M. Night Shyamalan.

I had a few wth moments with M. Night in these past few years. For instance, The Happening. Which was, more of a comedy than thriller. This guy is taking his “message” too seriously. Think about the consumers. Not some selfish vision. This time round, He’s decided to touch the (to me) sacrosanct avatar series, and touted that he was gna convey themes abt genocide and the balance of the world. Which are of course integral to the series to a certain extent (genocide of the air nomads, hence Avatar: The Last Air Bender). But he tends to add so much gravitas to his film that it teeters on being campy, and vulgar to the artform.

The core of my opprobrium, however, is directed against his casting decisions..

Paramount justified their decision by stating:
“Early casting includes an Indian actor, born in Mumbai and raised in the UK and the US; a Persian actor born in Tehran and raised in the UK, Switzerland and the US; a Maori actor born and raised in New Zealand; a Korean-American actor, born and raised in Chicago; an American actress of Italian, French and Mexican heritage; among several others of varied nationalities from around the world.The four nations represented in the film reflect not one community, but the world’s citizens. These societies will be cast from a diversity of all races and cultures. In particular, the Earth Kingdom will be cast with Asian, East Asian and Africans.”

To which the media action network for asian american replied:
“How can you, in good faith, say you are trying to honor the integrity of the television series by taking a story written with Asian themes, settings, characters, and populating it with white leads—especially when there are so few Asian roles available in Hollywood? You are continuing a generations-long practice of racial discrimination where the opportunity for actors of color to be heroes for a change is taken away (this time in the name of “diversity.”).”

aang-aint-white.livejournal.com:
We would like to take a moment, here, to speak briefly about the real world cultures represented within Avatar: The Last Airbender. The only written language represented is classical Chinese. The characters’ journey through the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation reveals a wide variety of distinctive East Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, Japanese and Vietnamese. The Water Tribe draws from Inuit, Yupik and Pacific Islander cultures. This world features astonishing diversity from all across the Asian continent and all along the Pacific Rim, which is a part of what made it so unique.

There are no equivalents to African or European cultures in the Avatar world. There are no medieval French castles. There are no Egyptian temples. There are no Viking long houses. There are no Malian mosques. Including African American extras in the Earth Kingdom was a deliberate decision, intended to mask the whitewashing of the principle cast.

I can understand why Night wants Dev Patel in his movie. But his facial expressions are often limited and isn’t he more in the goofy department. So shouldn’t he be cast as Sokka instead? And why is he, the second asian in the film, the bad guy? Many people are rooting for brandon soo hoo to be aang. But the role went to Noah Ringer, who looks like aang. But he’s got a belly. >.> Aang is lean. If the movie turns out great. I’ll be even more pissed, cuz it would’ve been a good opportunity for asian actors to play the good guys. It’s my favourite animated show, dun ruin it pls?

Unlike the usual fight scenes, the ones from the final episodes during sozen’s comet were more ostentatious and grand. But I like it.