I would recommend linking to Kate's post (http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/429215.html) (where I suspect this was grabbed from), which has more info and a video (not a very good video, but...) and links to related resources.
I've been thinking for a while that I should really take more notice of who the producers of sucky movies are; not that I'm a big Anime fan anyway, but still, who is the guilty party here?
Produced by Scott Aversano .... producer Michael Dante DiMartino .... executive producer (co-creator) Kathleen Kennedy .... executive producer Bryan Konietzko .... executive producer (co-creator) Frank Marshall .... producer Sam Mercer .... producer Jose L. Rodriguez .... co-producer M. Night Shyamalan .... producer
My good lady wife, mimdancer, asks if, like most other Hollywood villians, the bad guy has an English accent to counter the American accented heroes.
It really does get tiring, you know, when you know that a character as soon as the bad guy opens his mouth. Especially when one is of a nationality where that accent is closer to your own than that of the heroes.
In the Da Vinci Code, the guy with the English accent is still the bad guy -- but they put you on the wrong foot with a protagonist with a French accent! (Aside: totally by coincidence, I watched Amelie and Da Vinci Code back to back. I only found out the female protagonist was the same woman when I got to the DVD extras. Curse my ability to not recognise faces...). Also lots of morally shady characters with latin/french/italian accents, incidentally.
Hollywood isn't racist. It's capitalist. If they thought 2 fresh off the boat somalia's would get 200 million first weekend box office they'd be in the movie.
Also, they did originally offer the role of Zuko to a white douchebag from a boy band.
Lets not forget anime is infamous for racial ambiguity. 99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese. I've met tons of Japanese people with blonde hair and blue eyes personally.
And, when it comes to movie adaptations of anime/comics it isn't like hollywood has ever given a shit about staying true to the source material. Halle Berry, Micheal Clark Duncan, and Billy Dee Williams aren't white. A white chick played Silverfox, a blackfoot indian (I don't recall the uproar on that one). Dead Pool was played by a none cancer patient (though I'm keeping my fingers crossed on Ryan Renoylds). Both Batman and the Joker were played by pretty boy foreigners.
Judge the casting choices after you've seen them in the movie. Knee jerk reactions to this shit are as useful as hollywood's inability to cast minorities. I'd much rather hear people complain about how M. Night is going to fuck this up since he's only made one decent movie.
I'm going to be far more upset when I see Keanu as Spike Spegiel.
No, Hollywood is both racist and capitalist. Hollywood may think that only the Whitest of White leads can sell a movie, but it's only their own prejudices that informs them of such. They sure as hell have nothing solid to back it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Hollywood "knows" only white leads can sell a movie so they only cast white leads (at least in the Big Movies, which are more important and thus more promoted). Since they only cast white leads, that's what the public goes to see, and so the prejudices of Hollywood are confirmed.
Also, they did originally offer the role of Zuko to a white douchebag from a boy band.
Which would have effectively whitewashed three fourths of the setting. Things are bad now, but they were worse before.
Lets not forget anime is infamous for racial ambiguity. 99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese.
Actually, they look white to you. Check out this site. I love that article.
I've met tons of Japanese people with blonde hair and blue eyes personally.
And I've met tons of Caucasians with green hair and golden eyes. Or pink hair and red eyes.
Halle Berry, Micheal Clark Duncan, and Billy Dee Williams aren't white.
And they're very much exceptions. Also, notice how hard BDW was dropped as soon as Dent was called upon to actually do something?
A white chick played Silverfox, a blackfoot indian (I don't recall the uproar on that one).
I don't recall an uproar either, it was more like a protracted sigh.
Both Batman and the Joker were played by pretty boy foreigners.
Okay, now we're scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Judge the casting choices after you've seen them in the movie.
Why? Will they have magically transformed into their proper ethnicities once I've seen it?
Knee jerk reactions to this shit are as useful as hollywood's inability to cast minorities. I'd much rather hear people complain about how M. Night is going to fuck this up since he's only made one decent movie.
And I'd rather complain about racism within the movie industry, because that's a helluva lot more important than whining about bad movies. And I LOVE whining about bad movies.
If they thought 2 fresh off the boat somalia's would get 200 million first weekend box office they'd be in the movie.
Were they not watching Slumdog Millionaire?
99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese.
While Japanese may be the "default" race in most anime, the characters in this anime (made by two American white guys) were intentionally Asian and Inuit. The backstory is centered on them being Asian and Inuit, and doesn't make any sense with white people.
In general, I can see what you are saying. Who cares what race the Simpsons are supposed to be? However, the creators used imagery, martial arts, and clothing styles from Asian cultures in the design of the show. Each of the four "bending" techniques draw directly from four real martial arts: Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, and Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis. The clothing for the Northern Water Tribe is a near carbon copy of the Inuit clothing. The clothing that the main character, Aang, wears is very reminiscent of the Buddhist monks of Tibet, down to the color. All of the architecture is obviously influenced by the architecture of Northeastern Asian countries. The opening credits using both classical Chinese and modern Chinese characters.
Some of these examples are ones that the creators themselves have pointed out, some of these are things are "common sense" and some of these can be verified with research.
For your last point - there wasn't this fuss until they started casting for the live action version. No one has objected that many of the voice acting cast were Caucasian, although many were also Asian. I think that if there were not the obvious Asian influences, if Hollywood did not have a history of inappropriate racial casting, and if the cast and crew had not been so dismissive of the concerns raised by fans, there would not be this outcry.
I apologize if I went overlong in my reply to your remark. This is something that I personally am passionate about because I feel that their casting choices are both racist and inaccurate.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 09:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 10:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:41 pm (UTC)*sigh*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 09:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 08:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 09:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 10:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-03 06:47 am (UTC)Scott Aversano .... producer
Michael Dante DiMartino .... executive producer (co-creator)
Kathleen Kennedy .... executive producer
Bryan Konietzko .... executive producer (co-creator)
Frank Marshall .... producer
Sam Mercer .... producer
Jose L. Rodriguez .... co-producer
M. Night Shyamalan .... producer
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-31 11:04 pm (UTC)It really does get tiring, you know, when you know that a character as soon as the bad guy opens his mouth. Especially when one is of a nationality where that accent is closer to your own than that of the heroes.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-02 08:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-02 09:08 am (UTC)It should read “... when you know that a character is the bad guy as soon as he opens his mouth.”
I blame distracting children and a lack of sufficient caffeine.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 01:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 03:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 07:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 08:32 am (UTC)Also, they did originally offer the role of Zuko to a white douchebag from a boy band.
Lets not forget anime is infamous for racial ambiguity. 99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese. I've met tons of Japanese people with blonde hair and blue eyes personally.
And, when it comes to movie adaptations of anime/comics it isn't like hollywood has ever given a shit about staying true to the source material. Halle Berry, Micheal Clark Duncan, and Billy Dee Williams aren't white. A white chick played Silverfox, a blackfoot indian (I don't recall the uproar on that one). Dead Pool was played by a none cancer patient (though I'm keeping my fingers crossed on Ryan Renoylds). Both Batman and the Joker were played by pretty boy foreigners.
Judge the casting choices after you've seen them in the movie. Knee jerk reactions to this shit are as useful as hollywood's inability to cast minorities. I'd much rather hear people complain about how M. Night is going to fuck this up since he's only made one decent movie.
I'm going to be far more upset when I see Keanu as Spike Spegiel.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 10:00 am (UTC)No, Hollywood is both racist and capitalist. Hollywood may think that only the Whitest of White leads can sell a movie, but it's only their own prejudices that informs them of such. They sure as hell have nothing solid to back it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Hollywood "knows" only white leads can sell a movie so they only cast white leads (at least in the Big Movies, which are more important and thus more promoted). Since they only cast white leads, that's what the public goes to see, and so the prejudices of Hollywood are confirmed.
Also, they did originally offer the role of Zuko to a white douchebag from a boy band.
Which would have effectively whitewashed three fourths of the setting. Things are bad now, but they were worse before.
Lets not forget anime is infamous for racial ambiguity. 99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese.
Actually, they look white to you. Check out this site. I love that article.
I've met tons of Japanese people with blonde hair and blue eyes personally.
And I've met tons of Caucasians with green hair and golden eyes. Or pink hair and red eyes.
Halle Berry, Micheal Clark Duncan, and Billy Dee Williams aren't white.
And they're very much exceptions. Also, notice how hard BDW was dropped as soon as Dent was called upon to actually do something?
A white chick played Silverfox, a blackfoot indian (I don't recall the uproar on that one).
I don't recall an uproar either, it was more like a protracted sigh.
Both Batman and the Joker were played by pretty boy foreigners.
Okay, now we're scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Judge the casting choices after you've seen them in the movie.
Why? Will they have magically transformed into their proper ethnicities once I've seen it?
Knee jerk reactions to this shit are as useful as hollywood's inability to cast minorities. I'd much rather hear people complain about how M. Night is going to fuck this up since he's only made one decent movie.
And I'd rather complain about racism within the movie industry, because that's a helluva lot more important than whining about bad movies. And I LOVE whining about bad movies.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 01:17 pm (UTC)Except, of course, that it's a cartoon about a bunch of magic teenagers of a flying water buffalo.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 01:30 pm (UTC)Were they not watching Slumdog Millionaire?
99% of characters in Anime look white, when they usually supposed to be Japanese.
While Japanese may be the "default" race in most anime, the characters in this anime (made by two American white guys) were intentionally Asian and Inuit. The backstory is centered on them being Asian and Inuit, and doesn't make any sense with white people.
Also: Aang is white?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-01 01:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-03 02:03 am (UTC)Some of these examples are ones that the creators themselves have pointed out, some of these are things are "common sense" and some of these can be verified with research.
For your last point - there wasn't this fuss until they started casting for the live action version. No one has objected that many of the voice acting cast were Caucasian, although many were also Asian. I think that if there were not the obvious Asian influences, if Hollywood did not have a history of inappropriate racial casting, and if the cast and crew had not been so dismissive of the concerns raised by fans, there would not be this outcry.
I apologize if I went overlong in my reply to your remark. This is something that I personally am passionate about because I feel that their casting choices are both racist and inaccurate.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-12 06:45 pm (UTC)