Whitewashed Avatar Cast

If you are an Avatar fan, PLEASE do not see the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie comign out in July 2010. They have whitewashed the entire cast (i.e: made everyone caucasian) and reserved minorities to minor roles. Basically, they are turning the Asian fantasy land of Avatar into something racist. Aang's white. Katara's white. Sokka's white. And you know what's funny? The genocidal Fire Nation is all Asian.

More info here:
Clickity click.

Please boycott the movie, support Racebending, whatever. This mess is blatant and totally betrays what Avatar stands for.

Well... Aang was white in the first place...

And I'm not sure but this kinda borders between Serious Discussion and General Chit-Chat...

This can stay here, but let's try to get some discussion on "whitewashing" of stuff in general. Why it occurs, what it means, and if producers who do it are racist or not, alright?

Normally I would say it is because it will be more recognisable for Western audiences, it will draw more people to the cinemas, however since probably 99% of the people going to see the movie are Avatar fans this move leaves me baffled. They push their target group away and will not get any or very low revenue out of non-avatar fans. Some real bad marketing that's for sure.

However it is quite normal that they try to 'whitewash' something, the white Caucasian is in the majority, as such most models are white. It's just where the most money is. If it is truly discrimination is a bit in the middle. Since they'll use black people 'blackwashing(?)' for advertising in Africa or Asians in Asia.

Um, most anime characters tend to be white anyway (which I always found odd coming from Japan).

By the way, aside from a biased site with nothing but icons, what is your source on this?

Originally Posted by SheikahSage

Um, most anime characters tend to be white anyway (which I always found odd coming from Japan).

Since about the mid 1800s, Japan has had a fasination with all things western. That is why most japanese anime and videogame characters are white.

Anyway, "whitewashing" avatar really isn't being racist, since most of the characters were white anyway. If they take out all the referances to asian culture though, then it might be. Of coarse, they won't, because anime without referances to asian culture really isn't anime.

On a side note: Why are they making this movie? Wouldn't it make more sense to make a movie about a good anime like Bleach?

M. Night is directing this? No wonder its going to suck. Ha. What a tweest. Seriously though, they should stick to the original characters and story, thats what made it so good. I will boycott this. Maybe.

I don't see it as racist, but I see it as bad casting. I think adaptions should stay as true as possible to the original, and by making the characters white, they're straying away from the ethnic diversity in the characters.

I think the actor playing Zuko is Indian, but that still doesn't work... the guy looks nothing like him at all.

Originally Posted by Hell Hawk

On a side note: Why are they making this movie? Wouldn't it make more sense to make a movie about a good anime like Bleach?

Bleach is just Dragonball Z with ghosts.

I suggest we boycott Ebony cards and Black magazines before we pick on someone picking the actors he wants for his movie that happen to all be white. Why not boycott blatant attempts at segregation? People make me wonder sometimes...

I guarantee if someone tried to make a 'white' magazine he'd be destroyed, but Ebony, nope that perfectly acceptable.

Wait...M. Night Shamalayan is directing this. His movies tend to have a twist and are creepy. The new characters are white people.

Maybe they are ghosts!

Otherwise, this is quite curious. Perhaps the producers are attracting a larger audience than just anime fans and changed it suitably.

Originally Posted by Hell Hawk

Anyway, "whitewashing" avatar really isn't being racist, since most of the characters were white anyway. If they take out all the referances to asian culture though, then it might be. Of coarse, they won't, because anime without referances to asian culture really isn't anime.

Yeah not that many characters from what I recall were actually asian. Though then again there is no Asian race to begin with. Avatar exists in a completely different world then ours.

On a side note: Why are they making this movie? Wouldn't it make more sense to make a movie about a good anime like Bleach?

A live action Bleach move? That would be interesting.

Manga and animé characters, though seemingly caucasian, are acually meant to be Japanese. An example would be in Yu-Gi-Oh!, where all the main characters, though large-eyed and with a variety of hair and eye colours, are explicitly stated to be Japanese schoolkids. The hair and eye colours can be explained by the fact that Tokyo fashion has many people dying their hair colours other than their natural black and wearing contacts, and the wide-eyed characteristics are necessitated by the fact that it's cute and possibly also because Japanese people don't see themselves as being squinty.

The decision to whitewash an animé film is not new, nor even old news. They did the same with the Dragonball movie a month or two back.

Originally Posted by Flames of Valor

Why not boycott blatant attempts at segregation? People make me wonder sometimes...

this seems random. what attempts would those be?

Originally Posted by Margar

this seems random. what attempts would those be?

Ebony magazines, greeting/birthday/etc cards. That kind of stuff. It seems acceptable for every color except white to have their own 'section' of stuff.

I'm gonna watch it. And enjoy every minute of it.
Why? Because race shouldn't matter. People didn't care for Transformers which originated in Japan OR Speed Racer. Besides, Dev Patel (who is English but looks Hindi is playing Zuko). Other actors from other ethnicities are also in the main cast.
I'm going and gonna enjoy every minute of it.

Originally Posted by KikasPet Itachi

M. Night is directing this? No wonder its going to suck. Ha. What a tweest. Seriously though, they should stick to the original characters and story, thats what made it so good. I will boycott this. Maybe.

Wowwwwwwwwwww. I guess you don't know, the original cast was 99% white!

ps.
Shouldn't this be in the Entertainment section??

Originally Posted by VictorZamora

I'm gonna watch it. And enjoy every minute of it.
Why? Because race shouldn't matter. People didn't care for Transformers which originated in Japan OR Speed Racer. Besides, Dev Patel (who is English but looks Hindi is playing Zuko). Other actors from other ethnicities are also in the main cast.
I'm going and gonna enjoy every minute of it.



Wowwwwwwwwwww. I guess you don't know, the original cast was 99% white!

ps.
Shouldn't this be in the Entertainment section??

THEY WERE OF DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES. NOT WHITE.

Zuko was Asian, so was Aang, Katara and Sokka were African/Inuit, the Earthbenders were all Southeast Asian, it's set in an Asian fantasy land, the LOGO HAS CHINESE CHARACTERS IN IT, whitewashing is just not going to work.

Other sources? Try racialicious. Or just google "Avatar movie". One of the producers has made numerous racist comments, this is blatant. Avatar fans are going to see it mainly, whitewashing is not going to attract new viewers.

Originally Posted by Flames of Valor

I suggest we boycott Ebony cards and Black magazines before we pick on someone picking the actors he wants for his movie that happen to all be white. Why not boycott blatant attempts at segregation? People make me wonder sometimes...

I guarantee if someone tried to make a 'white' magazine he'd be destroyed, but Ebony, nope that perfectly acceptable.

Because most magazines already are white. (People magazine, Reader's Digest)

Sokka and Katara were not white, nor were the people from the Earth Kingdom.

Ebony magazines, greeting/birthday/etc cards. That kind of stuff. It seems acceptable for every color except white to have their own 'section' of stuff.

Well here, at least, one is invoking pseudo-legitimate cultural distinctions - even those who academically reject the idea of "race" entirely can begrudge society using a modern "marking of similar recent ancestry" as indicators of shard cultural history.

The fictional world of Avatar can't claim the same association. As best as I can tell, the show's creators (two white dudes working out of California, BTW) chose to arbitrarily racially profile their various imagined societies as a narrative device. If the purely capitalistic decision to reverse their purely artistic convention lowers the quality of the adaptation or the narrative in general it's not racism, it's bad movie-making.

Because most magazines already are white. (People magazine, Reader's Digest)

They don't call them 'cream' or some white implying name though, if they did they would be crucified, but it's ok for black to separate themselves, just not white people? What makes those magazines 'white'?

Originally Posted by Flames of Valor

Ebony magazines, greeting/birthday/etc cards. That kind of stuff. It seems acceptable for every color except white to have their own 'section' of stuff.

But it's a little different when you take somethign that is traditionally Japanese or racially diverse, and change it to be all caucasian. whether it was intentionally pandering to racist undertones is debatable, but still, it took one thing and changed it significantly enough to warrant notice.

As far as things like ebony goes, race exists. racism exists. if people want a magazine that empowers and affirms their identity in society, let them. as long as it's not preaching hate or violence against other races, there's nothing wrong with lifting up a minority race. you can't just pretend that everyone is the same color and that thousands of years of history mean nothing. with difference in skin color, also comes difference in culture, religion (in some cases) and tradition. We can't expect everyone to homogenize into one culture.