I haven't touched on this issue yet, but here goes...

[candyland]

So it sounds like Jesse McCartney is no longer going to be playing Zuko in the Avatar movie. I really haven't said much on the whole issue, but having read this interview (courtesy of the stunning girlquinn), I have to say that this is a step in the right direction.

I guess my personal feelings on the matter are that considering how diverse the A:tLA world is and how visibly it's based off all these different real-world cultures, maybe a little effort could have been made to at least somewhat align things? Just a smidgen? That diversity is one of the things that made the show so awesome--it wasn't completely homogenized.

In the spirit of not counting chickens before they hatch, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and see what the finished product looks like, but...I dunno how to explain it. It bothers me, but I'm not as much up in arms about it as some others, though I can understand their viewpoint.

I feel like I should also point out that I really don't dislike Jesse McCartney. The couple of roles I've encountered him in (which have been voice acting only: Roxas from Kingdom Hearts II, and JoJo from Horton Hearts a Who) have actually been quite believable and entertaining. And I'm also going to add that the girl slated to play Katara does actually resemble her--I think it's something about the shape of her eyes. End shallowness.

I'm really only a casual fan of the series overall, but there's enough poorly-worded misinformation in that interview to make me wince. News flash: it's not anime, it was not made in Asia, and there are no ninjas in Avatar: The Last Airbender. I thank you very much.

...okay, and I have to add one other thing because this part does kind of frost my cookies: IF M.NIGHT SHAMALAMADINGDONG PLAYS IROH, AS I HAVE RECENTLY HEARD RUMORED, SO HELP ME CLAUDE SOMETHING IS GOING TO START ON FIRE. IRONY NOT INTENDED.

Comments

[kaitodoushi.livejournal.com]

Well, that's... better. I haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire, but... yeah. I now wonder why McCartney was pushing for the part when he knows nothing about Avatar o_O;

Again, I would like a diverse cast, but the people going "EVERYONE HAS TO BE ASIAN ASD;FLKJASDF" just confuse me. Some Asians would be nice. Some Inuits would be nice. Some *insert race here* would be nice. It's a diverse world.

...OH DEAR GOD, I WILL NOT GO TO THE FIRST MOVIE IF HE IS IROH. NO WAY.

Can we resurrect Mako and have him play Iroh? ;o; Black magic FTW?

[soc_puppet]

For the record, I'm pretty sure most of us are blanket-stating Asian because three of the four nations are Asian-based, and Asian-and-Inuit can be something more of a mouthful. Similarly, I'm willing to settle for something other than Inuit for the Water Tribe members, if only because it's a vanishing race - though some sort of Native American/First National would be nice for the roles.

I also rather object to the idea of randomly throwing, say, Scotsmen in the background, simply because it's a heavily Asian (and Inuit) world to begin with, and really, where would the Scotsmen (etc) come from?

I LIKE THIS PLAN, LET'S DO THIS.

[kaitodoushi.livejournal.com]

I know what you're saying. I know there's a ton of Asian based things in the show, but honestly outside of like the Fire Nation I never sat there and thought the characters were supposed to be Asian. It's a separate world so they're their own separate races. I guess I just feel like some of the "They all have to Asians" sentiment is following the whole "They are were all white" thing going on in the cast.

Oh, yes, I agree, random stuff like that is stupid. But yeah, I really think the Water Tribe should be Native Americans/natives of some kind, Chinese or Japanese for the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom could be diverse since it's so big, and Aang... take your pick.

YES *goes to find a chicken*

[soc_puppet]

There's really much bigger and better arguments than I could give re: why the main cast at least should be Asian and/or Native over at aang_aint_white (see sidebar). Probably the best one I can remember is where this little boy of Asian descent, upon finding out about the all-Caucasian casting, asked his aunt, "Does this mean I can't be Aang when I play Avatar with my friends?"