heavy thoughts forcing their way

Long ago the four nations lived in harmony....

When I heard that Paramount Pictures would be producing a live-action movie version of Avatar, I was cautiously psyched to see Zuko and co. translated for the big screen. The interview with the Avatar creators and The Last Airbender director M. Night Shyamalan on the extras disc in the Book Three DVD set seemed to promote the idea that Shyamalan "got" the series and was going to be as true as possible to its original vision--honoring the characters, the cultures, and the story.

Then I leared what "staying true" to the original series actually meant to Paramount, Shyamalan, and their casting department:


Unsurprisingly, by separating out "caucasian" from "other ethnicities" in their wording, the movie ended up with entirely white protagonists: Noah Ringer (Aang), Nicola Peltz (Katara), Jackson Rathbone (Sokka), and Jesse McCarthy (Zuko). Due to scheduling conflicts, McCarthy was later replaced by Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, which led to an interesting conundrum: all the "good" leads were now white, while the antagonist/"bad" lead (we're talking Book One Zuko here) was Asian (okay, British, strictly speaking, but of Indian descent).

Of course, it's no big deal that Aang, Katara, and Sokka will be played by white actors even though their characters are based on non-white cultures because hey, Paramount is going to fill in the background with the ethnic diversity lacking in their leads:


And best of all, the actors and cast have a great amount of respect for the multiethnic representations in their film:

"I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit." (Jackson Rathbone--source)

"We want you to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire. If you're Korean, wear a kimono." (Extras Casting Director Deedee Ricketts--source)
So. In a world populated with people of primarily Asian-inspired cultures, we are supposed to "suspend disbelief a little bit" and find nothing wrong with a group of white protagonists saving the day while fighting a group of Indian/Asian "villains." Because at least the backdrop will remain true to the original cultures of the story.

Oh, wait. No it won't.

"I just received word from the movie producers. They are not going to use Chinese calligraphy at all, replacing it with unreadable symbols. I won’t be participating in the movie....They are removing all the successful elements of the original TV series. I think that would keep a lot of Asian audience away....Whether this is a right decision will be seen in the box office." (Professor Siu-Leung Lee, cultural consultant for the Avatar TV series--source)

Removing the calligraphy from the series is only one way in which the Shyamalan production will erase and/or rewrite the culture of the Avatar world.

"It's sort of like a cross between Roman and kind of Greek, [a] gold, Roman and Greek military/samurai military [uniform]. It's really, really beautiful." (Cliff Curtis, who will play Firelord Ozai, describes his costume (source)
Even if it is "really, really beautiful," what's the POINT of choosing a new, European-based culture to base costumes on when the original Asian-inspired costumes worked just fine--and were, in fact, part of what made the Avatar world so fresh and fascinating?

Avatar is, at its heart, about bringing together nations and cultures for the good of the world at large. It's about people setting aside their extreme differences to work together. The world, art, costumes, cultures, beliefs, and peoples represented were intentionally based on Asian cultures in an effort to honor Asian history and peoples. Leaving aside whether or not Paramount et al made intentionally racist choices, the fact of the matter is that they missed out on a huge opportunity to promote the idea that cultural diversity is important and even financially profitable:

"...Even if the filmmakers are blind to these [racial/cultural] concerns, they ought to be responsive to marketplace realities. There are millions of fans of Nickelodeon's AVATAR and they are drawn to the series' Asian themes. They are not likely to accept either a "whitewashing" of the story or an unrealistic portrayal of white actors trying to look ethnic and/or leading distinctly ethnic civilizations." (Tim Dang, Producing Artistic Director of the East West Players, the acting group to which Makoto "Mako" Iwamatsu (Uncle Iroh) belonged)
I'm not going to tell you to not see this movie, since I am firmly against censorship and believe each individual ought to make his or her own decisions about what entertainment they spend their money on. But I do urge any visitors to this site to think about how this production exemplifies Hollywood's continued dismissal of authentic cultural and racial representation. If these elements meant anything to you in the original Avatar series, and if you care at all about honoring diversity, I hope you'll think twice about putting your money down for this one.

For more information, please visit Racebending.com.


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