington Post, casting directors are currently bounding about Northern Virginia and Arlington searching through the local population of Mongolians for roles amongst the Earth Kingdom in M. Night Shyamalan's live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender. With no real model for what a member of the Earth Kingdom should look like ? described only as "exotically Asian" ? casting director DeeDee Ricketts comments, "Night doesn't know what it is he wants, but he'll know it when he sees it."

 

Iroh, Zhao, and Ozai cast:


http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-12-2009/0004987974&EDATE=

 

Yep, it's official. I'm not seeing this movie.

 

Had no idea who Dev Patel was until I saw a pic of him in Empire magazine today...funny that with all the racially off casting choices, they go dark, with the one main character that could have passed as a whitey besides Aang. I suppose it figures. While I agree with the above poster on "officially not seeing this", maybe in a few years when its on FX or TNT =D

 

At least it looks like they're going to make the Fire Nation (at least the main characters) all be South Asian? I was more scared that they would cast Dev then cast someone who looks nothing like him as Ozai and the rest of the family.

 

I don't know much about the man, acting-wise, aside from who I think he was in Iron Man, but could they have picked a SKINNIER man for Iroh: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2833618688/nm0869467 ?

I doubt he'd want to gain all that weight, so either they're going with a skinny uncle or he's getting the fat suit treatment.

They might not be what I imagined, but at least the Fire Nation is ethnically unified.

 

He played Yinsen, the guy who was with Tony while he was being held prisoner and helped him make the first suit.

Seriously.


Even though I really wanted Jason Issacs to play Zhao.

 

First set photo. It's of the Southern Water Tribe set in Greenland.

http://sermitsiaq.gl/kultur/article78950.ece?lang=EN

 

I'm getting the feeling that the Water Tribe clothing will probably end up being brown and gray like normal skins and furs, though I'm really hoping that I'm wrong.

 

For those of you upset or interested in learning more about the movement protesting The Last Airbender, there's now an official website at www.racebending.com

We've just started a petition, too, so if you're unhappy like we are, please sign the petition!

(Okay, so I'm a Star Wars fan by day and an Avatar fan by night. =P)

 

I think it'll be like the Golden Compass, and the rest of the trilogy won't get made.

If they would just be true to the source material and have the balls to just make it as East Asian as the show itself is... this thing could be awesome. I mean, they should've cast Brandon Soo Hoo as Aang anyways.

 

Even though I'm not entirely happy with the casting decisions, I so don't care.
And I hate that so many people keep bringing up the racist card.

I'm looking forward to watching the movie because it's the story that counts.
Who knows? The actors might actually do a good job.

 

I agree.

 

This movie has alot more against it than just how an actor performs. The actors might be great, they might suck. They might look terrible and totally unbelievable doing martial arts that they don't know how to do. They don't have anyone working on this film the likes of Yuen Woo Ping, who can seemingly make damn near anyone look convincingly skilled. They also aren't doing the martial arts training for very long.

Furthermore, there's the issue of it being percieved as true to the source material. Weird cultural appropriations, etc.

Plus, there's the director himself. I have absolutely no faith in M Night's ability to direct an action fantasy.

Like I said, if this is going to rely upon the strenght of it's own fanbase alone... and to have already alienated a significant portion of that by bad casting decisions and strange choices with regards to how true they are going to be to the world in the cartoons... well, you're going to end up with another Golden Compass fiasco. Only this one isn't going to be wrecked by the issues with religion, but with their own inconsistency with the material at hand. Worse yet, the guys who created the show are exec producers. Which could be a pretty meaningless title, considering the studios are likely totally in charge of this one. Hence the odd decisions.

 

This site is a great place for news on casting and filming.

Don't chew me up and spit me out but I for one am really looking forward to this movie. I don't mind about the cast anymore, I've seen a picture of Jackson Rathbone with Sokka's wolftail and it actually looks good on him. (how many people can pull that off?!) If he was a bit darker he'd be the spitting image of Sokka. I was skeptical about Dev Patel as Zuko before, but after seeing an amazing photomanip all my doubts are gone. Plus he's an amazing actor so he can pull of Zuko's complex character. Nicola is the only one I still don't like, but I'll hold off complete judgment until I see the trailer. And I know Noah will be amazing, I'm impatiently waiting for the trailer so I can finally see his face.

Link to Rathbone pics

Link to Zuko photomanip. I didn't make it and I don't know who did, so don't ask.

/rant over

~Felf

 

Bust, I think you were linking to the Rathbone picture.


And that's a really awesome photo manip of Dev!

While I am skeptical about some things, overall, I am looking forward to the film. Even if it turns out to be horrible.

 

Oops!

Here you go. Hopefully this one will work.

 

Oh my bad. I was looking for a promo photo and didn't even pay attention to the band pictures.