[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason , Mark Van Steenwyk. Mark Van Steenwyk said: A quick summation of why I won’t be watching the Last Airbender: Shared by MarkVanS I utterly agree. I'll watch… http://bit.ly/dna9ga [...]
Richard, I have been watching (at your recommendation) the original Nicktoons series, and I have noticed that the casting of voice actors seems to follow this same pattern. I thought it was pretty cool that they had Mako (of M*A*S*H fame) doing the voice of Uncle Iroh, but that supporting role was the most prominent one to be voiced by an Asian actor. Even the images of the leading and heroic characters (like Aang and Katara) seem to look less Asian than those of supporting or antagonistic characters (like the Kyoshi Warriors or Prince Zuko).
I’m still working through the third season on Netflix, and I probably won’t see Shyamalan’s flick in the theaters. But I would like to hear your thoughts on whether or not the same phenomenon of racial bias is also prevalent in the original series.
Harvey Birth @ June 27, 2010 9:27 am
3
@Harvey:
I don’t think it is the same phenomenon of racial bias, but potentially a different phenomenon of racial bias. The major difference being who you present as a hero or as a star. The movie basically said that you non-white characters are not heroes (and despite Shyamalan’s insistence, Zuko is the villain at this point in the series). The series presents an image of non-white heroes, but potentially falls victim to the dynamics of racism hiring. It would be interesting to see what the call sheets were for the voice acting parts.
Katara and Sokka’s characters seem to have a unique racial identity within the context of the film. There don’t seem to be any other Inuit types in their Universe. So they do look less Asian, but I’d have a hard time considering them more Caucasian.
For Aang, my first thought when seeing him was “Nepalese” because he seems to be of the same race as a Macalester classmate of mine that was Nepalese (and it seemed to fit with other aspects of the character). That being said, he’s probably the closest to a Caucasian character in the series, and there are definitely troubling overtones of having your messiah-character being the most Caucasian in a group of non-caucasians. But there’s enough of a non-western racial and cultural identity left that I would lean towards the idea that the creators were not trying to “whitewash” the character (whether that happened subconsciously is completely different conversation).
So yeah, those are my thoughts at the moment. What do you think?
I basically agree with what you have expressed above. My main additional thought is that perhaps the portrayal of a character as being of a specific race (asian, caucasian, african, what have you) may be more apparent in a live-action film than in a cartoon. Solo mis dos centavos.
1
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason , Mark Van Steenwyk. Mark Van Steenwyk said: A quick summation of why I won’t be watching the Last Airbender: Shared by MarkVanS I utterly agree. I'll watch… http://bit.ly/dna9ga [...]
2
Richard, I have been watching (at your recommendation) the original Nicktoons series, and I have noticed that the casting of voice actors seems to follow this same pattern. I thought it was pretty cool that they had Mako (of M*A*S*H fame) doing the voice of Uncle Iroh, but that supporting role was the most prominent one to be voiced by an Asian actor. Even the images of the leading and heroic characters (like Aang and Katara) seem to look less Asian than those of supporting or antagonistic characters (like the Kyoshi Warriors or Prince Zuko).
I’m still working through the third season on Netflix, and I probably won’t see Shyamalan’s flick in the theaters. But I would like to hear your thoughts on whether or not the same phenomenon of racial bias is also prevalent in the original series.
3
@Harvey:
I don’t think it is the same phenomenon of racial bias, but potentially a different phenomenon of racial bias. The major difference being who you present as a hero or as a star. The movie basically said that you non-white characters are not heroes (and despite Shyamalan’s insistence, Zuko is the villain at this point in the series). The series presents an image of non-white heroes, but potentially falls victim to the dynamics of racism hiring. It would be interesting to see what the call sheets were for the voice acting parts.
Katara and Sokka’s characters seem to have a unique racial identity within the context of the film. There don’t seem to be any other Inuit types in their Universe. So they do look less Asian, but I’d have a hard time considering them more Caucasian.
For Aang, my first thought when seeing him was “Nepalese” because he seems to be of the same race as a Macalester classmate of mine that was Nepalese (and it seemed to fit with other aspects of the character). That being said, he’s probably the closest to a Caucasian character in the series, and there are definitely troubling overtones of having your messiah-character being the most Caucasian in a group of non-caucasians. But there’s enough of a non-western racial and cultural identity left that I would lean towards the idea that the creators were not trying to “whitewash” the character (whether that happened subconsciously is completely different conversation).
So yeah, those are my thoughts at the moment. What do you think?
4
I basically agree with what you have expressed above. My main additional thought is that perhaps the portrayal of a character as being of a specific race (asian, caucasian, african, what have you) may be more apparent in a live-action film than in a cartoon. Solo mis dos centavos.