You gotta be kidding me...

[geri_chan]

Remember the rant that I wrote in the afterword of my Comeback fic, about Asian actors (or more accurately, the lack thereof) in Hollywood? I was reminded of that today when I came across some posts on metafandom about the casting of the live-action Avatar move, here and here. I'm not that familiar with Avatar myself, but basically it's a children's animated series set in a fantasy world with a martial arts feel. The characters look Asian, but the the director (M. Knight Shyamalan, of all people) has cast a bunch of pretty white kids who look like they belong in a Disney movie.

I probably wouldn't have gone to see the Avatar movie anyway, to be honest, but it is disheartening to me as an Asian-American that people who look like me are not considered "good enough" to carry a movie, and that Asian characters must be re-cast as white in order for it to be successful. As one of the above posters, vagabond_sal, said, "What does this casting choice say to me, the angry Asian man? It says that every time somebody speaks more slowly and loudly to me because they assume that English isn't my first tongue, they're right to do so, because I'm not normal." Why is "white" always the default for "normal"?

And I know that Hollywood is more concerned with the bottom line (i.e. making money) than being PC, but let's concede for the sake of argument that they have to cast a pop star like Jesse McCartney in order to bring in the droves of teenage girls. Can't you then at least make the rest of the cast multi-racial? Not even one token Asian? I'm kind of surprised, considering that the director is of Indian descent himself and, one might assume, be a little more sensitive to these kinds of issues.

And to top it all off, it was mentioned in one of the posts that Keanu Reeves will star in a "47 Ronin" film--I thought it was a joke, but apparently it's true. For those who aren't familiar with it, the 47 Ronin is a famous Japanese story based on a real incident where 47 samurai took revenge on the man who caused their lord to be forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). (It's been made into movies and TV series in Japan in the past.) Now, unless they're doing some sort of re-imagining where they're changing the setting to the West or a fantasy world, this is just not going to work. Keanu is and looks part-Asian, but he just does not look Japanese enough to play a samurai in a straight historical production. (This is not even taking into account his rather limited acting range. I mean, I do kind of like him, but I don't think he's ever going to win an Oscar for his acting. Also, the "part Asian" part of him is Chinese, not Japanese.)

I suppose this is marginally better than casting a blond-haired blue-eyed caucasian actor in the role, but if you're going to do a remake of the 47 Ronin, why not cast someone who's really Japanese, like Ken Watanabe? It wouldn't be like casting an unknown, because he's already starred in Memoirs for a Geisha and Letters from Iwo Jima. He has the proper air of gravity and intensity for the role, and he has an Oscar nomination to boot.

*sigh* Sometimes Hollywood just makes me want to shake my head in confusion--or bang it against the wall in disgust. Well, at least it's getting me fired up to write more Kikuchi fic in the Harudaki fandom. I kind of think this is why Kikuchi returned to Japan--because he was sick of seeing roles that he would be great in go to people like Keanu. (Er, no offense to Mr. Reeves or his fans.) Although first I need to finish my little Iwaki/Katou Christmas story first, and get cracking on the Snupin post-DH fic.

Comments

[myene-01.livejournal.com]

Well, Ang (the main guy in Avatar) IS rather pale...so is Zuko...

But otherwise, yea, all of the other charters in it are rather tan looking.

[geri-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm not really familiar with Avatar, but one of the Metafandom posts was arguing that even though Ang looks pale, his clothing and culture seem to be more Asian-based. But probably people wouldn't be so up in arms about it if the other characters had been cast as Asian or at least a mixture of ethnicities.

After reading all this stuff about Avatar, I'm beginning to get kind of interested in it, so I'll have to check it out when I have time.

[myene-01.livejournal.com]

Yea, his 2 side kicks are very tan, sort of pacific island native color, and most of the other minor charters are that sort of tan-but-not-tan asain color. TBH, a live action avatar is kind of silly, but a all white live action? na, not worth it.

IF you wnat to watch the serries, and I would recomend it, its suprseingly good, my little brothers got me into it, try http://videoonclick.com/Cartoons/

the guy in your serries that invent wolfsbane w/ snape reminds me of Uncle Irho from avatar actuly.