Escape to the Movies: The Last Airbender

[samwise970]

The show was actually pretty good, as far as kiddie anime goes, and I very rarely see a movie I don't like at least a bit, but this was hands down the worst movie I've seen in YEARS. I agree about the dialogue, EVERY word was explaining something, but he forgot to mention the terrible casting. From the second the kid opened his mouth I knew it would be terrible. An I love the daily show, but comeon, he should not be a villain, or in the movie at all.

Terrible dialogue, terrible acting, terrible movie.

 

[craftyandy]

I highly doubt this will be enjoyable beyond superficial. First off the movie shouldn't have to explain everything so damn much and treat the audience so stupidly when the show was never like that. But then again I have to go see it first to really judge it. Just that the rotten tomatoes score is pretty fucking scary right now with only 10% and I don't want to waste my good money on a crappy adaptation of a grand story that is on par with Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars episode IV through VI

 

[craftyandy]

As a huge fan of the show, I feel compelled to give the movie a shot. But persistently negative reviews, both from critics and users who saw the show and the film, disappoint me severely :-(

I'm in the same boat right now. Oh well I learned my lesson from the first transformers movie. I know me being a fan of the show won't help movies like this anymore. I'll wait for dvd. Maybe it'll be a director's cut and extended.

 

[Dorby5826and360]

This is probably the most positive review that I have seen for this movie. I also thought that The Village and The Happening were great movies, but lady in the water was not good.

 

[MissAshley]

As much as I'd love for the film to at least engage me with spectacle, the fan in me is too afraid of the rage that could and probably would ensue upon viewing it. I'm far too emotionally invested in the series to see this, especially with even the trailers and promos spurring feelings in me not unlike watching a puppy being kicked.

Yes, even brief glimpses of this film hurt me.

 

[crypt-creature]

No, they didn't, because they respected the focus of the event. Somebody else asked.

And what was the response? I haven't seen or read anything about one.
I'd be more than curious to, though.

If that sounds like an approving remark to anybody, whoever you are, you need to get out more.

It doesn't sound approving, but that is not the point.
Approval of a movies cast doesn't clarify what the races are supposed to be, or what they are limited to.

One staff member has confirmed that Aang was based on a Chinese-American, specifically, his son.

Based on personality or looks, or both? I read that information before hand and again, it's not 100% clear. That is my over all point with the cartoon and the 'facts' people are trying to put with it. I'm not going to quote what you have below, because again I read all of those quotes and information before, and yes it says that a lot of characters were based on asian or mixed asian people (the latter would be a mixed race).
Culture and influence was still thrown around in all those quotes, but never confirmed as to what degree those influences ran.

And once again, that does not confirm what the creators meant for their characters to represent (if it was one type of race, a variation of mixed races, what have you). All it proves is that there were indeed characters based off real life individuals who happened to be mixed, but not what races could or would be in their world.

Racebending.com comes into the possession of a few pages from the Avatar: The Last Airbender?s ?Intellectual Property Bible,? the guiding document members of the animated series? production used to create the show. The Bible reiterates that the world of Avatar was always intended to be representative of the cultures of the Pacific Rim.

This is an ancient, fantastical Asian environment, primarily Chinese.?
- The A:TLA IP Bible

The IPB does not say the races of the characters or the Airbender universe, and again just the influence (yes, I did read it and paid attention to the highlighted bits).
Even the above IPB quote just proves that chinese is one of many that could be in the show, but not what else.
Besides, the part of your post that I highlighted still doesn't specify race.

That'd be like saying so-and-so show is intended to be representative of the American or British cultures. That doesn't mean all the characters have to be white, or mixed with them.
Assuming so is.. well, a bit racist.

You rightly distinguish between race and ethnicity, but why? It clearly doesn't help your argument. Race is determined by physiology, and part of that physiology is skin color and facial features. Katara and Sokka are both dark brown (along with their relatives, and all Water Tribe members), and no painful rhetorical contortion will change that.

But that doesn't mean that those people have to be inuit. They could be a mixture of any type of race with dark(er) or even lighter skin, African or Indian (Native American), Spanish or Middle Eastern, Egyptian, Indian, etc.
Even the lighter toned characters could have any number of those mixtures.
Just because they have darker or lighter skin does not limit what they could be. A lot of their facial features do not depict any one particular race, and multiple characters (both light skin and dark) have ambiguous features where they could literally be any race with light or dark skin.
Some characters have more pronounced features, but that still doesn't mean that they couldn't be a mixture of races.
Though to some people, portraying characters with certain facial features or skin colors that are 'stereotypical' is seen as racist (at times in a bad way).

I also distinguished between race and ethnicity, because the racebending site used the word to affirm specifically that the races of the characters were asian. However, no where in their long list of quotes and information does anyone confirm what ethnicity or race the characters are supposed to be (the word is never used by anyone but that site). Influenced yes, but even that is not a true clarification.

You seem bent on justifying an obviously Asian world in which the only powerful, meaningful protagonists are white people. This is ridiculous.

Now you are just being truly insulting, as I have never mentioned that they had to be mixed with 'whitey' in order to be in the show or be a meaningful protagonist. In fact I never really said if I liked or disagreed with the casting of the movie.

I'm bent on clarifying that 'inspiration' does not mean that something is 100% of that inspiration, especially when certain parts haven't truly been clarified.

You seem bent on trying to say that no one could be a mix of races, even though some characters are based on people who are mixed. Only people of 'pure' color can exist.

See what I did there?

Lord of the Rings is a clearly European world, which is why Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee were cast as venerable white men instead of, say, Indian counterparts. That would have made absolutely no sense. There is a good reason why no person of color is among the central cast in LOTR.

And thankfully for Airbender, it seems that any race or color is a possibility.
I found LOtR to be insulting in that respect.

Even going by the argument that skin color should be of no consequence, the movie violates its own principle. For some reason, only the characters of importance in the Water Tribe village are white. EVERYONE ELSE IS BROWN, and not only that, but cast from Greenland - where Inuits compose much of the population. This is insulting.

They're not really 'brown', just darker skinned.
And yes, that was highly annoying and I wish they hadn't done that. Which is why part of me wished that a live action movie had never been done, as it would allow people to believe in their impression of the Airbender world instead of people freaking out about racism and which races and sides are being correctly represented from the show.
I don't think that is what the creators wanted people to focus on, and instead enjoy the images and introduction to cultures that most people don't get to appreciate to often.

Bottom line: it is redundant to point out that Caucasians have the right to their own white-cast fantasy movie. Nobody gives them any grief for this.

I don't believe either of us are saying that they have that right, but I'm also not sure you're understanding that I think any race is a possibility in that show.
I'm not arguing for the movie either, just asserting that anything could have been possible.

It would just be nice if certain myopic people didn't see fit to invade an Asian fantasy movie that should be cast with ASIAN people.

I'd say 'should have a large Asian cast', as I still think the movie should have had numerous types of people depicted, as I believe the cartoon could/does have as well.
A lot of it is still open to interpretation.

You do realize with that last sentence, you're being a little myopic yourself?

 

[hcig]

after this review, i was going to go see the last airbender.

but then i found out you actually liked avatar, and have now decided your opinion is shit, as you fell for the ham fisted, black and white, white man guilt trip bullshit that was avatar.

 

[hcig]

It would just be nice if certain myopic people didn't see fit to invade an Asian fantasy movie that should be cast with ASIAN people.

THIS IS AN AMERICAN CARTOON MADE BY TWO WHITE GUYS

GET OVER YOURSELF, YOU WEEABOO BASTARD

 

[Riven Armor]

No, they didn't, because they respected the focus of the event. Somebody else asked.

And what was the response? I haven't seen or read anything about one.
I'd be more than curious to, though.

The response was quoted above.

Benton spoke with Mike and Bryan briefly. He commended them for the accuracy and diligent research that obviously went into the cartoon and asked about how they felt about the controversy surrounding the feature. If I recall correctly, Bryan responded that if it had been his film, things might have been done differently, but that since it was not his movie, he didn't have any control or say in how the movie got made.

http://www.racebending.com/v3/featured/racebending-com-staffers-meet-avatar-the-last-airbender-creators-at-signing/

This is a dodge which really doesn't say anything.

If that sounds like an approving remark to anybody, whoever you are, you need to get out more.

It doesn't sound approving, but that is not the point.
Approval of a movies cast doesn't clarify what the races are supposed to be, or what they are limited to.

He made this statement after the outrage from the casting erupted. The simplest explanation was that he was referring to the characters' races, as it goes along with other staff members' thoughts on the subject.

One staff member has confirmed that Aang was based on a Chinese-American, specifically, his son.

Based on personality or looks, or both? I read that information before hand and again, it's not 100% clear. That is my over all point with the cartoon and the 'facts' people are trying to put with it. I'm not going to quote what you have below, because again I read all of those quotes and information before, and yes it says that a lot of characters were based on asian or mixed asian people (the latter would be a mixed race).
Culture and influence was still thrown around in all those quotes, but never confirmed as to what degree those influences ran.

And once again, that does not confirm what the creators meant for their character to represent (if it was one type of race, a variation of mixed races, what have you). All it proves is that there were indeed characters based off real life individuals, but not what races could or would be in their world.

1) Where do you find support for the assertion that some characters were based on mixed-race people? It is common for pure Asians to hyphenate their race with "American."

2) Supposing a cast member was based on a mixed race person, why would this be important? Wrt race in the US, the one-drop rule (hybrid child =/= Caucasian) predominates. Obama is a prime example of this.

3) The issue is not personality. None of the quotes said anything about that. The issue is looks - specifically, a Caucasian actor instead of an Asian actor. "Culture" is irrelevant to the resentment that several staff members have expressed. Why else does Sifu Kisu compare the casting to the replacement of Bruce Lee (a Chinese actor) with David Carradine (a Caucasian actor)? Keep in mind these are Avatar staff members.

Then again, I shouldn't say culture is not relevant because the deal is that the movie borrows everything from Asia except for actual Asians.

Besides, the part of your post that I highlighted still doesn't specify race.
That'd be like saying so-and-so show is intended to be representative of the American or British cultures. That doesn't mean all the characters have to be white, or mixed with them.
Assuming so is.. well, a bit racist.

You rightly distinguish between race and ethnicity, but why? It clearly doesn't help your argument. Race is determined by physiology, and part of that physiology is skin color and facial features. Katara and Sokka are both dark brown (along with their relatives, and all Water Tribe members), and no painful rhetorical contortion will change that.

But that doesn't mean that those people have to be inuit. They could be a mixture of any type of race with dark(er) or lighter skin, African or Indian (Native American), Spanish or Middle Eastern, Egyptian, Indian, etc [...] Though to some people, portraying characters with certain facial features or skin colors that are 'stereotypical' is seen as racist (at times in a bad way).

First, Water Tribe clothes, hairstyles, tools, and homes are all Inuit based. What else to call them but Inuits?

Second, whatever you may think of their race, their skin is dark.

I think I see where you are coming from in that inauthentic actors are often used to play other races. That Middle Eastern chick in 24 Season 6 was Hispanic. But it matters that she actually looks somewhat Arabic.

I also distinguished between race and ethnicity, because the racebending site used the word to affirm specifically that the races of the characters were asian. However, no where in their long list of quotes and information does anyone confirm what ethnicity or race the characters are supposed to be (the word is never used by anyone but that site). Influenced yes, but even that is not a true clarification.

When a character is based on an Asian person, that character is meant to be Asian. Certainly the quotes from the staff members show that this was their intention. Otherwise, when they explained themselves, they would have talked about something else than well-known instances of whitewashing.

You seem bent on justifying an obviously Asian world in which the only powerful, meaningful protagonists are white people. This is ridiculous.

Now you are just being truly insulting, as I have never mentioned that they had to be mixed with 'whitey' in order to be in the show or be a meaningful protagonist. In fact I never really said if I liked or disagreed with the casting of the movie.

Well, you have been arguing to justify the casting decisions. Let's look at the good guys:

Aang - Caucasian
Katara - Caucasian
Sokka - Caucasian
Gram-Gram - Caucasian

These are all the central protagonists. (Fire Nation characters are antagonists in the first film) And you are justifying the decision to cast them in this way, so what I said is correct. Now, there is a difference between saying that and saying that you were asserting the Caucasian race should be a litmus test for the casting.

I'm bent on clarifying that 'inspiration' does not mean that something is 100% of that inspiration, especially when certain parts haven't truly been clarified.

You seem bent on trying to say that no one could be a mix of races, even though some characters are based on people who are mixed. Only people of 'pure' color can exist.

See what I did there?

That's hilarious. I am actually a mixed Asian, so I wouldn't be trying to disprove my own existence. Yet if someone from Avatar based a character on me, they would be using as a base a person perceived as Asian. (Nobody ever confuses me with a Caucasian). Again, mixed race does not really enter into this discussion.

Nobody is demanding that pure Asians have to be used in casting. I only called you out on that because you asserted, still without proof, that the basis for the characters was mixed. I and others who are upset about this would just like the casting to be actors and actresses who looked at least somewhat like the characters they are supposed to represent!

And thankfully for Airbender, it seems that any race or color is a possibility.
I found LOtR to be insulting in that respect.

Good luck finding a non-colored person in the Water Tribe depictions in the show.

Even going by the argument that skin color should be of no consequence, the movie violates its own principle. For some reason, only the characters of importance in the Water Tribe village are white. EVERYONE ELSE IS BROWN, and not only that, but cast from Greenland - where Inuits compose much of the population. This is insulting.

They're not really 'brown', just darker skinned.

Brown is a common synonym for that.

Bottom line: it is redundant to point out that Caucasians have the right to their own white-cast fantasy movie. Nobody gives them any grief for this.

[snip]

I don't believe either of us are saying that they have that right

I believe they do, actually. Sometimes that's the way it is. Gandalf is not Indian or Chinese or African.

but I'm also not sure you're understanding that I think any race is a possibility in that show.
I'm not arguing for the movie either, just asserting that anything could have been possible.

Any race is not a possibility because all races do not have the same skin color.

I understand that you are advocating a color-blind perspective. However, if the casting was truly color blind then the director would have called for any ethnicity, not "Caucasian and any other ethnicity." There would have been persons of color among the protagonists and not just in the background. And staff members would not have been waving the bloody shirt of the infamous Bruce Lee/David Carradine debacle.

 

[crypt-creature]

The response was quoted above.

Benton spoke with Mike and Bryan briefly. He commended them for the accuracy and diligent research that obviously went into the cartoon and asked about how they felt about the controversy surrounding the feature. If I recall correctly, Bryan responded that if it had been his film, things might have been done differently, but that since it was not his movie, he didn't have any control or say in how the movie got made.

I've read that before, but it still doesn't put the argument to rest.
More or less, I'm arguing whether they would have gone with just a strictly Asian cast or would they have considered other ethnicities for the part, even if they didn't look asian or inuit.
I still don't believe that means Asians and Inuits are the only races possible in the show.

He made this statement after the outrage from the casting erupted. The simplest explanation was that he was referring to the characters' races, as it goes along with other staff members' thoughts on the subject.

Agreed, but I still wonder what he objects to. Would have made all the Indians Asian instead, or would he/they have had multiple races?

1) Where do you find support for the assertion that some characters were based on mixed-race people? It is common for pure Asians to hyphenate their race with "American."

2) Supposing a cast member was based on a mixed race person, why would this be important? Wrt race in the US, the one-drop rule (hybrid child =/= Caucasian) predominates. Obama is a prime example of this.

3) The issue is not personality. None of the quotes said anything about that. The issue is looks - specifically, a Caucasian actor instead of an Asian actor. "Culture" is irrelevant to the resentment that several staff members have expressed. Why else does Sifu Kisu compare the casting to the replacement of Bruce Lee (a Chinese actor) with David Carradine (a Caucasian actor)? Keep in mind these are Avatar staff members.

Then again, I shouldn't say culture is not relevant because the deal is that the movie borrows everything from Asia except for actual Asians.

1) Now I see where we are having a problem, I am trying to discern if they are saying Asian-American as in genetics or just place of birth n(one of the quotes have been helpful with that). I've seen that hyphenation used in both instances, so here I'm not sure in which way they are trying to use it.

2) Cast as in movie, or cast is in cartoon? Could you clarify please? Also, your last sentence reads a bit oddly (Wrt?).

3) Now here is something that makes me wonder, if this is all based on looks what if there was a superb actor who was not Asian or Causasian, yet could pass in looks, would this still be an issue (I have met/known people who were not of Asian or Caucasian decent, yet had very striking similarities)? Do they have to be Asian, or if they look similar enough would that appease some people?

First, Water Tribe clothes, hairstyles, tools, and homes are all Inuit based. What else to call them but Inuits?

Second, whatever you may think of their race, their skin is dark.

I think I see where you are coming from in that inauthentic actors are often used to play other races. That Middle Eastern chick in 24 Season 6 was Hispanic. But it matters that she actually looks somewhat Arabic.

Call them water tribes? Why do they need to be called Inuits, can they not be their own type on people in the Airbender world?
I don't see a problem with that, and was happy to leave it ambiguous as I was watching the show. People really only seem to be causing a fuss now because it has been adapted to a live action movie (in some instances rightly so, but some are just going overboard with it).

Yes, their skin is dark, but so are a handful of other types of people.
No, I did not like the fact Caucasians were casted to play those characters.

When a character is based on an Asian person, that character is meant to be Asian. Certainly the quotes from the staff members show that this was their intention. Otherwise, when they explained themselves, they would have talked about something else than well-known instances of whitewashing.

Then would it be appropriate to say that, as far as we know, Aang is the only character confirmed to be Asian?

Well, you have been arguing to justify the casting decisions. Let's look at the good guys:

Aang - Caucasian
Katara - Caucasian
Sokka - Caucasian
Gram-Gram - Caucasian

These are all the central protagonists. (Fire Nation characters are antagonists in the first film) And you are justifying the decision to cast them in this way, so what I said is correct. Now, there is a difference between saying that and saying that you were asserting the Caucasian race should be a litmus test for the casting.

I'm not trying to justify them at all, again just that I think the characters could have been portrayed by multiple types of people, and that we don't know what types of people could truly exist in that world.
I apologize if you think I'm for or trying to justify this casting decision. Though honestly, I don't see a problem in having Indian individuals being a part of the fire nation (I thought it was neat, but do wish they had included Asians and other people as well).

That's hilarious. I am actually a mixed Asian, so I wouldn't be trying to disprove my own existence. Yet if someone from Avatar based a character on me, they would be using as a base a person perceived as Asian. (Nobody ever confuses me with a Caucasian). Again, mixed race does not really enter into this discussion.

Nobody is demanding that pure Asians have to be used in casting. I only called you out on that because you asserted, still without proof, that the basis for the characters was mixed. I and others who are upset about this would just like the casting to be actors and actresses who looked at least somewhat like the characters they are supposed to represent!

Indeed, but that is not the case for everyone. As it is, not everyone makes a character exactly like the person they are basing them off of.

Again, I am still trying to discern if they mean Asian-American by blood or geographical birth. I still haven't been able to tell which they really mean, I only bring mixed race (by blood) and defend it because if Aang is mixed in that sense then other races (basically those I've listed but others I've left out as well) are possible.

I don't disagree with you on having the characters look like the people they are trying to represent, I just don't agree with the people who are saying it has to be all Asians and that it cannot include other types of darker (or lighter, whichever) skinned people as well.

Good luck finding a non-colored person in the Water Tribe depictions in the show.

There are varying skin tones in the water tribe, do they need to be ghost white in order to be a non-colored person?

http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Northern_Water_Tribe
Scroll down to the last picture there, some of them could be non-colored as many vary in tone (look at their hands, many different tones).

Brown is a common synonym for that.

I know, oddly it's one that seems odd to me.

I believe they do, actually. Sometimes that's the way it is. Gandalf is not Indian or Chinese or African.

Oh poo, I thought you were saying that in terms of the Airbender movie, not as a general statement.

Any race is not a possibility because all races do not have the same skin color.

I understand that you are advocating a color-blind perspective. However, if the casting was truly color blind then the director would have called for any ethnicity, not "Caucasian and any other ethnicity." There would have been persons of color among the protagonists and not just in the background. And staff members would not have been waving the bloody shirt of the infamous Bruce Lee/David Carradine debacle.

Ah, but in the link I gave you with the Water tribe, it does show multiple types of skin tones which could indicate that yes, any race is possible. I can't find decent shots for the Earth, Fire or Air nations, but the ones I did find also had a variety of tones present in the characters (I just couldn't tell if they were shadows, lighting, or indeed tones. They were pretty small images, but they looked to be. I can post a link if you wish).

I'm still not trying to say that the casting wasn't being color blind, just that it very well should have been.
To be fair, Aang had very ambiguous characteristics. Though it should have just called for any ethnicity, and not been specific.
I still think the actor for Aang looked pretty good, though a shame he's Caucasian, otherwise it might have taken some of the heat off.

Though, eventually Zuko will be a protagonist. Doesn't help much though.

EDIT: Good lord this is getting long. Could you please respond by Message if you wish to continue this discussion?

 

[awatkins]

It's probably already been said (I dont have time to read all 300+ relies to find out) but why the HELL is almost everyones' names mispronounced? 'Ang' was mispronounced as 'Ong', 'Saka' was mispronounced as 'Soka' to name just a few. For christ sake! they even mispronounced the word 'avatar' as 'ah-vatar'!
I really-really enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon series, and I think most ppl could watch it and enjoy it as well. I knew going into the movie that there was NO way the entire thing could have been done even half-proper because of the time-lines involved in the cartoon series. I was already willing to FORGIVE Shyamalan for that. Why did he have to ruin everything else?
Names were mispronounced; characters' personalities where blatantly re-wrote; parts of the mythos was warpped (Firebenders needing fire near them to bend); all this completely changed what ATLAB used to be.
Sure, making the movie more dark and brooding to lure in older audiences might have been what M. Night was after. but fuck him and his dog too. I had the feeling that he didnt even watch the cartoon sereies.

 

[Riven Armor]

EDIT: Good lord this is getting long. Could you please respond by Message if you wish to continue this discussion?

It is getting pretty long, so I'll say a little bit more and if we want to discuss the smaller points we can.

1) Now I see where we are having a problem, I am trying to discern if they are saying Asian-American as in genetics or just place of birth n(one of the quotes have been helpful with that). I've seen that hyphenation used in both instances, so here I'm not sure in which way they are trying to use it.

The vast majority of the time someone calls themselves a Chinese-American, Korean-American, etc, or the word pops up in sociology, it means a person of [insert race] descent who is an American citizen. It has nothing to do with whether they are mixed or not.

I apologize if you think I'm for or trying to justify this casting decision. Though honestly, I don't see a problem in having Indian individuals being a part of the fire nation (I thought it was neat, but do wish they had included Asians and other people as well).

Well then you're in the same boat as me. I'm more upset about it because this is just the latest in a long line of discriminatory incidents wrt (with respect to) Asians in Hollywood. This is a pattern, not an anomaly. Outside of kung fu movies, Asian leading men/women are endangered species.

More or less, I'm arguing whether they would have gone with just a strictly Asian cast or would they have considered other ethnicities for the part, even if they didn't look asian or inuit.

Given the respect they have demonstrated for Asian culture, the presence of several Asian Americans on their staff, and the fact that they went out of their way to solicit the advice of an Asian American activist group, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they would cast most of the characters as Asian. Not all, probably.

Ah, but in the link I gave you with the Water tribe, it does show multiple types of skin tones which could indicate that yes, any race is possible.

This is one of those cases where the exception proves the rule. Having watched through the show, pretty much all Water Tribe members are varying shades of brown. Princess Yue is lighter than Katara and Sokka, yes, but that's still not any race.

In season 3 Katara and Sokka were able to pass themselves off as Fire Nation, though, which means that anomalies aren't uncommon enough to raise suspicion. So I partly agree with you. Just as the US is majority Caucasian, so each Avatar nation has a racial majority.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

To those of you wondering if this movie is better if you haven't seen the show, I think it makes it even worse. The narrative in this movie is piss poor. I went with three other people, only one of which that knew the show as well as I do. Even we were confused by how things were presented, and the other guys said they just gave up trying to follow the plot about halfway through.

And Bob, how can you not mention the terrible writing and the even worse acting? The countless plot holes and inconsistincies that even I was able to notice right off the bat? (I normally don't notice such things unless they're pointed out to me) Iagree on some things. I liked the action, the effects were decent enough, and I liked the music. But everything else about this movie is a complete disaster. Awful writing, awful acting, a story that's almost impossible to follow, boring and lifeless characters, etc, etc.

Such wasted potential. This could have been the start of a Lord of the Rings quality trilogy.

 

[hcig]

water tribe isnt asian, im a "racebender", and a moron, etc.

...you do realize that pacific islanders ARE NOT asian, right? because they arent from asia...they are from the pacific islands
same goes for american indians, yupik and inuits

so basically, all your ranting about the water tribe has gotten you only further past the line of obvious stupidity. living in conditions where your body increases its melanin to cope with sun exposure is NOT ground for starting up a racist argument over supposedly racist acts from an actual asian director

i live in the sub tropics, and my family is (mostly) irish (which, in terms of heredity means brown hair and white skin) guess what? IVE GOT BLACK HAIR AND BROWN SKIN

you are retarded, and you need to shut the hell up right now, because you dont know what you are talking about, you racist punk.

 

[Riven Armor]

water tribe isnt asian, im a "racebender", and a moron, etc.

...you do realize that pacific islanders ARE NOT asian, right? because they arent from asia...they are from the pacific islands
same goes for indians, yupik and inuits

so basically, all your ranting about the water tribe has gotten you only further past the line of obvious stupidity. living in conditions where your body increases its melanin to cope with sun exposure is NOT ground for starting up a racist argument over supposedly racist acts from an actual asian director

i live in the sub tropics, and my family is (mostly) irish (which, in terms of heredity means brown hair and white skin) guess what? IVE GOT BLACK HAIR AND BROWN SKIN

you are retarded, and you need to shut the hell up right now, because you dont know what you are talking about, you racist punk.

You are correct that Pacific Islanders are not Asian, which was a big mistake on my part. I knew better and slouched into it.

But otherwise you are wrong.

 

[Uber Waddles]

To everyone argueing about race issues: Who gives a damn?

Let me give you a brief run down of things... This is made by a director who desperately wants to be in the limelight in HOLLYWOOD. HOLLYWOOD, and MAINSTREAM movies like to sell to a certain demographic of people. While you can argue all day that its wrong, HOLLYWOOD WHITEWASHES FILMS.

As for the ZOMG big deal being made over this... its a childrens cartoon, taking place in a fictional world. Thats pretty much a creative "go ahead and cast whoever the hell you want". If your complaining about the skin color of actor beings off in a movie where people can literally manipulate elements with their mind, you're insane. Its not like their making a Samurai movie with an entirely black cast (or Tom Cruise).

As long as they have the fighting down, the story down, etc. WHO CARES IF THEY DONT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THEIR CARTOON COUNTERPARTS? They picked the people who they thought would do the best for their given roles. Did they whitewash? Probably. But argueing about in on the Escapist wont make Hollywood stop the practice. Seriously.

If you care THAT much about it, petition the studio that published the film. Protest the company and director. And stop nit-picking. In a movie adaption of ANYTHING, they wont get all the details down, specially when your taking almost 500 minutes worth of content and shoving it into, what, 90 minutes? The movie staff has a budget they have to keep within; they cant spend MONTHS searching inuit actors for the Water Tribe (that takes money to do). You can argue about how un-authentic it is, but at the end of the day its easier to grab a handful of good actors who dont exactly fit the racial profile then to wait for one to magically appear. Especially when the race doesnt play a part in the plot, or matter at all (fictional world; they could have been midgets for all I care).

Back to the actual review: Movie Bob is 90% spot on with my opinions, which means Ill have to give this movie a go ahead. I appreciate movies that can't quite hit the mark for what they're trying to achieve.

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

dunno really, i always kind of thought the tv series was americans desperately trying to recreate the style of anime but with enough western sensibilities that the din't have to edit the shit out of the material, so the whole thing ended up coming across as a sub par naruto style show.

but i may check the film out, as i'm not nearly as offended by the casting as some.

Your comparing of avatar to a sub par naruto is honnestly insulting. Yeah it went to reacreate the japanese anime style and it did. In fact it did, it honnestly did it better than alot of jappanese anime. It had very deep characters who actualy had arcs and changed. It had a well paced narative that had many points that were amazing. And it never presented a character in one dimension, especialy Zuko who is probably one of the deepest characters ive ever seen in a cartoon series.

you see firstly, I never felt american animation ever needed to recreate japanese style animation as America has plenty of talented animators whose style i liked... besides for pure enjoyment the early loony tunes (espescially anything chuck jones did) pisses over a lot of modern animation through sheer quality, check out the facial expressions alone in any early road runner cartoon and you'll see what I mean..
I gave avatar a try, I really did, and i'll probably give it another go after reading your response but i'm sorry TO ME (as in my own opinion!) it came across as cartoon network trying to make it's own anime series with all the style of the japanese serials, but without the need to edit it down to satisfy western moral sensibility's.

as for the whole character arc, deep characters thing... the japanese had this in their series for years, I was watching anime 15 years ago that did characters better than avatar, which while i'm sure was reasonable in quality (the bunch of episodes I saw didn't seem bad in that respect) it did not impress me much in any other aspect....

Sorry but I care not if my opininon is insulting, but I do not regard avatar as anything special whatsoever... give invader Zimm or samurai jack a try, animation I really did like.. or better yet check out ghost in the shell if you like plot and character developmen as it leaves most other stuff eating dirt.

I understand what you said about the style of the show. I agree americans already have enough interesting animation designs that we don't need to borrow any. We should do more Invader Zim like shows that use interesting designs from popular comic books. However I don't really think it fair that you're comparing plot and character development to something like Ghost in the Shell. That's kinda like saying Little Mermaid was shit because it didn't have as good a story or characters as Shawshank Redemption or Les Mis. They weren't made for the same general audience and most of the dialogue in ghost in the shell would put younger children to sleep. Well, at least until they see a robot or something.

Anyway, I agree japan has done as good or better many times before but hey, the series creators were fan of anime and wanted to see if they try to make a show at least matching the quality of some. In that respect I think they did a fairly good job. Although like you I'd like to see mature stories told more in western style. For example I would love to see a movie made of the Sandman or The Husk (or maybe it's just Husk I can't remember), or at the very least create another great show for all ages like animaniacs.

 

[Coratto]

Yes I'm a fan. Obviously disappointing but during the movie. "Yea it looks good, like polished shit. But I'm not going to eat it." The bending was slow, when the gang was in the Earth Kingdom 'prison' and I use the term lightly. I saw maybe 6-7 guys stomp on the ground in unison and on tiny rock fly by the screen. What the flying fuck is going on? Did I mention the bending was slow? Not to mention the finally to it was a complete waste of money. Spoiler alert: The fire nation is scared of a wave that took... 2 minutes to make.

"Anyway, I agree japan has done as good or better many times before but hey, the series creators were fan of anime and wanted to see if they try to make a show at least matching the quality of some. In that respect I think they did a fairly good job. Although like you I'd like to see mature stories told more in western style. For example I would love to see a movie made of the Sandman or The Husk (or maybe it's just Husk I can't remember), or at the very least create another great show for all ages like animaniacs."

I just saw this after I posted. I'm studying in animation and the kings that are still on top is Disney. End of story, thats where it definitely got its foot in the door. Like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Someone, the idea was taken and Disney created Mickey Mouse. Something that can be taken can also be made into their own. Yes Avatar resembles Japanese Animation, but even then they made their own style to it and actually gave it a decent run *awards*. So by no means is it bad, its exceptional. Is it mature? Yes, yes it is. And I agree Zuko is one of the most developed characters in the entire series. He's the one most relatable. Woo ranting is fun