New (AVATAR) Episodes Begin Again Tonight In USA

[Krug]

??? Avatars come from all walks of life. There is no racial qualifier. As to what race Aang resembled in the series, I never gave a ton of thought to it, but his fair complexion is kind of a giveaway (and blue eyes too, IIRC).

Uh Asians have fair complexions too. And the whole Avatar world is based on Asian and Inuit backgrounds, with Chinese calligraphy and motifs.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

Who cares if Aang is played by a white kid...

I'm more worried that its being done by M. Night (What a twist!) Shyamalan...

 

[Truth Seeker]

I do...cause it ignores the main stance of the series, and the original ethic background.

Keep things as they are.

Who cares if Aang is played by a white kid...

I'm more worried that its being done by M. Night (What a twist!) Shyamalan...

 

[Felon]

Uh Asians have fair complexions too. And the whole Avatar world is based on Asian and Inuit backgrounds, with Chinese calligraphy and motifs.

I spent the better part of three years living in Asia. I know what Asians look like. Allowing for the stylized nature of the animation, Aang, with his complexion, eyes, and hair, could conceivably be Asian, but it's a stretch. His features are much more western. The same could be said of many characters in the series. Show a picture of Suki or Ty Lee to someone unfamiliar with the series and see if they find the character to have Asian features.

It's good that you're willing to allow for the Inuit influences at least, because now you need to just make the small adjustment of allowing for other non-Asian elements within the overall Asian imprint. It's a fantasy world, not a historical recreation. The show can play around with mixing influences, and it clearly does. It's no big deal.

I do...cause it ignores the main stance of the series, and the original ethic background.

Keep things as they are.

I think you mean "ethnic". To fixate on Aang's race, to harp because he's being played by a caucasian, is to ignore the "main stance" of the series, which has always been about spirituality. How does race have a bearing on spirit?

 

[Felon]

Who cares if Aang is played by a white kid...

I'm more worried that its being done by M. Night (What a twist!) Shyamalan...

IMO he's been needing to do a film adaptation of someone else's work for a long time now. He got pigeon-holed into writing scripts with twist endings, and this will give him licence to back off of that. I think the guy's extremely talented, and pray that he and Avatar will prove a good pairing.

 

[Krug]

Aang Caucasian? Please. The Air kingdom is obviously based on Shaolin aspects. To everyone I've watched, the majority of the characters have been Asian or Inuit because the culture around them is either one of that. It might be a fantasy world, but if there was a fantasy Zulu setting, it'd just be hard to believe that the main leads could be played by Caucasians.

The series was an action series set mainly in Asian and Inuit cultures, with hairstyles, costumes and designs obviously inspired by traditional influences, particularly Chinese.

Anyway, you can read comic artist Derek Kirk Kim's blog about this:
lowbright: New day in politics, same old racist world on the silver screen

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Aang Caucasian? Please. The Air kingdom is obviously based on Shaolin aspects.

You're talking about something entirely else. Forget the culture. The appearance of Aang's face is distinctly caucasian, which is what Felon referenced. There is no Shaolin "face" . . . that I am aware of at least.

 

[Krug]

You're talking about something entirely else. Forget the culture. The appearance of Aang's face is distinctly caucasian, which is what Felon referenced. There is no Shaolin "face" . . . that I am aware of at least.

His face never struck me, or a lot of folks, as Caucasian. From his background and setting, I don't see how anyone could think of him as anything other than Asian. -shrug- But then I am Asian.

 

[Felon]

You're talking about something entirely else. Forget the culture. The appearance of Aang's face is distinctly caucasian, which is what Felon referenced. There is no Shaolin "face" . . . that I am aware of at least.

I've also not seen Asians with brown or auburn-colored hair. Like I've pointed out before, a lot of anime incorporates western-looking characters into their otherwise settings, so I'm not sure why Krug's perspective on this is so rigid, other than getting whipped into a lather by all these indignant Avatar fans.

Then again, racial issues often command more indignation than reason. Here's a funny tangential story. When Cartoon Network got exclusive rights to Loony Tunes cartoons, they intended to shelve Speedy Gonzales for all time, deeming the character to be a tasteless relic of an unenlightened time (a la Heckel and Jeckel). The reaction from organizations in the Hispanic community? Indignation. Cartoon Network taking that initiative was condemned as racism--the culling of a Mexican icon. They put the character's shorts back in circulation. Of course, Cartoon Network was really just trying to prevent outrage over perpetuating a stereotype. Just goes to show, it's really hard to satisfy everybody when it comes to this topic.

 

[Darth Shoju]

I spent the better part of three years living in Asia. I know what Asians look like. Allowing for the stylized nature of the animation, Aang, with his complexion, eyes, and hair, could conceivably be Asian, but it's a stretch. His features are much more western. The same could be said of many characters in the series. Show a picture of Suki or Ty Lee to someone unfamiliar with the series and see if they find the character to have Asian features.

It's good that you're willing to allow for the Inuit influences at least, because now you need to just make the small adjustment of allowing for other non-Asian elements within the overall Asian imprint. It's a fantasy world, not a historical recreation. The show can play around with mixing influences, and it clearly does. It's no big deal.


I think you mean "ethnic". To fixate on Aang's race, to harp because he's being played by a caucasian, is to ignore the "main stance" of the series, which has always been about spirituality. How does race have a bearing on spirit?

I can see there being leeway with Aang's ethnicity, but why do the other characters need to be cast as white? From what I understand, the indication is that all of the main characters have been cast as white. Does that not matter either?

One of the aspects of the show I liked the most was the various cultures that were represented. If they have a bunch of white kids running around pretending to be "Chinese" or "Inuit", it is going to be pretty weak IMO. Aang being cast as a caucasian I could handle, but I'd rather not see the whole movie whitewashed, so to speak.