Snapedom banner and miscellaneous news

[geri_chan]

Check out my cool Snapedom banner for November's challenge, Severus in the Kitchen. My essay was Cooking with the Potions Master, which I previously mentioned in this post.

And for some non-HP news, I had made this other post last week about Caucasian actors playing Asian roles in movies--specifically, the casting in the live-action Avatar movie and Keanu Reeves starring in a 47 Ronin movie.

metafandom recently had more links to the Avatar controversy, including this post by ciderpress that really broke my heart: "During our early Christmas dinner this weekend, the oldest of the nephews, who is 13, brought up the subject of the incredibly white child actors that had been picked for the film version. The three of them were confused and disappointed but unable to articulate exactly why. Then the youngest, all of 7 years old, asked me whether this meant that he couldn't be Aang when he played Avatar with his friends from now on."

I literally teared up at the thought of this child believing that he might not be allowed to play at being this character anymore because his skin isn't the same color as the actor. To add insult to injury, some troll attacked the OP's nephew, saying that "your nephew has the imagination to play pretend a character who can use mystical powers, but only if he's the same race as the character?...I think your nephew is missing something key there." Yeah, that's really taking the high road, attacking a seven year old child--NOT! >_<

And more Keanu news: it's not enough that he's set to play a samurai when he doesn't even look Japanese, now he's hoping to star in a live-action version of the Cowboy BeBop anime, one of my favorite anime titles. That pounding sound you're hearing? That's the sound of my head banging against the wall.

To be fair, Spike, the main character of Cowboy BeBop, technically isn't Japanese. But I guess after hearing about the 47 Ronin thing, I'm a little touchy about him taking on another Japanese-based project. And well, let's face it--Keanu doesn't exactly have a wide acting range, and I'm afraid that a great anime will be turned into a real turkey of a live-action movie, much the same way that "Johnny Mneumonic" was a horribly sucky movie based on a great story by one of my favorite sci-fi writers (William Gibson). It took me years to forgive Keanu for that--I held a grudge until The Matrix came out and I had to admit that was a pretty good movie. Although I do have to admit that the suckiness of Johnny Mneumonic wasn't entirely his fault--the script really butchered the original story. However, Keanu's wooden acting didn't do the character any justice at all.

I must sound like a total Keanu hater, but I did like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which was silly but didn't aspire to be anything but mindless entertainment, and I also enjoyed Point Break (though it was kind of cheezy) and Speed, and as mentioned above, The Matrix. He seems to be able to handle the action movie type roles all right, but certain types of roles don't suit him, and I can't imagine how he could play a samurai convincingly. Unless they transplant the 47 Ronin story into a Western setting, but the plot is so Japanese-centric that I'm having a hard time figuring out how a screenwriter would do that.

Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be working on an Iwaki/Katou Christmas fic for the Youka Nitta IJ Asylum, but the little Kikuchi plot bunny that I mentioned in my previous post keeps intruding in my brain. Usually when that happens, it's better for me to stop and work on the more insistent fic and get it out of the way, but I'm afraid that I won't finish the Christmas fic in time. I'm nearly done, just about one or two more scenes to finish, so I guess that I'll just tough it out and try to fend off the plot bunny.

Comments

[tetsubinatu.livejournal.com]

Um - But Keanu is half-asian, isn't he? And most movie producers would prefer a movie star to a no-name, especially when venturing into financially unproven waters. I nodded along to your last post about the casting of Avatar (excellent series - my 9 and 12 yos and I all enjoy it) but I can't agree on Keanu. I don't say he's ideal, but his star power could well have been the pivot on which these movies got finance and approval - and he IS part-asian.

[geri-chan.livejournal.com]

His dad is part Chinese; not sure of the exact percentage. I guess it's better to have a part-Asian actor than a non-Asian, but it's hard for me to picture him playing a samurai convincingly. But it's not up to me, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see how the movie turns out and hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised. In addition to his looks, I'm also concerned that he's kind of a wooden actor, but as you say, the producers would rather have a star than an unknown. I think Ken Watanabe would be great as the lead in 47 Ronin, but even though he's a respected actor, he doesn't really have the star power that the producers are probably looking for. *sigh*

Possibly he could do a good Spike in Cowboy BeBop; several commenters on the forum mentioned that Spike doesn't show a lot of emotion, so maybe Keanu could carry off that role okay. And Cowboy BeBop is action-oriented and probably better suited than most anime to being translated into a live-action format.