All White main cast. WTF, seriously.
Joni-san;17455131 wrote:
WTF
QFT.
I remember reading somewhere that ethnicity didn't matter in the casting. It should've. But that would've been "racist," I guess.
Regardless of ethnicity.
Frankly I don't care, though I think they could have tried harder to find people that look more like the characters in more than a -passing resemblence- sort of way.
Whoever can fit the looks and the acting required the best should get the part.
I think I speak for many others when I say that we don't think white people can fit the looks required.
Add to that the importance of the diverse cultures depicted to the overall tone and setting of the show... This wasn't a show about race (the concept of nationality was played heavily, but not so much race), but still. Yeah. More then a little dissapointing.
That said, re: "aang ain't white" (just the title, haven't read the article yet), he always felt white to me. Odd given the animation choices for the other air benders, but, especially in comparison to the other characters, the choices of skin tone and facial features in his character design always read as caucasian to me. An unsurprising choice on the part of the producers to have a white male lead, even if it didn't make much sense. On the other hand, this might just be my white priviledge talking, defaulting any character I see as caucasian unless they are specifically tagged otherwise. Hm.
TBH, while I'm dissapointed, I'm not surprised. I'm sure all the fans have seen quite a bit of promo art that bleached Katara and Sokka's skintones, and other similar indications that the corporate types behind the show aren't quite as commited to it's diversity as the creaters were.
I think I speak for many others when I say that we don't think white people can fit the looks required.
It could be worse.
They could be turning it into a musical.
Or Uwe Boll could be doing it.
Fire Nation itself is quite transparently East Asian in inspiration, albeit populated by people who don't look the least like East Asians.
I think I'll be digging the ol' Sniper Rifle out of my closet now...
Don't really see what's wrong with that. Zukko kinda looks occidental. Doesn't he?
It's Jesse frickin' McCartney as Zukko, AKA, The Living Volcano. He'd better be an incredible actor if he's going to pull it off.
One thing that did come up there though was that a few people felt that most of the animated cast was more or less white to begin with; citing that the general anime convention art - which Avatar is close to - portays white and asians are fairly similar. I was, I admit, slightly floored by this discovery (it never crossed my mind that anyone at the show could be considered white) but it did make me wonder. If people can independantly reach that conclusion, I did wonder whether M Night Shymalan may have thought this himself. It's apparently not outside the realms of possiblity at any rate. (How probable is another matter. I mean, it's not like the world culture is strongly Chinese influenced.)
I think how far this is going to go will depend on the rest of the cast and the extras. It'll be interesting to see if everyone else will be not white (which would smack of bigatry) or all white (which may smack either of bigatry or of Shymalan's perception of anime-based art.)
He may even have not had a choice; somebody higher up may have given him his marching orders.
(More people seemed concerned about the director himself and the casting of Jessie McCartney than the ethnicity issue, though...)
That's got more to do with the caliber of the actor than any allegations dependent on his "race."
aotrscommander:
Actually, anime portrays caucasians as markedly different in some way. See: Vision of Escaflowne and Genshiken. Typically, caucasians are drawn with really big noses. Note that Zukko and most of the cast have medium sized noses, which is an anime ideal. This is most typically seen in people with diverse genetic heritage, such as particular Brazilians, Singaporeans, and Filipinos.
Btw, the entire world is heavily chinese-influenced. Chinese cultural infiltration is the single-most influential culture in world history. I don't much like that, but it's true anyway.
aotrscommander:
Actually, anime portrays caucasians as markedly different in some way. See: Vision of Escaflowne and Genshiken. Typically, caucasians are drawn with really big noses. Note that Zukko and most of the cast have medium sized noses, which is an anime ideal. This is most typically seen in people with diverse genetic heritage, such as particular Brazilians, Singaporeans, and Filipinos.
Allow me to clarify.
I, personally, have always accepted that the characters in anime (and in Avatar) were of asian decent automatically without even thinking about it (unless, as you have mentioned they were flagged up in some manner as not being). I was therefore taken completely by surprise when someone said the Avatar cast was more-or-less white to them. Prompting me to ask why they thought this.
(That said, probably because of my UK background, I tend not to notice conciously people's ethnicity anyway. Heck, when I read somewhere a major selling point of Static Shock was he was a black super-hero I was like "he is? Oh, yeah, 'spose is he at that." So, my usual perceptiveness doesn't trigger in most these cases. I seem to see people as people first and other stuff second1.)
But, the fact remains that some people will look at Naruto or Avatar and see white people, rightly or wrongly. I may not be one of them, but it's apparently not that uncommon.
I found the following linked essay to be an interesting read as it explains why this may occur.
1Well, strictly speaking, I see other people as "worthless vermin I will grind beneath by boney heel" first and little else of concern after. As Tolkien wrote, "Sheep , no doubt look alike to other sheep." But that's not the issue here...
Crimson Lancer:
That's got more to do with the caliber of the actor than any allegations dependent on his "race."
That would be my point, yes.
That's like casting Richard Simmons as Neo.