The Bigger Picture

Glockgal is smart and has pointed out that with M. Night. Shyalaman fanning all the flames to himself, it protects the Studio, the Casting Company, the Producers et al from any blow-back from the problematic casting. Right now they're primarily taking heat for hiring him - but not for anything else.

I'm incredibly WTF and boggled at MNS's statements. Incredibly.

But Paramount is the one who sent back protest letters, who wouldn't meet with concerned activist groups, who lied about receiving the blessing from various activist and empowerment groups, who gave the go-ahead for the toys to reflect the white leads (and those predominately male), and for the movie based manga to be more than ambiguous on the side of whiteness (ie - Manga!Zuko looks nothing like Dev Patel so who do they think they're kidding?).

No matter MNS's contributions, he got support
from the Studio (Paramount) and the Producers.

Let us not forget Deedee Ricketts;

"If you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen..."

Let us not forget Jackson Rathbone (steeped in the institutionalized racism of Hollywood);

”I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It’s one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.”

Let us not forget;

“Caucasian or any other ethnicity.”

Racism Is More Than A Hat You Put On In The Morning

And He Opened His Mouth Further. And I Saw Feces.

M. Night. Shyalaman shows the world, for sure that he knows and cares nothing for critical race theory, or institutionalized racism in Hollywood (and its products); and that he believes as a member of a minority he should be exempt from being called on his own actions within, and which uphold oppressive, excluding systems.

Shyalaman displays a distinct lack of knowledge on anime, the anime style and a little simple thing called cultural markers - ahem, except of course, perhaps, when it comes to his own culture.

And finally, he shows a strong bias against criticism; strong enough to make one wonder if lack of criticism is what has resulted in TLA Movie bombing as it has - at least (at this time) with cinema critics.

I personally think the movie (as described by critics and viewing audience) shows he also cares nothing about strong female characters (even those that attract his own daughter) or the struggle for respect and equality between the sexes.

I've said that before that I thought; "Katara will be pretty and emotionally strong but not a warrior, not describable as kick-ass, because Night's female characters are never kick-ass. They're enduring with quirk sprinkles."

But I've been shaking my head and shaking my head at previous interviews that I, generously it seems, thought misguided and perhaps a little ego inflated. But with this interview...

C/p snippet here (emphasis in quotes mine):

JC: I know you’ve gotten this question quite a bit, but I have to ask it because -- I’m sure other members of the press have told you this, too – I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from the members of the Racebending group, especially in the days leading up to the release of this film. And again, they’re expressing their concerns about the lack of Asian or Asian-American actors cast in the film. What is your response to that at this point? Do you have anything further to say on that issue?

MNS: They’re misguided.

JC: Okay--

MNS: They’re aware I’m Asian, right?

JC: I would think so.

MNS: And that Dev [Patel]’s Asian, and Assif [Mandvi]’s Asian, and everybody’s, I mean – it’s incredible to think that there’s a correct Asian here. They don’t own this series. They don’t own all these cultures. The word Avatar is a Sanskrit word. So it’s all cultures that are put together. There’s no correct background here. They should ask: why does Noah Ringer look like a duplicate – a duplicate – of the cartoon guy? Why? He’s a dupe.

Anime is based on ambiguous facial features. It’s meant to be interpretive. It’s meant to be inclusive of all races, and you can see yourself in all these characters. My daughter saw herself as Kitara[sic] and now her friend who’s Hispanic sees herself as Kitara[sic], and that’s totally valid. This is a multicultural movie and I’m going to make it even more multicultural in my approach to its casting. There’s African-Americans in the movie … so it’s a source of pride for me. The irony that they would label this with anything but the greatest pride, that the movie poster has Noah and Dev on it and my name on it. I don’t know what else to do.


JC: Does it offend you that they’re defining Asian in what you perceive as a limited way when you consider yourself Asian?

MNS: I think it’s convenient for their argument. Their issue isn’t with me. Their issue is with the artists that invented anime. The story of "The Last Airbender" is an ambiguous story. These cultures are not defined. There is no Inuit woman who looks like Kitara[sic]. That’s not the reality of things. That’s not the way they’re drawn. Talk to the people who drew them. So you’re talking to the wrong person. I’m actually doing a very culturally diverse movie. In fact, I believe it’s the most culturally diverse tent pole movie ever made. And the series will be, if we’re lucky enough to make all three, without a peer -- without a peer -- one of the most culturally diverse movies ever made. It doesn’t have, like, a token person. The entire landscape will be ethnically diverse. That’s the entire point of the series.

I just can’t even believe that having achieved this – I’m the one that fought to get this movie made – having to do all of this and the opportunities I’m getting to do this in this way, and bring all these cultures to the table and all these ideas to a mass audience. 85 percent of the audience will have not seen the show. Right? Around the world. And I’m going to introduce them to all of this. Like the Uncle Iroh character is literally the wisest person in the movie and I believe Shaun Toub [the actor who plays him] is Persian. I forget where he’s from, but he’s clearly not white. On and on.

And Dev is what the movie’s about, his character, where he goes is what the movie’s about. Just that I have to defend this is -- it’s outrageous.

***____________***

M. Night Shyalaman, in his own words asking why folk are being ungrateful, thinking 15 seconds equals non tokenism and also a show of diversity, alongside brown folk as the villains.

Check out a rebuttal on the Racebending Comm. There's also a link from there, to the original article.

If you want to get to the article from here, however; By clicking this link, I affirm I have taken a deep breath, and time and space to calm down. If I comment on the article at this link, I will not bring cause to have 'the tone argument' brought up and thus muddy the issue. I will not mock, patronize, insult or just plain cuss out M.Night.Shyalaman.

He already thinks people pointing out his faults and faulty actions are rabble-rousing peasantry, folk; disrespectful gutterswine. And while it's true, that gutterswine can see things other people might not; for even those who are as reasonable as can be he's steadfast in this belief that only certain types of people are being critical and does not need further reason to hold up in his bubble of fantasy.

One Last Thought / Dissecting A Scene

The more I hear about the horrid and awful that is The Last AirRacebender, the more I find myself thinking about the story arc that MNS chose to tell vs the one I keep seeing in my head;

The Boy In The Iceberg, -> The Spirit World -> The Winter Solstice (Avatar Roku) -> The Water Bending Master - > The Siege of the North.

Sure it leaves many things out. But there would be time enough to expand in later movies; open up the world and include some b-plots or side-adventures. It's the movie-verse, an alternate telling of the same tale; events could be moved around the time-line, or have a few combinations here and there on littler things. But isn't that a good arc for a first movie - showing off who the characters all are, what the world is, what the stakes are?

Every character has a chance to shine in the arc in my head; Sokka as brave and loyal and a sneaky tactical thinker; Aang as cheerful and sensitive and dedicated despite feeling weighed down by heavy responsibility; Katara as nurturing but also strong willed and a leader; Zuko as emotionally bruised, but determined and a fighter. And I almost forgot the nods to Iroh's spirituality and strong sense of family and the showcasing of Zhao's ambition and competitiveness.

When I figured out for myself and was then told, that the 'camp' I kept seeing in trailers really was the Earthbender Prison, I couldn't believe it. Earthbenders imprisoned while surrounded by dirt, rock, stone, shale, and mud? What possible reason could there be for such a ridiculous set up? For the story to change that much? Why even include references to 'Imprisoned' - it was a great Katara piece, but it wasn't necessary to the full arc.

And now I see reviewers talking about Aang as a quasi-messianic figure and I know. You had to have that piece where the white boy inspires the brown people to help themselves, to realize the tools are all around them if only they were bright enough/motivated enough to see it. If you're going to make said white boy into a Quasi Messianic Figure (the tattoo makes a cross on his back); into a specific kind of Chosen One; you've got to give him someone to save - a mission for a missionary. In fact the plight of the poor brown people is what should inspire the White Chosen One, to take up his White Man's Burden to lead.

....

I'm just going to let that sit there - crappy adaptation with an unnecessary section, made further defunct by set piece and MNS's intervention to make the Fire Nation need sources of fire which results in the oppressed looking pathetic and unthinking and by cutting out Suki and The Kyoshi Warriors, MNS's interpretation of them as freedom fighters means that the Earth Benders & Earth Kingdom isn't shown fighting back at all without the Avatar there to inspire them.

And of course cutting out Suki and The Kyoshi Warriors is a double blow. Katara is already no longer a heroine of colour, but now she's not fighting against sexist attitudes within friend and foe. No Suki means that the Kyoshi warriors can't shake Sokka's original sexist attitudes, or bond with Katara over it.

So much fail in one scene, in just one part of MNS's 'vision'. So much that is so far away from the original source material. So much of the messages of the series, lost, warped or twisted.

Did Nickolodeon think about damage to the animated franchise while watching MNS move further and further away from their unexpectedly but wildly successful property? Are they thinking about it now? About mothers who control the tv remote? Fathers who don't believe in violence over reason?

Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were lied to. And so were we fans. You can see it all in that one scene, even in a simple trailer.

From Fantasy to GrimDark ApocaFuture

The reviews are coming in. You can find them via Twitter #Airbender or Trending Topic; The Last Airbender or boolean searching for; reviews + 'The Last Airbender'. I suggest taking the easy way out and just following Racebending @Twitter, who're linking as much as they can.

I am not surprised the movie is so horrible. Or rather, the last bits of surprise I had at how horrible the movie was going to be were blown away by the video script leaks I linked in a post a little while back.

I'm taking the time and effort to write about M.Night.S' (I do not approve of mockery of the man's name) interpretation in The Last Airbender, because I noticed a trend in the few professional critic reviews I saw.

These reviews seem to share a belief that the environment of THE LAST AIRBENDER happens in a future, dark and dismal version of our Earth. And I can't help wondering what is it about what M.Night.S has done, that reviewers aren't thinking of this world as its own fantasy setting, but instead as some kind of Vampire Hunter D, post-apocalyptic, society now has beings with unique 'mutant' powers, possible future.

Roger Ebert even mentions Steampunk, and the opportunity missed to play with that element and yet he also seems to think this is all about some distant future.

To me, a story about 'in some distant future a messiah figure will come' - is very different from 'in a world in need of heroes...' where there are fantasical creatures like the flying bison and flying lemurs etc...

It's very telling to me that reviewers are apparently not seeing fantasy in the tone of the film, no matter what actually happens in the film and instead align the story with scifi - grim, gritty, dark, humanity is scrounging to make a place scifi at that - dark future scifi.

I mean, imagine if critics walked out of the LOTR movies, thinking Gondor was the possible future of man, and, that Númenor was simply code for our present day (perhaps even specifically the continent of America). How much would it change things for viewers to walk out thinking Mordor was a dark and dismal place as the result of nuclear war instead of decades and more of evil and evil sorcery?

The casting was fail and horrid, the script and dialogue is apparently full of fail and is horrid, the 3D doesn't do a lick damn thing and the direction is apparently leaning towards promoting stiff and blank acting. And yet, I keep remembering this:

iF MAGAZINE: How does this compare to the STAR WARS trilogy?

SHYAMALAN: Wow, this is hard to compare it to STAR WARS. STAR WARS is true religion to me. I can understand what people who are into religion feel when I think about STAR WARS, but if I can make a comparison, it is with the notion of “journey” both trilogies have. THE LAST AIRBENDER is truly the journey of this young maverick boy, Aaang. His journey is similar to the one of Luke Skywalker.

I repeat; M.Night S thought Avatar: The Last Airbender was going to be his Star Wars. Again, that's Star Wars. Sure he mentioned LOTR once or twice, but he also mentioned 'The Matrix' and more often mentioned STAR WARS.

Any A:TLAB (animated series) fan will tell you, bending is NOT the Force.

ETA: I am an A:TLAB fan. And I'm going back to dreaming about a remake.

Headsplodey

If 1 in 5 of the plot-points/plot-facts mentioned in the following two linked videos on Failbender the Movie are true (and there are a LOT of plot points) - that on top of the racefail/castingfail equals... tripe.

Tripe mated with pondscum on a hot summer day.

It's up to those reading to watch the videos and deal with the spoilers if they so desire. I tried making a list of all the fail and just - HEAD. SPLODEY.

The appropriation doesn't stop. There's also some serious sexism. I'm fairly certain I spotted some agism (in a movie for kids). There's also a lack of agency on the part of the kids, along with a lack of foresight, tactics, subterfuge or survival skills.

The thing that enraged me beyond the telling of it, was EarthBenders who need a white (male) kid to inspire them to fight back - when they're surrounded by nothing BUT earth.

I mean, there's nitpick wtf by the dozens, of course; places interchanged, confused, split in half or just plain wrong; ideology that's wrong, circumstances and situations shifted that lose their meanings etc...

But the isms...

Vid 1.


Vid 2.

PS: Apparently all the kid swag to promote the film has been giving away the movie's plot points and shots etc in books and puzzles and who knows what else.

Last Airbender Fail - Just Keeps Giving

via: 30 Ninjas.Cojm /Blog.

Aasif Mandvi: He’s in competition with Zuko. [But] it’s not just being in competition with Zuko. He has a very fundamental point of view and he’s fundamentally bereaved that he is more the rightful heir to the throne than Zuko is. And it’s very Edgar/Edmund from King Lear. I played the relationship between me and Dev [Patel]’s character very much like the relationship between Edgar and Edmund in King Lear. You know, they’re the two brothers. One is the bastard son, and one is the legitimate son. And Zhao is clearly the bastard son of the Fire Lord.

This is clearly what happens when you encourage your actors not to interact/read the source material. They decide their character is important based on XYZ (it's very Shakespearean Actors Going For More Lines) and spout off what may be unintentionally misogynist phrases about how the battle for the crown is between two men.

Azula? What Princess Of Unmerciful & Terrifying Firebending Ability? There's a royal woman somewhere? What?

PS: (Aasif) Mandvi

"It’s about colonialism. It’s about aggression"

Colonialism and (imperial) Aggression can't be separated from race theory. The idea of we the aggressors are right and bright and all that is good and proper and they the conquered are in need of our knowledge and benevolence and mastery and to be under our control?

That can't be separated from race theory.

"I mean, the thing is that the Fire Nation, as it is seen in this movie, really represents a sort of a hybrid of the Japanese Empire, the British Empire, the Nazis, the American Empire, this kind of imperial aggressive force in the world. And not to touch too much on the race stuff, but what I will say about it is if you just look at it as brown people versus white people, you are reducing it a little bit. It is a little bit more complicated than that. Because when you look at the Fire Nation as created in this film, it is kind of a hybrid of a lot of different influences, Eastern, Western, European. It’s British, it’s American, it’s Japanese, it’s Middle Eastern. It is a lot of things."

No one's just looking at it as brown vs white. People are looking at it as a history of propaganda where brown is dangerous, wild, evil and out of control; propaganda based on imperialism, colonialism and racism vs white as the saviors where the same propaganda has white as the champions for all that is good.

Invoking the Japanese Empire alongside the British and American empires doesn't absolve the racist and bigoted history of imperialism. Ask Koreans, or some venerated elders from Thailand. And did you just bring up West Asia in vague vague terms of 'some Middle Eastern empire somewhere' and not specifically the Persian and Ottoman Empires? With all the real world history (of Western Imperial Interference) specificity would bring?

Sheesh, I didn't know becoming an actor and promoting a movie was a form helpless puppetted subservience to the Studio. I guess you'll be glad when the Daily Show writers can give you intellectually witty and pointed things to say again on race, class and gender. In which case I think those are the better puppet masters for you.

Dear Michael & Brian, You Were Lied To

Dear Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, M.Night Shylaman has spoken, and it is pretty obvious he lied to you.

At i09, M. Night Shylaman answers questions about The Last Airbender Live Action Move (aka, that Racist Mess). And he shows not only that he's the South Asian equivalent of an Uncle Tom; he shows that he doesn't get the optimism and hope of Avatar - that it wasn't that it started young and skewed older, but that it has a foundation of joy and hope and friendship that carries all through; just as it has a foundation of being non-white fantasy.

Remember the interview that's now unfortunately on the official animated series DVD? About how he 'got' it all?


M. Night Shylaman lied.


He does not get what you,Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and Sifu Kisu and so many others tried to do do. He does not understand the concept of an all Asian, Non-White World. He doesn't understand the difference between Anime and Animation. He doesn't understand that Kung Fu styles come from various regions and have distinctive markers. He doesn't understand Sokka or Katara or Zuko or Toph and he definitely doesn't understand Aang.

M. Night Shylaman lied in order to get a franchise he thought would better his career. And in this Shadow Aparthied America, maybe his lies will bear him fruit; maybe he'll be successful.

Now that the director has spoken, those (fans and not) who don't want to think about racial issues, who don't like to think about racial issues, who don't have to think about racial issues; because they're white; are going to point to it and go SEE. SEE.

And never get that they're pointing to someone who has boldly stated he does not believe there can be talented Asian Descended Actors. Who has boldly stated that casting one actor meant the entire fictional nation had to resemble them and YET, he does NOT BELIEVE THERE CAN BE TALENTED ASIAN DESCENDED ACTORS. Those who believe 'the person who brings up race is the racist' are not going to see what's wrong with lines like these:

1. This nation has this ethnicity and when we go deep into that culture, we will see more there...Dev ended up being my choice for Zuko, and... I thought this takes us into a Mediterranean kind of Arab and Indian world, and I can go as far as that, that will be the breadth of the Fire Nation, that kind of look

2. Suki was Jessica [Andres] who is a mix of Filipino. And now the Earth Kingdom is all Asian so Toph will have to be Asian.

3. For me, Nicola [Peltz, who plays Katara] had a lot of Russian qualities, European and Russian qualities. So that was the direction we went there.

4. And there's a section of the Earth Kingdom that's African American.

5. So more so than the show, it will have a much more diverse ethnic backgrounds to it.

! ! !

Because it wasn't enough to keep the Water Tribes of the North & South Poles Inuit.

Because for a show to have Inuit, Japanese, Chinese (multiple dynasty), Tibetan, Korean, South Asian, Mezo-American analogues is NOT it being extremely ethnically diverse.

Because the only brown in the Earth Kingdom must somehow be African-Americans.

! ! !

M.Night Shylaman is South Asian. And it looks as if he's fallen headfirst into the mentality of the Model Minority. It looks to be that he's never critically examined racial theory, post colonial theory, US and Euro-Centrism.


"Because it's such a big country and land I thought you could have some diversity in there as they travel through the cities."

Because Kyoshi Island is the same as Bai Sing Se is the same as the area where Uncle Iroh was treated for poisoning, is the same as the area where Zuko briefly plays Shane.

Because in the Fire Nation, the Fire Lord's City is the same as Ember Island (which to me seemed extremely Balinese).

M.Night Shylaman may be South Asian, be he can't even see intra Asian diversity or recognize intra Asian ethnicity.

Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, you were lied to. You were lied to via the colour of Shylaman's skin, via his talk about his daughter, via his earnest desire to earn himself some money and notice in Hollywood. Your coat-tails were clung to, and now he's gone and changed everything; meaning, substance, style.

And maybe for changing so many OTHER fundamentals, fans of the show will have Recognition Rejection.

Maybe.

Thank You, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko; Thank You Sifu Kisu; Thank You to the Voice Actors, Researchers, Costume Advisers, Calligraphers.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is something wonderful.

And those of us who love it, will have to buy it, or copy it and hold on to it with all our might, because surrounded by a white world convinced of its own superiority it is now slowly being erased; nibbled into nothingness with every whitewashed toy and manga tie-in and ethnically not diverse score and music swell.

M.Night Shylaman lied. He is a liar.

And maybe it doesn't matter that he said what you wanted to hear, because working under Nickolodeon meant you didn't have much choice about what happened to your creation - because it wasn't strictly your creation under corporate rules. Which is saddening because I hear you're doing something new, but I don't know if I can put myself through this for a round two - with you two powerless to speak, powerless to defend something that so many cherish because you brought them into the world of fantasy.

Non-white creators can't break in, because the rules are set and those in power refuse to look when people and their works don't fit predetermined slots for White Recognition Glee. You, as white creators propped the door open, and now it's being slammed shut again. And isn't that balance in a white world that they're getting a South Asian to do the slamming.

* * *

I am tired of this shit. I am tired of having to hold out hope the Hollywood machine will dare something new - will change a mode of operation that's been going on for a 100 years.

There has to be a way to create FUBU-WOOD; For Us, By US Cinema / Fantasy For Us, By Us Cinema. There has to be a way to have FUBU-Publishing. There has to be.

Being dependent on THEM, isn't going to bring freedom, choice and representation.

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
-- M.L.King Jr

Technology has become cheaper. We have the internet. We need to take this step forward. Negotiation isn't working. Asking, isn't working. What are we to do? Wait on Chance?

Chance gave us A: TLA Animated Series. And now it's being plucked away.

I keep saying THIS, this creation, this making our own, for us, by us for our consumption, reflecting our realities is The Conversation I Want To Have.

Enough being reactionary. Let us discus being pro-active. Cause if we aren't, it will only be a steady diet of disappointment after disappointment - of watching those who get granted power, kowtow in order to hold onto it. As power given, can be taken away.

Avatar: The Last Airbender has been taken away.

What are we going to do about it?

[Comments Open]

Dear Chromatic Fans Of A:TLA

Paramount's Money Maker's Say; Ha ha! Eff. You.


Those of you who're fans of the Animated Series; who know, knew and believe 'Aang Can STAY Asian & Still Save The World' - you can count off all the WRONG.

Oh Whiteonia, Whiteonia, land of palest skin
Whiteonia, Whitetonia, be fair so you can win
Represented everywhere, always with a bright blonde hair
Stands Forever Tall
Represented everywhere, stealing stories without care
Whitetonia claims it ALL

ETA: Yes, I know they code one way to those who don't think all of manga and amine is white. But they're STILL not the characters, and the darkest of them are definitely no longer dark.

Facebook Deletes Racebending Group

I have never joined facebook. I am likely to never join facebook - sorry to the few of you who've invited me. But this latest thing?

Facebook Deleted People Against Racebending: Protest of the Cast of The Last Airbender Movie Claiming TOS Violations & Hatespeech. More here.

That's, to quote the Spill crew, Some Ole Bullsh*t right there. And it is not too far a leap to believe that Paramount may have had a hand in it, if you remember the copyright upset they pulled against Racebending Protest T-Shirts.

In all likelihood though, it seems that Facebook has a continued practice of not investigating claims against a group, especially when it involves ethnic minorities (American or Non American). And here we have many ethnic minorities, and supporters protesting media discrimination and... bahletion?

Seriously?

WTF is the appeal of Facebook anyway when you're not an organization trying to keep in contact with thousands of members? And the Racebending Facebook, did indeed have thousands of members. But this kind of thing is Facebook's idea of professionalism?

Twitter has more gravitas and responsibility towards its own users than Facebook?

Anyway, Jeff Yang has put up a Protest against the take down. Personally I think that's just a case of using the Master's Tools. But it's still someone trying to get word spread through Facebook about what's going on.

Recognition, Codes & Box Office Draw

In a review for the book,Queen of the Orcs by Morgan Howell , first in a series and disappointingly the only book in the series I found palatable, I wrote this:

These reviews leave me thinking that people are recognizing patterns in their reading and thinking that the ability to recognize a pattern is actual analysis and not merely the first step in comprehension. Like some blogger I read said about the recent batch of spoof movies; they have no substance and don't actually parody anything, the audience is just laughing because they recognize the pop-culture reference; a Pavlovian reaction?

The concept of recognition has been nibbling at me again since I saw the latest The Last Airbender trailer. That sentence right there, by the way, is warning enough to scroll past if you're tired of hearing people be disappointed at rampant appropriation and whitewashing.

The Last Airbender trailers, and the movie itself, has a lot for fans of the tv series to recognize.

* Siblings in the snow = Sokka and Katara.
* A tattoo extending over a boy's forehead = Aang
* The manipulation of fire, air, water and earth = bending
* Particular names
* Particular phrases
* Particular places
* Appa

It is exciting to recognize something, to know what something is supposed to be, even when it's in a new form, a new medium; even when it is a new interpretation. A lot of my own enjoyment of Batman Begins, for example, was in recognizing batarangs and other devices, as well as recognizing characters. There's an insider's kind of glee to see the new interpretation but know what the original looked and sounded like. There's a bit of that involved in fanfiction as well, reading it and writing it both; though in writing it the fun is in coming up with a new interpretation whether you're writing an AU or a 'missed scene' or a set of continuing adventures.

That Recognition Glee is what's counted on when Hollywood takes inspiration from somewhere else and brings a book, tv series, comic/graphic novel to life. That's part of why they bother to do it in the first place; because those who liked/loved it once, will WANT to see a new spin on things. Assuming the movie isn't meant to round off a series that never properly ended, that is. Still, taking from somewhere else and bringing it to the silver screen is a unique relationship, with hesitances, false starts, supposedly good natured intentions...

The Batman franchise is not the only franchise I've done this not quite a love affair dance with. There is also Star Trek; largely the movies of The Next Generation cast. Some I loathed, some I loved and in both there were things I adored beyond reason. To me, Nemesis has nothing to recommend it, and yet seeing that Riker and Troi do indeed marry was such a big thing. It is as if I've separated that scene from the rest of the movie, suspended it in amber in my head because as a fan of both characters it was so important and so wanted and so wonderful to see realized.

Recognition (Glee) can go hand in hand with analysis, but that is not at all an automatic pairing. And in all honesty it doesn't have to be.

It isn't granted that a franchise's adult fans will bring more critical depth to a viewing than the younger fans. And when the franchise has primarily younger fans to start with, when that's the core...

A:TLA has adult fans , that's a fact. I am one of them. But there is also this, there are very different skills involved in creating a two hour movie that either entertains adults, or entertains children while hopefully not completely boring the pants off adults and the skills of getting children involved and intrigued in a storyline for season after season, show after show. In the latter doing the job well seems to be all that's necessary to also draw in adults.

I mention this because Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko created and midwifed the birth of something amazing with multiple layers. Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series has been nominated for and won awards because of that brilliance, dedication, care and respect (for their inspiration sources and their audiences).

The Live Action Movie, only has to build on that; it was already several rungs up to possible success before anything started. M. Night Shylaman only has to infer to those layers, throw a few reference points around and invoke a large enough upswell of Recognition Glee to skate by. The rest can be held aloft by CGI and effects.

I didn't like Star Trek: Nemesis. But the wedding in the beginning carried me through the movie. I didn't walk out. (Nevermind I like to think my sitting there was partly stunned disbelief)

How far will a little Recognition Glee take this film? How many butts will stay in the seats? How many seats will be filled due to the urge to have that experience; that excitement at seeing something beloved come to life in a new way? Can M. Night Shylaman temper the lack of a round, silver haired Iroh with a few bits of jasmine tea dialogue? Can he skate past a Dragon Ball Evolution to an Eragon (just under breaking even) because of Appa?

I want to believe that the lack of Asian culture will be noticed. I want to further believe that viewers of the series who go to see the movie will find themselves admitting something is missing. I'm just not sure I quite dare hope they'll recognize what that something is, and realize the loss of it detracts from the Avatar:TLA experience; and that protesters involved with Racebending.Com ARE NOT just bunch of haters.

And here is why.

Recognition Glee is pretty powerful. I'm currently watching a break down of what's been wrong with the TNG franchise films; it's a quite sarcastic set of reviews by RedLetterMedia. It was actually a shock to have it pointed out that perhaps the reason I hadn't enjoyed so many is because they'd become action films instead of adventure/exploration and were hardly tightly scripted. Even after just watching scenes pointed out, my memories, for example, of Insurrection are of my joy at seeing favourite characters being happy or involved in aspects of their careers they like, or exploring particular aspects of their personalities.

I cannot imagine Avatar:TLA having any less strong a pull of Recognition Glee. And when I add white privilege to that...Will those A:TLA fans be able to see how whitewashing diminishes?

When you put Recognition Glee beside a white privilege that sees everyone as white to start with; white with a prominent nose & curly hair, white with a tan & different hair, white with different eyes...; it becomes, a lot harder I think for people to catch a clue. How things look; how they look as someone always imagined them, or how they look even cooler; how the story matches parts they already know; how there are places and things they can remember and smile about and nod to; that's powerful. Recognition is one of the first skills human beings learn; it's how we learn to speak, how we learn the dog in the book means something in relation to the dog walking by on the leash.

It's possible their response to the Live Action Movie will reveal them to have fallen for a completely different show than the one the rest of us saw. The characters might have the same names, but the universe might be very different. If they see generic martial arts fantasy that's just using certain names, and some Asian and Inuit props will they stay in those seats, happily, as the box office inches up? Will it be A:TLA to them?

And if they don't see A:TLA in the movie what will they see?

Right now, what seems crushingly more likely to me, is that the movie will sink at the box office for poor production values, dismal dialogue and general malaise of BLANDESS and take the matter of the whitewashing beneath the waves of fail with it. The trailer shows fake rocks after all. FAKE ROCKS! Fake rocks are for theatre productions and a completely different type of suspension of disbelief. Fake rocks also look ridiculous juxtaposed against the backdrop a few scenes earlier of Greenland's icy majesty.

Fake rocks and cgi fire making the movie somehow not Avatar:TLA is not at all like realizing Kataara isn't Kataara, because she's been modified for a 'general audience' and that modification erased who she is. Take the Inuit out of Kataara and you don't have Kataara anymore. Take the China out of the Fire Nation, and you don't have the Fire Nation. It's like erasing memories - remove someone's memory of an experience and you remove how it shaped them, which means you change them. Erase a memory and you erase a piece of them. Ethnicity and culture are one lengthy string of memories that build upon memories that build upon memories; internalized, life experience, recognition glee.

Whatever term they have for it, Hollywood knows all about Recognition Glee & Recognition Rejection. And they've been pointing at Recognition Rejection for years when it comes to heroes and leads of colour - except the place they point to keeps changing. First it was 'The South Won't Show This & We Will Lose Money' and now it's 'Middle America Likes To See Itself And It Is White Or We Will Lose Money'.

"Well we don't want to upset people, and well, the coloureds should just be glad we're risking putting them on screen in the first place. Look, we know what we're doing. We're putting coloureds in roles we know regular people can expect them in - roles that fit them, fit their place in society. That'll get people used to seeing them up on the screen. A Chinese person as the hero? With Chinese culture everywhere?! We'd never make movies again! You can't bring change that quickly,! People just won't accept it! Hold your horses! Patience is the key here. Patience and calm."

Now it's the 21st century and we still have the Mammy/Sassy Confident, The Inscrutable Servant or Villain, The Hot Spicy Cha Cha and all those other stereotypes that 'fit their place in society'; those stereotypes that bring their own Recognition Glee - for white viewers and Recognition Rejection, for PoC sick and tired of narrowed and negative associations.

Hollywood might be a place with individual struggling artists. But the people in power aren't poor struggling producers/movie studio moguls/directors/investors. No. What they are, is soaking in greed and cowardice and have been for so long as an industry they barely know anything different. They're the ones who created the concepts of the 'general audience', and 'relatability' as a sugar coat for racism and white superiority. They're the ones who have the movie industry set up so that equal time equals segregation (black movies, kung fu imports, foreign stuff, foreign brown stuff).

And then, every time Recognition Glee does happen with an audience for a lead/hero of colour, they're the ones calling the phenomena a one off and an exception.

The next time someone dares to spit out the ridiculous 'But Hollywood wouldn't do that - they want to make money! And everyone's money is green!' I shall be violent. We've got history proving that PoC money isn't as green as the money from States that once threatened to ban Hollywood altogether.

We've got HISTORY showing what acceptabilities were codeified, and thus became tropes and visual cliches and thus became how movie makers see the world when they visualize. And as much as other things have changed and aspects of the code have been challenged and dropped; Hollywood's still running scared, cowardly and tight fisting the dollar when it comes to race.

Monster's Ball and Precious are both of the 'fit their place in society' type movies. Academy Nominations and wins don't mean a thing other than they're very good 'fit their place in society' type movies with good 'fit their place in society' type roles.

Meanwhile something like Avatar: The Last Airbender comes along and Hollywood totally misses that its popularity is about Recognition Glee, because it has conditioned itself to ignore non-white Recognition Glee. That's how Hollywood, Paramount, various executives, investors and even M.Night Shylaman missed that Avatar: The Last Airbender's popularity had as much to do with Hanbok's and Jian's; Guru's, Chakras & Yogis; and MesoAmerican Sun Dials; as story, characters and plot.

I'm convinced they don't recognize and realize that PoC word of mouth spread. And that the extra eyeballs for their overflowing demographics and other measuring came from PoC excitement.

"Mommy! Mommy! There's this boy on tv! And he's the hero! And he looks like me!"

I'm sure they can't see the reason so many PoC absolutely adore Avatar: The Last Airbender, is because of how it felt for them, for us, to recognize things on screen. White American audiences (and many white creators) aren't familiar with people besides them, experiencing Recognition Glee. That's how they missed how much it meant for PoC fans to recognize their lives; history, culture and heritage; on screen.

Which is why as obvious as it seems to me that a production crew who removed the cultures of the universe, couldn't then create that universe well via props, script etc... I am scared those fans will sit down in those seats and be convinced they're watching exactly what they've always seen. And worse, be convinced the only reason their Recognition Glee didn't kick in, is because someone didn't CGI Appa fluffy enough.

You've seen the trailer. What do you think?

[Usual Comment Rules Apply]
ETA: To add emphasis.

A Short Open Letter

Dear M. Night Shyamalan,

Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation, is. not. Sith.

You seem to have missed a memo.

-
Willow, {A Fan Of The True Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Animatedverse Rules!

TLA: Live Action Hot Mess - Random Thought

How does Zuko's Angi Kai with Zhao work if the 'basics' Iroh taught and stressed to him, aren't the basic moves that generate fire?

How does an Angi Kai work in a universe where Fire Benders cannot create fire? Skipping the Angi Kai would seem to be the only option, the way they've skipped several other bits of world building from the animated series. At least that bit won't be specifically erasure of Asian cultures.

I guess they're likely to skip Boiling Rock, if heaven closes its eyes and they make sequels. Because what is Zuko to do then for 'Breath of Fire'? Inhale some flames from a torch and hope no one sees him do it?

Different Day. Same Sh*t

Toys of The Last AirRacebender; The Live Action Movie

Via: Oh No. They Didn't

1. Katara is white with no hair loopies

2. Zuko has no topknot & his scar is a splash of dramatic makeup. (He's also WHITE, so much for basing it on the actors/Dev Patel).

3. Aang's eyes are either 'closed' or chinky (in the video clip of the toy).

4. His Airbender tattoos are BROWN and apparently only BLUE in 'Avatar State' (according to vid clip).

5. Sokka is white (with long pony tail).



Original MTV Page & Vid Here

Just what the world needed, Heroes of Colour immortalized in toy plastic - as WHITE.

ETA: There's so much more, so much worse. Click and go see for yourself. I don't even know where to begin with The Blue Spirit. Zuko killed the Cowardly Lion & taxidermied the head atrociously or something. Y'know, anything to erase more of the Asian cultures.

 

 

The Last Airbender Trailer - And Other Thoughts

The live action The Last Airbender apparently had a commercial during the Superbowl. Last night I was furious when I found it online. I'm still furious, truthfully, but am able to think on multiple levels again.

The Last Airbender has spent a lot of money on effects; they ended up spending money on a body double for Aang despite the fact that the untested child actor got the part of Aang supposedly for his martial arts skills - he was supposed to be the BEST POSSIBLE CHOICE.

As in there was no Best Possible Choice that could have been a skilled Asian child who kicked butt in Martial Arts and spoke English.

Last night the Superbowl Commercial; showed a dark film (there was more light in the LOTR movie trilogy) with rock music. The voice-over talks about A World Consumed By Darkness and the film trailer makes sure to show us dark colours, dark sky, bad guys as dark shadowy figures - oh yes it does.

Impressions are incredibly important things and so it doesn't matter that said rock music in the trailer might never show up anywhere near the movie's score or soundtrack. What matters is generic sounding rock music and a trailer cut to the beats of said rock music; showing bad guys in Asian (Japanese mostly to me) inspired costumes and silhouettes, doing bad guy things.

There was also a flash of non-white individuals fighting each other (Y'know, the way non-white people apparently like to do, being somehow incapable of peace /snark/).

It's not just the Generic Mystic Asian Fantasy With White Hero/Savior that's disgusting and upsetting - it's all the other isms right there in the trailer as promotional material.

There's no sign of Katara water-bending or even doing anything other than cuddling to Sokka like a frightened female. Katara who we initially meet in the animated series, berating her brother and holding her own; Katara whose raw power in her exasperation with her brother brings up the Ice Globe holding Aang.

Katara, who brown and black skinned girls have been cos-playing for years; because she's meant to be more than a worthy heroine for them; caring and family oriented yes, but also intelligent, opinionated, quick thinking, and able to kick butt like no one's business.

The sad thing is I have no doubt there are those who've thought Racebending.Com is so much nonsense - who are exhilarated and thrilled about that trailer. They come from personal history/personal awareness of pop culture that is all about the Movie Make Of The Book. And perhaps that's all that's needed to get them excited.

Meanwhile, Racebending.Com has been pointing out since the beginning, that by setting up the casting as Caucasian or any other - that was the sign right there that the world of the Aangatars would not be respected;

The world where Katara and Toph are fearsome warriors, where Aang is a hopeful peace-loving but determined child, where Sokka is both goofy and a serious tactician and where all four are Heroes of Colour.

This trailer is Kung Fu Redux with a Baby!Carradine (and I'm not the first to use that analogy by far).

I can't help thinking about a somewhat recent Book To Movie enterprise; all the characters in the source were already white, but the movie producers felt the need to make the switch from it being a British YA Fantasy Tale, to making everyone and the setting American.

"The Seeker" - They ended up dropping the title association of 'The Dark Is Rising', in my mind a good thing. The title didn't fit, because that's how far they'd strayed from the source. In the end, when the movie came out, keynote characters were missing, it was a pathetic plot with a lackluster script and pure flop.

And the first change was to make the characters all more relatable to an American audience. Changing characters from British to American is not quite the same as changing them from Asian to White - but it comes from similar hubris and imperialism; a special kind of selfishness that says "All my tales are my tales and all your tales are my tales."

And I will add to that; "Because all the world's white, and the rest of you merely live in it. Because the US and USian people are ON TOP and your culture is nothing. Because all the world's just like the USA, but with little extra quirks and curiosities. Because anything not like the White American Experience is just dressing; quaint and out dated, good for vacations and set pieces and if everyone would just be people then there wouldn't be all this PC complaining about diversity.

Huh - What white people lose to be white. I didn't foresee that coming up in this post. But maybe it is important. Maybe, because there are various white people feeling so bereft of their family's ancestral ethnicity that they can't handle the guilt that would hit if they let themselves be aware of diversity. Maybe to respect diversity would mean paying attention and that would be painful both personally and politically as they recognized themselves as joining the oppressors to make everyone the same regardless of history and experience.

It's probably much easier to claim to be culture and colour and history blind and claim nirvana comes from giving all that up. And once you do give it all up, then everyone will be free to pick whatever 'dressing' they feel like; for the moment, or long term. Become free by becoming a blank, white, slate.

Huh. No wonder then, that people bringing up racism and appropriation are somehow racist. From that perspective, pointing out institutionalized wrongs and stealing is preventing the world from reaching that blank experience where culture, heritage, customs and history are up for grabs by ANYONE.

And so it wouldn't matter if a movie had nothing but white people, living in an Asian dressed world.

Hmm. Now for me to ponder how maleness being gender neutral and the accepted blank slate, somehow also frees womeneveryone.

Not That Anyone Will Listen, But...

Iroh in the live action 'The Last Airbender' does not have dreadlocks!! What he does possibly have is Jata; mostly likely to tie into the fact that LiveAction!Zuko is so obviously South Asian.

I can't read any more threads at the racebending comm on livejournal because I'm twitching too much at everyone describing Iroh's hair as dreads.

I know Bob Marley and The Wailers made the hairstyle extremely well known, but other cultures do have their own versions of locked and matted hair. For Hindu Holy Men and Rastafaarians the hairstyle is sacred.

For many African Americans I see with what I called maintained locs; the hairstyle seems to be about acceptance of themselves, their bodies, and their blackness.

But the terms dreads and dreadlocks are specific in meaning and really it's kind of like hearing a priest's vestments described as cosplay every time someone uses the words out of context.

In Consumer Society Only White People Have Worth

Platinum Studios¹ apparently has the Disney Media Machinery looking at one of its properties as a vehicle for a young Disney star. Racebending ensues.

Poof! By the magic of insistent marketing engineers, an Asian hero becomes White, most likely because the world of marketing believes white sells, everything else cuts into profit. And as we all know when Disney does a movie there are posters, McDonald tie-ins, soda promotions, t-shirts and toys, other paraphernalia in the Disney stores, an animated tv pilot in the wings - to further grasp the magical demographic of future 18-35 year old white males who are assumed to have more money than girls, women, minorities and anyone over fifty. They're also assumed to be more open to brand imprinting for life long brand loyalty.

Of course this attitude totally confuses in terms of the live action of Avatar:TLA (from whence we get the term racebending) because Nickolodeon and thus Paramount seemed to be doing pretty well already with toys, books and artwork about Asian characters. But then again, I'm not in charge of a multi-billion dollar enterprise, so my perspective on 'doing well' and 'profitable' is more than likely small.

No doubt racebending Aang quadruples perspective market share or something like that. Just like Tommy Zhou becoming Yet Another White Man Doing Asian Martial Arts Better Than Asians - while undoubtedly being more spiritual, noble and heroic than Asian peoples equals more sh*t to sell in a self perpetuating storytelling product selling culture.

No doubt someone will want to point or comment about Tyler Perry or say that Asians need to make their own stuff. To which I say pre-emptively now: The Gatekeepers Of The Film Industry Are White Men Who Grew Up In Segregation & Who Prioritize Profit Over Morals, Art or Citizenship.

Also note how Perry's success comes from a Mammy figure with a gun and representing black American culture and people as insular and separate and the scope is very traditional. The women are 'strong' and 'self sacrificing' and the men are dutiful, wistful, hardworking 'hands'. That's not telling black stories, that's telling white stories about blacks.

______
1. Platinum Studios was last rumored to be near bankruptcy, it gave up WOWIO to another business also transferring the debts it owes various comic artists. To say that marketing plays only a mild or even a traditionally expected role in the decision to whitewash and disnefy is to be swimming in reckless denial; That is, unless your value of 'traditional' includes profit geared, self perpetuating racism.

White (American) Heroes In Exotic Worlds

When watching anime today, I accidentally hit upon English dub a couple times. The American accents jarred me, incredibly so. So much so in fact that I found myself with this thought:

"I wonder if part of what convinces some people (what seems to me to be mostly Americans) to think that Anime and Manga are filled with white people, is because they're reading/hearing them in English."

Yes of course there's years of propagandas on how Asian peoples 'should look' in sequential art, but hearing the jarring American accents made me immediately wonder if dubbing doesn't also contribute to people's perceptions.

On the one hand being able to watch a show in your own language is pretty darn sweet. But dubbing also has some serious cultural washing (in this case whitewashing) too, doesn't it? One of the instant jars for me, was my expecting, due to the anime symbology for a character, a deep heroic voice and instead there was this median older boy-band voice. It's very jarring to hear Kon-el when you're expecting serious Bruce Wayne merging into Batman.

And then in a different case and separate occasion there happened to be cursing. I don't remember what the Japanese version was - the American stuck with me (and it's probably not right cause it was the last word that stuck with me the most). 'Shut the fuck up, you ugly cow'. Now, someone Japanese could tell me that statement gets said in anime all the time and fan translators get it wrong wrong wrong and more wrong. But for the moment it's standing out for me as American culturally themed cursing.

On a third occasion the voice actor didn't sound at all like a teenager and while the character was supposed to whine and I suppose come across as unpleasant - the few sentences I heard struck me as the whining of an American man-child in a sitcom.

The moment that made me decide to write about this; which undoubtedly is something anime fans have been discussing since time immemorial; was the difference in comprehension and mood and character understanding in the same scene with two different languages.

A character tells a potential kidnapper (said kidnapper being the first step in future potential brainwashing) "I won't be influenced by you."

In the American version. "I'm not getting involved."

One version hints at a character who refuses to be manipulated, by an individual or the group they work for; the other hints at a character who just doesn't engage. Maybe such differences only change the story for me. Maybe this is a subtle or small difference in interpreting the characters and it is not a big deal in terms of iconic Japanese heroes, tropes and plotlines. Maybe it doesn't change the story at all.

But it feels like a big deal to me. It feels like English language audiences could be missing out - the other side of institutional and aversive and unconscious racism with whitewashing. And this lack and twist is not just happening with Japanese animation.

I found Galactik Football, Season 1 and enjoyed it muchly last year. Except, for the character of Sinedd. Oh Sinedd, whiny little emo boy, bully with self esteem issues. I couldn't understand my friend's obsession with him or the fact he apparently had a huge fan following. He was not a notable bad boy.

And then I found out that in the original French, Sinedd's voice actor makes the character much more sympathetic. And in the German translation, Sinedd's voice makes the character a touch of sin, a personal indulgence.

Why wasn't the English voice actor doing similarly? Well, assuming the English voice actor was not an actual 15 year old boy (and net scuttlebut says the irish actor is not), then it was some kind of allowed decision that Sinedd's voice be played as always on the verge of breaking. In fact on some occasions it did seem to break. The snarker in me wants to insist it was during his 'passionate' I don't need anyone speeches - thus adding eye rolling, groan filled, painful humor to what could possibly have been a bad boy rant about independence. But I honestly can't remember because everything about the character irritated me because of that voice.

Animation is a sum to me, a complex sum. It needs parts A and B and C in order to come together. It needs the art, the voice acting and the music. With Youtube around it's relatively easy these days to get a quick idea of how mood can be changed if someone switches around the soundtrack.

With English dub, B and C can be switched out. All that needs to happen is that the plotline spoken mostly fits the depicted action. The emotion, original mood and original intent can all vanish beneath the need to make things more relevant for an American broader based audience.

A loner, lonely bad boy, becomes an insecure 15 year old whiner.

The expertly disguised villain is revealed almost immediately due to having a villain's slimy undertones.

A hero's emotional last stand speech, becomes a monosyllabic Western style 'You're going down'.

No wonder when people start pointing out traditional hero values or samurai overtones in something anime, another group bounds up with 'What the ___ are you talking about?' It's not just their lack of exposure to knowing certain things relate to real cultures. It's also their indoctrination to seeing all other cultures as dressing.

ETA: And this explains TokyoPop's translations of Juuni Kokki which manage to add boggarts (no doubt for 'familiarity') while exoticizing certain, titles, other nouns and phrases. I still don't know how why they used 'Prophet' for the Late Empress Yo; (eta) I mean translate for sense.

[Comments Open]

Characters Of Colour? Where?

If I wrote an open letter right now I don't know who I'd address it to; The Creator(s) of The 99 wherein I beg them not to make deals with DC? Or would I, should I bother with an open letter to DC telling them to take their pudgy, imperialistic, white supremist hands off all properties involving non-white (and non America focused) characters?

The White Man Lies - But That Ain't New. Milestone Characters Dropped Like Rocks And Other Tales Of "But We Have No Current Plans For Anyone Who Ain't White".

Who knows, maybe they figured using Milestone characters would upset the Birthers who're a prominent subset in their demographic.

Hmm. I guess I'm leaning towards writing a letter to beg the creators of The 99 to run far, far away from DC. I still have issues to buy to catch up. Reading still makes me smile. Seeing heroes, brown heroes, from all over the globe still brings me to tears (of joy).

At least now I have it confirmed that my aversion to reading anything by authors I don't know is me not wanting to deal with anymore majority white worlds anywhere; where the author's skanky race issues can surprise and accost me, hanging there, all gross off their naked butts.

Manga, The 99 and a couple of web comics. Alright then.

And for an actual opinion rather than just my tired disgust, see 4th Letter.

Wow, Static in Teen Titans, and a manga based off the white washed characters in the live action movie version of The Last AirRacebender - all this attention to beloved non white mythic and heroic icons, it's enough to make me flush, flutter, faint and fall over. [/ sarcasm]

Unholy Possum Chicken

I repeat, Unholy Possum Chicken Sh*te.

Yeah I'm spammy - bite me. I'm reposting parts of the interview Shyamalan gave to IF Magazine, because just as I had to find the interview and read the quotes for myself (Seriously I heard about him mentioning fart jokes and could. not. believe.) I'm sure there are those who like me, will want to see his words themselves. Note, some quotes are abridged with ...

iF MAGAZINE: What was the plan with this film and what were you trying to achieve, to re-invent yourself?

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: I have always wanted to develop a long mythology based franchise like THE LORD OF THE RINGS...

Or Harry Potter. Two white Eurofocused mythologies versus one young adult / children's asian focused series. Yup, I'm seeing similarities everywhere. But I digress.

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: ... I always thought about it, but I had, until now, never found a good one where I could also add a little bit of my personal vision. I really wanted to find a franchise where my accent could be complementary to the piece...When I saw the cartoon I thought it was so well thought out in term of mythology. It had Buddhism, and martial Arts... I knew we could do something that wasn’t going to be just a great treat for the eyes, but also for the mind and the soul. This is my approach when it comes to getting into this type of material, to approach it through the characters and keep it grounded. It has also deeper issues at its core, it talks about Genocide and Balance, and the connection to the Planet. And you know from my other movies that I’m interested with these subject matters -- it’s an important movie, not just a blockbuster summer movie.

So far we've got LOTR, Harry Potter + Buddhism and Martial Arts as a combination of Shyamalan's personal vision with mentions of Genocide and Balance (the Genocide in his personal vision being headed up by a brown guy, against a tribe of which two white children play a huge part).

Shall we continue? It's my blog, so I think we shall.

iF MAGAZINE: Are you going to push for the political tone in this film as we’ve seen in your other films?

SHYAMALAN: Well, there is a lot in the mythology. What I did was remove anything that was too slap-sticky and cheesy -- the stuff that was there for the very little kids, but wouldn’t work in a live action feature like the fart jokes...

Cabbage man. Uncle Iroh's constant yen for tea. Aang riding around on a ball of air. Momo being Momo. Sokka cracking jokes. Toph being badass with a grin on her face. Haiku competition of goofy dorkness. Zuko dorkness. The hippies from the episode where they go through the cave to get to Omashu.

No. I don't remember any fart jokes.

Aang making a water octupus. Aang trying to water-ski using giant Koi. Sun Warrior goofy-dorkness.

Still don't remember fart jokes.

SHYAMALAN: ... I grounded Katara’s brother for example [played by Nicola Peltz] and it brought a great new overall tone to the whole movie. But the political tone is for sure intact and the one about a culture who is in an industrial revolution and use their way in their belief system and then decide “we don’t need to follow the old way of thinking, the old way of seeing God”...

*scratches head* The Old Way Of Seeing... who? It's the second question and he's forgotten all about Balance already?

SHYAMALAN: ...And the movie focuses on a higher power and the spirit world. And so this culture decides that we can make our own machine and be our own God -- it was there in the cartoon, but more affirmed in our movie.

It was where in the cartoon? For those who've watched Avatar: The Last Airbender all the way through to the end, are you with me in total. utter. confusion as to how Shyamalan's interpretation of the motives of the Fire Nation fit into the animated series' colonialist motives? Which were actually far more true to life in terms of an established country thinking it needed to be a civilizing influence on the rest of the world. Cause I sure as heck want to know how someone with former colonial background can so utterly miss that point.


There were more questions here. Blah blah blah, but I'm only going to c/p and highlight his quotes on Dev Patel. No wait. I forgot this bit.

SHYAMALAN:...but to be honest, the film was more influenced by martial arts movies in general. What is funny is that you can see so many influences in the cartoon with scenes almost copied entirely from martial art movies, but I wanted the live action film to be truly original with action scenes you had never seen before. I’m a huge martial art freak. I even have a Bruce Lee statue in my office!

1. Bruce Lee is turning over in his grave.

2. Shyamalan really did say 'Eff you Sifu Kisu' and apparently does not realize, for all his love of Martial Arts that many of the styles in Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, especially old school HK fare, are based on various Martial Arts schools and that some movies preserve forms that have since disappeared because there are no longer any living masters. I am not a martial arts freak. Or even a Hong Kong Movie freak - not in the sense of even matching names to movies. But I've loved the possibilities movie restoration has for me to rewatch as an adult movies I saw as a child, which helped instill in me the concept that 'Girls Can Kick Ass And Do The Dishes'. And I love learning about the history - whenever I can find books or documentaries about it.

The only styles I recognized as something recognizable in Avatar, without being told what they were, was the Water Bending Tai Chi (nope, found an old note, I thought it was Qi Gong) - which made me giggle, because it seemed so apt. And the sword movements of The Blue Mask. The stances there seemed familiar.

Meanwhile the trailer of Avatar has Aang doing what I call the 'Kula Kula Kula' of Michelle Yeoh's Silver Hawk character's adopted brother. And his stance there is played for laughs as he makes the above mentioned sound.

iF MAGAZINE: Can you talk about casting for this film?

SHYAMALAN: ... I was so lucky to have this young actor Dev Patel [who plays Prince Zuko]...He is so vulnerable and so strong at the same time and this was the perfect mix to play Zuko. I had auditioned him for the role before the Oscar success and I wasn’t sure if I could get him after, but he wanted to be part of this film and I’m blessed. He is like a man-child and this is perfect...

I never thought of myself as particularly a Zuko fangirl. But Zuko. A man-child. Zuko. Zuko? Did Shyamalan and I watch the same series? Sokka is the man-child, who matures beautifully by the way. Zuko...is wrapped up in shame, pain and confusion and totally unaware of his own strength. Which is something Iroh tries to remind him of/instill in him.

But Patel's a talented actor, so whatever comes of Zuko on screen, will be about how he was directed and what the script actually was. Still, man-child. That is some Robin Williams sh*t if ever I heard any.

And now, gentle readers - the fly on the turd.

iF MAGAZINE: How does this compare to the STAR WARS trilogy?

SHYAMALAN: Wow, this is hard to compare it to STAR WARS. STAR WARS is true religion to me. I can understand what people who are into religion feel when I think about STAR WARS, but if I can make a comparison, it is with the notion of “journey” both trilogies have. THE LAST AIRBENDER is truly the journey of this young maverick boy, Aaang. His journey is similar to the one of Luke Skywalker.

Aang is a Maverick? Cheerful, compassionate, Aang? Is a maverick? Really? And he's on a similar journey as Luke Skywalker? Luke Skywalker who wanted to prove himself, possibly redeem his father's death and who brought balance back to the Force by touching Vader's heart?

That Luke Skywalker? The Luke Skywalker whose journey most closely matches that of Prince Zuko? Right down to recieving disfiguring injuries as reminders that they weren't yet ready to take on 'the big boy's table' ?

And STAR WARS is a religion to Shyamalan? But he can't properly recognize the character in A:TLA who most closely resembles that mytholgy's hero figure? Right down to having a beloved elder guiding his actions and teaching him control of his power?

Do they have remedial catacheism for Star Wars geeks?

What happens when someone in need of such re-schooling gets their hands on A:TLA? The trailer already says Aang is the Last Of His Kind. So I'm going to guess, if he's Luke Skywalker, only bald, that there is no reincarnation in the live action movie. And somehow Aang is just the magically special white boy, whose pure heart is going to allow him to learn the three other elemental bending powers so he can defeat the Sith Fire Nation and avenge the Jedi Council Air Benders, while saving the galaxy world from evil.

Do you think George Lucus will sue?

Meanwhile I guess, to switch things up, if Katara is Leia, Sokka will be Han Solo and become the practical realist, thus being all grounded n'stuff. And icy-lands and Leia. Icy-lands and Leia. So Greenland was Hoth and Katara's a native Hoth Princess?

And considering the promo/trailer showing Patel-Zuko in black - I guess he's Darth Vader, chasing 'our white heroes' around the galaxy world, as they try to recruit a resistance based on some mythical prophecy on when the best time to strike the Sith Empire Fire Nation will be. And they'll have to convince unbelievers that no, really, the magically special white boy really IS a magically special white boy and he WILL fulfill the prophecy, if given a little help.

Wow. It's soooo original. Not.

*goes back to fantasy director casting for the remake*

[ Comments on and moderated ]

Small Comforts

I've spent an hour or more reading up and getting up to date on The Continuing Saga of Live Action, Last Airbender Racefail.

Latest news? No more Hanzi instead the writing in this hodgepodge mishmash shall be GIBBERISH!

I have come to this conclusion:

One day, 10 years from now, Zhang Yimou will announce he is doing an Avatar Trilogy. It'll cost the same ghastly amount as an anime boxed set, but will have descent english subtitles.


I think I'm going to open a savings account now, and start putting aside $5 a month for it.

Zhang Yimou's work with symbolic colour, is well known. His ability to get the best out of his actors, is also well known, even when they're speaking in a dialect of Chinese that is not their native tongue. I think he would do amazing things with young Asian Talent. I only sigh that Gong Li will be considered too old to play Mai or Azula. But perhaps she could play June the Bounty-hunter? Or oooh. Gong Li as Zuko's mother makes me go 'Ooooh'. She who did what had to be done to save her son.

I have no idea how Zhang Yimou would manage Momo and Appa, but I have faith.

Who is your dream director for a true live action Avatar: The Last Airbender, where Aang Saves The World While Being Asian?

PS: It has to be a director who won't take an Asian creation as his chance to make his own version of Star Wars (No Thank You M.Night Assimilationpants)

[Comments Open]