International Blog Against Racism Week -- Macro Edition!

[shadydave]

So I seriously spent an embarrassingly long time seeing all these posts mentioning ibarw and thinking "Cool, I wonder if that's Welsh for something?"

In case you, too, are brainfully challenged, it is International Blog Against Racism Week and thus I have posted to say that this blog is AGAINST RACISM. Also, you should follow the link above because many people have said much more enlightening things about the subject than I have!

However, if there is one area where I feel I can be relatively eloquent, it is talking about how things FAIL and then making fun of them. As I have said before, The Last Failbender is the EXTREMELY racefaily adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, American Asian-Inspired Fantasy Cartoon of Awesome and WIN. The roles of the four leads, who are Tibetan-ish, Inuit-ish, also Inuit-ish, and Japanese-ish, resulted in the initial casting of, respectively, an unknown white dude from Texas*, a random white actress, a white actor from Twilight, and a white teenybopper. I'm sure you've spotted the flaw here. (Actually, several flaws. Hint: they involve the words "Twilight" and "teenybopper".)

* It's not ACTUALLY this dude, but it might as well be.

Subsequent uproar by fans and people with good taste resulted in the replacement of Jesse McCartney (::headdesk::) with Dev Patel (YAY), meaning that the leads were now only 75% whiter than they should've been. However, this also meant that the only lead actor of color was also the BAD GUY.

In conclusion: EPIC FAIL.


Depress your actors with RACE!FAIL! Coming next summer to a theater near you.

And yet, everyone involved with the movie maintains that it's not racist and upholds the original show's spirit o' diversity. Right. aang_aint_white has more information, as well as links to online petitions and addresses to encourage your urge to write angry letters. At the very least, don't spend money on this movie, please.

That being said, now it's time for...

::HEADDESK:: HEADSHOTS!


Aang's irrepressible joy at being alive really shines through here.


Poor Zuko. All the hairbrushes in the world spontaneously combusted to herald the return of the avatar.


It's a small consolation, but at least I got to see Sokka try to eat Bella in the last New Moon trailer.


WHERE ARE KATARA'S HAIR LOOPIES??!?!?!?

The Last FAILPoster



Pictures kleptoed from ONTD.

Comments

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

total agreement. also, Aang NEVER has that expression. Bitten in the leg by a personal friend :P

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

LOOK LOOK LOOK LOOK *POINT POINT POINT*
http://community.livejournal.com/racebending/81952.html

i don't read mangas, but heck at least everyone is going AAH CRAZY FRIGGIN MOVIE!! which is good. ^^

[shadydave.livejournal.com]

Yeah srsly. I'm pleased that so many fans are prepared to boycott to make their point (though I'm totally with the person who said they'd read it in B&N; I'm not THAT good at being principled enough to avoid it entirely. As you may have noticed :D). Alienating the coveted 18+ audience: always a good marketing strategy. Good job, Paramount!

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

hehe! i don't like mangas of series cos i feel like they really tend to lose something in the transition, so i won't be reading them. i feel kind of bad for the writers, though, hoping that they can ameliorate the problem a bit but also kind of hoping it tanks.

i'm also hoping this 18+ audience won't take their kids to see it. that would be awesome ^^

[shadydave.livejournal.com]

Momo got hungry? :D

[arrogantemu.livejournal.com]

Seriously! That's one of things that makes Aang such a great character and his journey so remarkable. He is joyful, and playful, and irrepressible, and as the series unfolds it becomes increasingly apparent that it's not just because he has a happy bubbly nature, but because he's choosing joy in the face of really less-than-joyful circumstances. (I mean, Zuko may have lost his honor and the love of his father - Aang's lost everyone he ever knew and loved, and it's arguably his fault that the world is as screwed up as it is. Still, being raised Zen helps, I guess.)

And dude. Yeah. Aang ain't white.

[shadydave.livejournal.com]

It's so nice not to have to watch a character angst all the time! Plus he is hilarious and awesome and you genuinely believe that he's disinterested in vengeance -- he just wants everyone to stop fighting and be friends!

The whole raceFAIL thing is such a shame on so many levels -- I'm hoping it will blow up as the movie gets closer to release, because Hollywood needs to stop pulling this crap, like, THIRTY YEARS AGO, but I feel bad for all the talented people involved in this mess too.

[liberalnun.livejournal.com]

So have the show's original creators expressed any thoughts about all this?

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

not that i've been able to find out. a lot of people are asking that very question. they don't seem to be quiet people; i'm suspecting legalities of some sort.