The Last Airbender

I am so heartbroken.

The Last Airbender opens tomorrow, and there is nothing I can do about it, or its casting choices.

If you read my last article on one of my favorite shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, you know that I was outraged that the asian-accented Iroh, formerly voiced by the late great Mako, was replaced by a caucasian voice-actor imitating an "asian" accent. It was annoying, it was kind of offensive, but the studio was in a hard place with the untimely death of Mako, so the choice to find an imitator was at least understandable, if not excusable. In contrast, the casting choices for the live-action adaptation of this amazing series has left me in shatters. An all-white cast, then the last minute opt-out for Dev Patel, a south asian (Indian) actor for Zuko.

I'm just stunned at how these choices were approved by execs, and even more stunned that fans of the original series are crying out in defense of these choices. Let's get the opinions out of the way first: WTF. They look/act/feel nothing like their original characters. It kind of distracts from the texture of the original series, doesn't it? I mean imagine if Middle Earth, a fantasy world quite obviously based in European folkore, were populated by Asian people. It would just make it a very different movie than the books author would have intended for it to be.

Barring those arguments, here is the problem with what's happening that is completely not opinion: The casting for The Last Airbender is RACIST. I'm not going to describe my initial reactions to you, I think you can find that kind of expletive-riddled anger-confusion all over the internet. But what I am going to tell you is that I was honestly heartbroken. Here was a series that for once, was clearly Asian influenced, and extremely positive. Now I'm known in my social circles as being extremely Americanized, to the point where some call me "whitewashed" (a term I also find offensive). But in the privacy of my own home, I'd watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, and marvel at these characters who looked like me, had the same cultural background as my ancestors, spoke English fluently and were brave, virtuous, confident. For those of you who are caucasian, you can't imagine how it felt, after 20 years of growing up on shows where the heroes look like YOU, for me to finally be mesmerized by heroes that looked like ME. Heroes who talked like ME. Asian characters who were not meek and fragile, who did not have thick unintelligible accents, and who didn't simply play sidekick to a more competent, superior white man.

For Paramount to take that away from me in the live-action adaptation is so wrong I can't even verbalize it. The casting choice reinforces what I've been subliminally told my entire life: Asians aren't lead characters. Asians don't want to be seen or heard. Asians are background props.

Asians aren't heroes.

I know this topic has been done to death, and that's great because if I were the only one who felt this way I actually might kill myself. But let me adress some of the counter arguments that are so common from people saying, what's the big deal?

1) The cast is the most diverse cast of any paramount tentpole movie. (paraphrased from M. Knight himself, probably parroting his PR team)

For this kind of issue, you don't just look at this one film, you look at the pattern that it reinforces. How many times are white people cast in parts originally written for colored characters? Apparently, these instances are instances of colorblindness, where race wasn't taken into consideration. Except then you look at the reverse question. How many people of color, specifically Asians, are cast into roles originally written for white characters? ZERO. I guess when you're casting the role of the latest action hero, the character is obviously supposed to be white, so an Asian guy can't fill that role. Then when it's a role written for the Asian man, c'mon, let's not be racist here, race shouldn't be a consideration.

The Last Airbender is racist not because it doesn't have diversity in the cast, but because it denies an already unrepresented minority the opportunity to diversify the industry as a whole. Asian male actors already hit a wall when it comes to claiming parts written for whites, or even "any ethnicity" in general. Their only hope was going for parts written specifically for them, of which there are very VERY few. Now it seems like Asian males can't even get parts originally intended for asian males; white actors simply do it better.

2) The actors in TLA are prolific, talented, recognizable actors. There just aren't any Asian actors of comparable fame, so kids don't want to see them.

OK, let's take your assumptions at face value for right now. THAT'S EXACTLY THE ****ING POINT!!! There ARE very few asian actors of repute, because there are so few roles for Asian actors! Asians are trying to get into the spotlight, but when your only options are extras and one-line bit parts, you're not going to become A-list real fast.

Second of all, if you are trying to tell me that the cast of TLA is composed of extremely prolific and recognizable actors... I don't know what to say to you. Noah Ringer has no experience. He's not the best martial artist his age, he's not the best actor his age, and he doesn't look the most like Aang out of all the kids his age. I'm not attacking him personally, I'm sure he has his merits, but I'm just saying he doesn't bring the fame, the skillset, or the looks to convince me that he beat out every asian candidate on merit.

Thirdly, there are many asian actors that would have been capable. If you're going to cast Dev Patel as Zuko, you certainly could have considered Dante Basco, the original voice actor and a very famous, very talented asian actor. I think fans would have loved that. Casting "unknowns" wouldn't have been a crime. This movie is targeted towards kids who don't generally favor certain actors, they just want to be entertained. Many great movies of our time cast largely unknown actors with great results. Fame doesn't equal talent.

3) It's a cartoon. They aren't any race, in fact, they look white to me. What is the big deal?

Cartoons are symbols, meant to represent a reality enhanced in your mind. Snoopy doesn't look like any dog I've ever met, but I know the character represents a dog. The only reason the characters of A:TLA look white to you, is because you are so entrenched in the paradigm of white as a default race that whenever there is any doubt, YOU fill in the blanks with WHITE.

The creators themselves have told us that these characters are Asian, in an Asian-influenced world, and in fact based on real life Asian Americans. I can't believe this is even an argument. Use the visual clues: The surrounding artwork, the fact that they eat with chopsticks, the fact that they wear traditional asian costumes (which also means clothes, relax my brothers) the fact that their writing is CHINESE?!? And the fact that many ancillary characters do speak with Asian accents, characters that look like the main characters or are related to them.

As for what the big deal is, well, that's really my only point. Any time the Asian American male is marginalized, it's not a big deal. Imagine if in the live action adaptation of The Boondocks, an obviously African American cartoon, was cast similarly with all-white actors. These actors could get a tan, get a perm, dress "ghetto", and look as much like their symbolic cartoon counterparts as much as anyone else would (in fact, if you consider The Boondocks' artistic influence, the characters look Asian!). IMAGINE the uproar. It would be unspeakable. Why is it ok to marginalize Asian Americans in a way that would be completely unacceptable for any other minority?

Please, PLEASE boycott this movie whether you are white, black, brown, yellow, red, or whatever. Asian American children need some positive messages in media. They need some hope.