Speaking of animation...

Okay, so I know nobody reads this, but I need to rant a little bit about the controversy over The Last Airbender's recent casting choices for the lead roles of Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko.

And yes, I am on the side of the people who made Saving the World with Postage (AKA "Aang Ain't White"). For record's sake...Aang ain't white! (And neither is Katara...Sokka...or Zuko.)

Now, there are a lot of arguments going around on many different points, and I'm going to voice my opinion on a very, very, very small portion of them. I might rant again on another post later, since I may or may not be possibly interested in a future job in something that may or may not ever relate to something like this. (How's that for circle-speak?)

I shall be focusing on the issue of both racism and double-racism in the casting decisions and responses to them...and I'm going to first say that I am a super-extremely-pale Northern European-descent (and a bit o' Northern Italian, which ain't a tanned, dark-skinned area, by the way, but that's where I get my last name) female teenager. So yes, I am white. I also live in an area where a large percentage of my classmates are of Asian descent, with the majority being Chinese-Americans. My best friend growing up was Chinese-American, and her parents were immigrants. I spent a looot of time at her house and with her family eating real Chinese food, hearing Mandarin spoken left and right, going to Chinese culture festivals, hearing live Chinese music on traditional instruments (she played the...I want to say guzheng, but I'm not sure if that's right), sitting with her and staring in awe at her extra Chinese school homework (and Chinese writing on it) next to my just-for-fun reading books, and all that.

This is why I want to learn Mandarin more than anything, and I'd be fine going to China for study abroad even though Japan is probably my first choice (since I actually know some Japanese...but I think China is my second choice right now). If it weren't for the fact that my school didn't have a Mandarin program when I was choosing a foreign language to study (and assuming it would have worked with my schedule every year), I would be in my sixth year of studying it. Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out...instead, I studied Japanese, the only Asian language offered.

Anyway, enough about me:

Point that I shall respond to #1: why are you complaining about having white actors for the parts? That's racist! They should be judged on their acting ability, not their looks.

My response: wow, stop being naiive.

Actors are judged for their appearance all the time - not always their acting ability! This is especially true with child actors (who would be/should be playing the major roles of The Last Airbender, since the characters are children/teenagers). When the cast list for the first Harry Potter movie came out, nobody said anything about Daniel Radcliffe being a good actor. They said things like: "he looks exactly like Harry". Now, for The Last Airbender, I could give them credit if Noah Ringer actually was the best suited for the job for his martial arts, as apparently, he's a really good karate fighter. But that's a big "if" - what about this kid who not only looks quite a bit like Aang (and could be easily coached to act like him), but is also very good at martial arts? He even matches a lot of Aang's style with staff fighting (of course, this is to the eyes of an ignorant white girl.) He's even pretty much the right age! Other than the fact that his skin could be viewed as a bit too dark for Aang (which doesn't detract much from his visual match to the character) and that he doesn't have gray eyes (colored contacts?) he might as well BE AANG. And what about other boys who probably could have compared well, too?

Also - Jesse McCartney for Zuko. McCartney is not a very good actor, and...martial arts? Zuko has a TON of fighting scenes in Avatar, so what are they going to do for The Last Airbender? He was clearly just put in here for the pre-teen girls...

Similarly to Jackson Rathbone, who was quoted as saying that he could just tan himself and shave the sides of his head to look like Sokka. Okay, Sokka doesn't have as many martial arts roles, and I've heard good things about Rathbone's acting (he wasn't bad in Twilight)...BUT SERIOUSLY. Weren't there ANY good dark-skinned people who could do the same thing?

No idea about the girl who plays Katara, but she doesn't look like she could do convincing tai chi/"waterbending" and not look ridiculous. And again? Dark-skin? There wasn't another girl out there, maybe of South Asian descent if they couldn't find an Inuit girl who wanted to go into acting (as there are a lot more Indian-Americans than Native Alaskans just because India has such a large population and Alaska doesn't), who could act just as well as this girl? Seriously?

My main response: only tell me they were the best actors if you actually viewed the casting process and came to that conclusion on your own. You've only seen the final outcomes. Don't talk to me about the ones who were turned down being "not good actors" if you don't know who they even are.

Point that I shall respond to #2: but the voice actors are Caucasian! Why do you care if the people who portray them in the live action movie are also Caucasian? Acting ability is all that matters!

My response: there is a big difference between our sense of sight and sound.

Most animals rely mostly on one sense; not all senses are created equal. In the majority of humans, that dominant sense is that of sight. Only in people who have extremely impaired vision or blindness does another sense start to dominate the playing field (and yes, that sense usually is hearing).

When you watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, it matters less that "the voices sound Caucasian" because the appearances of the characters clearly are not. They a sort of fantasy amalgamation of various Asian cultures (not just East Asian) and Inuit cultures - there are probably more cultures influencing the world of Avatar, but the obvious ones are, well, Asian. If you see someone who is Asian and hear someone who is white, chances are you'll probably perceive the person as Asian more than white. Besides, I'd like to make the argument that an American accent from an Asian-American sounds an awful like an American accent from a European-American, and this is an American show. They're going to have, for the most part, American accents.

With live action, the actor needs to be able to match the physical appearance, too, because that's usually how people remember them. When you meet people, how do you remember them? Do you remember their voice or their appearance? Again, sight over sound. Live action actors can't rely on animators to make their appearance for them; they have to provide it themselves. That is why actors need to be able to match appearances, too, not just act.

Also: in the case of a brand-new screenplay being made into a movie, casting can be more lenient because there is no appearance to match. Unless someone's appearance is crucial to the script itself, such as if someone mentions them as having blonde hair in a line, the casting should be based on acting ability. However, in the case of Avatar being made into a movie, the characters already have preexisting appearances that people know about. This is the same thing for movies based off of people's lives - if somebody was going to make a movie about the life of, say, President Obama, you probably wouldn't want, say, Tom Hanks to play Obama in the movie. And why? "He doesn't look like Obama." That would be why.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and everyone else in the animated series already have appearances. People are going to say things like, "he doesn't look like Aang", if Noah Ringer doesn't match Aang's appearance. Guess what? They are. (I refer you back to the Saving the World with Postage blog.)

My main response: sight over sound. If a character has a preexisting appearance, then the actor's appearance needs to match. That's show biz, kid.

Point that I shall respond to #3: the character's look white - look at Aang's eyes! They are round and gray. That is definitely not Asian...they look white to me.

My response: you do know the eye color thing is a symbolic reference to the bending skills of the character, right?

And not all Asians have straight black hair, "olive" skin, and "squinting" dark brown eyes. Yes, quite a few Asians do, but not all. Not even all East Asians have those traits, and those are probably the Asians you're thinking of when you say that.

Round eyes are a stylistic trait generally put in with animation to show psychological immaturity and young age. Aang is a twelve-year-old boy during the show, so his eyes show his age and wonderment at his surroundings. His eyes are gray because the gray color represents the Air Nomads. Similarly, the Earth Nation has green eyes, the Water Tribe has blue eyes, and the Fire Nation has orange eyes. Wait - orange eyes? No humans have those, right? Obviously, Jesse McCartney can't be Zuko. He doesn't have the right eye color!

Also, the characters do look Asian (or Inuit, etc.). Cartoon characters don't look like real people with just their physical features; their clothes and surroundings show what sort of people they should be. Toph is introduced wearing Chinese-styled clothing. Toph might as well be Chinese. Similarly, Aang's surroundings at the Air Nomad temples, his style of dress, and his idealogy is very Tibetan/Nepalese. If Aang were from a real-life area, it would probably be from the Tibet/Nepal area of the Himalayas.

Not Texas.

My main response: the eye color is irrelevant, the eyes are stylistic and shown for children, and other physical cues show what "culture" the character is when the character is an unrealistic-looking cartoon.

Anyway, those are some points I wanted to address. This is nowhere near all I wanted to say, because I feel strongly about this, and I'm not exactly sure how to argue well. Or even how to end this post. But I want to refer people to this photo/screenshot essay from the Saving the World with Postage blog as a final comment, I guess, because it really lets the animated show speak for itself.

Avatar is a stunningly gorgeous piece of American animation. For its demographic, it has a well-crafted plot with compelling characters and a very imaginative alternate reality. It manages to appeal to minorities in the United States while appealing to the majority, it shows a vast array of people of different ethnicities from the world of Avatar, and managed to - get this - make a lot of money. Yes, white America (my family included), an American-made animated show with very blatant Asian influences managed to make a lot of money in America. And it did this while still maintaining a high level of quality!

I'd also like to point out that most, if not all, of the writing in the show is actual Chinese. That's pretty blatant. And awesome. Because written Chinese? It's really cool. You know, in my opinion, and all.

And I care about this because I was excited to see a well-imagined, well-written, well-animated, and well-acted piece of American animation that, you know, had a plot. And did well. And had Asian influences, especially those relating to Hayao Miyazaki, who is, you know, really amazing. I really like Avatar, and I don't have many complaints about it. I was excited for the movie. I'm not really excited anymore, because the all-white casting sort of ruins some of the main themes of the show, though I want to see how the movie pans out. I'm hesitant to hand over my money to watch it, though.