I'm sure it's just as racist as "The Wiz", although not as blatant.

"Responding to that post on the same site, Brandon put the discussion in some perspective."

That's a very subjective statement. Apart from the fact that this Brandon guy clearly does not know enough about the film to even understand that it is based on a *TV show* and not a *book*, he has also completely missed the point. Avatar is an Asian-themed fantasy the same way Harry Potter is a British-themed fantasy. There was a reason why Rowling insisted on only *British* actors playing in the movies and that was to keep the movies as close to the books as possible. If Shyamalan goes ahead and makes these movies with White kids, he *might*, just *might* make good movies, but they won't be anything about Avatar.

Then there's the entire racism of the casting. Every single one of the main characters is White, once more perpetuating the ideology that the White audience cannot identify with PoC heroes; and is fascinated by Asian cultures and Asian mythologies but do not want to see Asian people in their old world. As a White person myself, I resent that very much.

they shou be as follows, Aang=chinese, sokka is japanese and the little one is green dress obviously mandarin chinese, correct me if im wrong! if i have to put a finger in it, the water tribe girl is mongolian?, going by their behaviour and dress.

Once again people of color are forced into the back seats of the bus. Anyone who disagree has no understanding of what it is like to be a person of color in America. We are portrayed as exotic, as foreign, but never as normal people. It as if a Hollywood thinks that people still view us as alien. The election of Obama is an example of the growing maturity of the American people. Why do the suits still make decisions with a 1950s mindset?

I am a big fan of the "Last Airbender", but I will not go to see the movie version if the casting does not change.

You people are ridiculous. First of all, it's a cartoon, the "race" is subject to interpretation. These people calling for blood can't even agree on what "race" the characters should be. Do you know why? There are no Mongolians, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Inuits, Native Americans, Africans in this world. This isn't Earth. The whole point of this show is to NOT think in race. You do know that in the actual show, those 3 characters are in fact played by Caucasian voice actors, right? Oh no! Let's ban the show! (Mccartney isn't Zuko, they're just talking about it)

Second of all this is a FANTASTIC world. Not Earth. Yes the world is based on an oriental/asian cultural mythology. So should the whole world then be casted ethnically as oriental/asian? Even 2 of those main characters who grow up on the fringes of the globe? Where is the cultural diversity in that again? Again, a subject of diverse interpretation. These are only 3 of a great many characters yet to be cast.

I find it hard to believe that an Indian director made these choices based on race. If any of you are even familiar with M Night Shyamalan's films, he DOES NOT cater to the mainstream. Did you ever think the reason might be because there is a limited quantity of quality teen asian/oriental english speaking actors? Just throwing it out there...

Sorry, you can't have it both ways. Images DO have an effect on the watcher. Voice actors do not. When "Kung Fu Panda" came out, sure the voice actors where Americans, but the cartoons where definitely Asiatic due to the theme of the movie. The Director NEEDS to stay true to the source material. My nephew and I, WHO ARE WHITE, love the animated series, and the differences from our experiences is what makes it so good. Making th actors WHITE is a BIG mistake. Whether this is fantasy or not is besides the point. What's important is the message. And M. Shyamalan has got it wrong here.

So east Indians are now "white" enough to catch this kind of race-cardmau-mauing? Good for them. They join the ranks of the Irish, the Italians, non-Muslim Arabs, and the Jews.

For a while there I though east Asians would join the ranks of the honorary white, but apparently a really vociferous series of public tantrums about "bananas" and sustained, sanctimonious whining by the usual suspects has staved off that particular fate. Congratulations, oriental Asians! You're still a victim class! Enjoy your privilege while you still have it.

Good lord. Starbuck is now a woman on BSG! Producers take a lot of license people. Granted I think the characters names should have changed, it's stupid to have anyone other than an Asian actor play an Asian character as far as I'm concerned. But if they had changed the names and the setting and said it was based on Airbender, this wouldn't be an issue. Many shows come from the UK and totally change setting and sometimes characters. Look at The Prisoner, it's going to be in the desert instead of near the sea and the lead is going to be an American instead of a Brit. They just didn't change this enough.

has anyone considered the role the producers may have played in selection of actors?

Besides, if I am not mistaken, there is a law on the books that requires ethnic actors to be played by members of the race represented by their character. This stems from the bad old days when Vincent Price was playing Fu Manchu, and Anthony Quinn was portraying a (presumably) Lakotah Sioux.

Oh, and Mitch H., as a member of several of the groups you mention, thanks.

And FYI, I have read that the word "Caucasian" refers to people who migrated from India long ago, going through Pakistan, which was then a part of India, and various countries that are currently independent Muslim nations after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

To top that, "caucasian" in reference to white skins is said to have been the choice of Nazi leaders, regardless that word is related to Sanskrit more than German.

In other words, don't whine until you see the finished product. If it's entire cast is white, I will be right behind you, slicing and dicing the producers, director, and any one else in charge.

I have watched the show and the kids look Caucasian i the cartoon. Same thing with Naruto or Dragonball Z or half a dozen other cartoons.

Get over it.

If you want an example of how bad the idea of not staying true to the source can be, look up Dragonnall:Evolution and tell us the majority white cast is a good idea.I'm pretty sure M.night can find four asian or ethnicly ambiguous american kids to play the parts.

I found it really disappointing that they went with default white here. Of any cartoon made into a live action film, this should have been the one where minority actors should have been given priority. For some characters it's not so bad, but for characters like Katara and Sokka who are obviously dark skinned, getting white people to play them just seems like a bad decision. What are they going to do? Spray tan them? That's gonna go over well. Heck, I think if they had even hired Latinos there wouldn't have been such an uproar. But white? I mean, I'm white and I found this to be rather offensive.

There is a letter campaign to the producers, especially when it was found out that all the auditions were closed except for Aang's.
http://aang-aint-white.livejournal.com/646.html

Bazza, I don't think you quite get what is making people upset about this. The creators of Avatar have stated that the series is based in an Asian world based off of China, Tibet, Korea and the Inuit tribe in North America and that there are NO Caucasians in this world. This was explicitly stated. The creators painstakingly researched four distinct styles of Kung Fu for the different Bending styles. They researched clothing, beliefs, architecture, and customs. There is not room for interpretation. This series is based in an Asian/Native American world.

Now imagine a world based off of the American Antebellum South where the only difference is the fact that plantation owners ride unicorns across the fields while they oversee slaves. Is there anyone who thinks that James Earl Jones should be cast to play the plantation owner because he's a great actor?

Of course not. Seeing a black man playing a plantation owner in a setting based heavily in the American Antebellum South would jerk people out of the story. It's bad storytelling. Kinda like Tom Cruise playing a Nazi.

On top of that, there are no shortage of opportunities for white actors. Actors of color have a harder time. Try to name the last Hollywood movie that stared an Asian actor who hadn't already built a following through Asian theater (the Chow Young Fat/Jet Li/Jackie Chans of the world). This is an opportunity to introduce new talent to the world. By some accounts, there wasn't even an attempt to find actors of color for Sokka or Katara; the two darkest skinned characters in Avatar who were based off of the Inuit people.

Shyamalan wanted unknowns for this movie according to all initial interviews. The fact that teen idol actors have been cast shows that he's apparently lost some heft with the studio after the failures of his last few films. Hopefully Paramount will come to their senses and "The Last Airbender" will have the diversity it should.

I’m not a hardcore fan of avatar but I watched from time to time and like it, in order to tell a story base of a comic book, TV show, book Etc. You have to be the most close to the original material as you can get, if not the story lose its appeal
Watch closely and you see that in avatar the different countries are base in the next cultures
The 4 Mains Factions:
Airs Nomads: Tibetan & Shaolin monks
Water Tribes: Inuit
Earth Kingdom: Korean
Fire Nation: Japanese & Chínese
Also:
Kioshi Island : Japanese
The spirit Library: is a pyramid
If you watch You see there is not any influence of Anglo-Saxon culture in avatar, but You can say that the characters are white because you see them with light skin , there are asian people with light skin, but everything is happening in an Asian world, there are no White people and they can be White as snow everyone even aang but they still are Asian
And those who justify this kind of casting saying that there aren’t talented Asia actors you are wrong they are but most of the Hollywood cinema only sees not Anglo-American actors as villains, minions or sidekicks. And let’s make example let’s put Denzel Washington (In my opinion one of the best actors of this generation) as a Samurai in feudal Japan. Also let’s do World War II movie and the Japanese part will be play by African American, Latin or better yet Anglo Saxon actors just because there are not talented Asia actors it’s just plain stupid . if you still don’t believe it listen to this in 1956 Jonh Wayne stars in the film The Conqueror base on the life of mongol leader genghis khan , and what about Will Smith in Wild Wild West
And those who say that the voice actor are white, that just saying stupid things, you are a voice actor that is lending your voices to a characters that doesn’t have anything in common with you, for example if you remember (anime Film )Ninja Scroll from director Yoshiaki Kawajiri the main character is Japanese, the voice in the dubbed version is a white actor , also black and white characters in Japanese anime are voices by Japanese seiyu (seiyu is the equivalent of voice actor in japan), but with a live action film the rules of the game change completely .
To quote Fez (from that’s 70 show )So you are telling that in country with a population over 200 millions habitants there are not talented Asian actors, boy I don’t believe you
Frankly I like the series it was good and have a regular ending, the creators did their homework very well whoever see this series won’t believe is a North American TV show but it is, but I don’t see the need to make a movie the way I see it, is just to continue make money from this franchise

But here is the kicker if you don’t like it just don’t buy a ticket to see it tell your friends to no see it, don’t buy the merchandise, I know I wont
I apologized if I offended anybody with my opinion but is the truth and sometimes the truth hurt, another thing forgive my English if there are mistake, English is no my first language

I am glad people are upset with this kind of cast decision. I am not a big fan, I only recently got into the show a month or two ago. However I know enough about the show to see the casting as ignorant. Having a movie set Asian world and characters with Asian names played by whites is offensive to these communities, To make matters worse one of the white actors made offensive comments that by shaving his head and getting a tan he will fit the part. Disgusting!

The fact is Hollywood is not as liberal as it would like people to believe. They do not hire Asians very often. Heck even when it is an Asian movie Hollywood hired whites, that is the culture there. While I knew that Asians had been underrepresented in television and film I never thought Hollywood would so blatantly hire whites to play Asian roles, and those same whites are emboldened enough to make jokes that getting a tan will allow them to pass. I was planning on seeing this movie but now I will not. It is intolerably that this article suggests that we go pay money to see this movie and then judge it. I am not giving any money for a film that is clearly going to have no diversity in leads which goes against what made the series so interesting.

I agree with what has been said before about the preposterous ideas of Shyamalan and a chosen few. We must also remember that avatar is also an asian martial arts show : steeped in the philosophy of mainly chinese kungfu and how it applies to daily life as any fan can see. how pray tell, can anyone who is not even a fan, convincingly pull off a believable representation? To date there has been no truly successful martial arts movie that did not have martial artists in them.
I say boycott this potentially crappy movie because it is obviously racist(i am neither white nor asian,but african/east indian/american indian). Even if the actors were asian, then the writer/director/producer would still botch it up as he knows nothing about Avatar, or kungfu. No amount of special effects or $$$$ invested is going to make a good movie out of this without the creative input of the original writers and producers. Shyamalan has bitten off more than he can chew.

I don't think he is racist just and idiot. this was a show based on eastern asian culture. why would you cast white people to play the parts of people based obviously on modern eastern asians. Even if it had an all asian cast i still think its a bad idea

This is a very simple case of "follow the money trail." M. Night Shyamalan is an extremely intelligent filmmaker who believes in creating films that address social injustice. His previous films contain a wonderful amount of peace promoting, thought provoking, material. If I had to take a guess, it would be that the studio heads presented him with an ultimatum; You can do the film with white actors, or not do it at all. Unfortunately this does not clear Mr. Shyamalan of any responsibility. The only choice that could possibly be worse is hiring white actors and making them up to appear Asian, ie black face for the Asian population. In either case this is a shameful display of hollywood racism, and though it is not surprising, it is heartbreaking. Imagine the parents of Asian children, (I'm adopted myself with German-Irish parents) sitting through the truly wonderful experience of the cartoon, Avatar series only to later have to explain to their ten year old son or daughter, why the characters who they've fallen in love with and who look like them have now changed race. Mr. Shyamalan, I know that from your previous works you are a person who believes in fighting the good fight. I would like to remind you of the words a wise man once said. Simply put, "Be the change you want to see."

M. Night adapted Stuart Little if anyone remembers and believe it or not, the mouse - was played by a mouse. What he is doing with Avatar is the equivalent of casting Stuart as a pigeon.

Look at *every* Avatar fan site you can find... there is a very serious problem here and ignoring it will not bring back the dollars that are going to be lost.

Fix this.

People are people; m. nights casting reveals your own racism.

the casts of the movie just don’t make any sense, just like a movie about the life of michael jordan, and the director finds a white guy to play michael jordan….seriously wtf, no offense to Michael Jordan, he is awesome, but is there a problem about asian being an actor in this film? an insult to the great anime and to the chinese

Well, it seems there are 4 main characters in Book 1: Katara, Sokka, Aang, and Zuko. Katara and Sokka are definitely Inuit (eskimo), but they both have blue eyes. You know how hard it would be to find Inuit actors with blue eyes? Aang looks like he will be played by someone who is half Asian, and Zuko is definitely not white. So I think they are doing the best they can. Plus does anyone even think about how the voice actors for the show: Katara, Aang, and Sokka are all white too. Yet no one complains about that, because the show was so great.

Help us boycott this movie for its racist casting! Please visit racebending.com for more information!

Some people say "chill out it's just a movie" but that's not the point, it's the racism that's the point.

seriously, ive watched this show since it first came out, and though i recognized that it showed many aspects based off of asian culture, i never, as a young preteen, saw any of the characters as a particular race, but more as water benders, fire benders, members of the water tribe, etc. it was never about skin color for me, but more their culture and attitudes, both of which can be portrayed through good acting, which the 3 main white actors are actually very good at. besides, the cast isnt all white; prince zuko is to be played by the British Indian, Dev Patel, the brilliant star of Slumdog Millionaire, and the lead villian, commander zhao, is to be played by an actor i know personally, aasif mandiv, an american indian. the movie, like the show, has a diverse cast, which i think is brilliant because it teaches those who watch it that skin color and race isnt the issue between these feuding peoples, its their beliefs, morals, and cultures. and, it's not only asians who need roles in hollywood, everyone is in a bind these days; would you deny the 3 young leads these excelent roles in a movie that is based on a fantastic series just because you think asians deserve or need it more? these actors are just as deserving, despite their past films; its not like jackson rathbone plays that major a part in twilight anyways! give the movie a chance, it looks promising.

The Asian community will not "get over it" until Asian actors are treated as equals in Hollywood. No we will not shut up and sit at the back of the bus. These are clearly Asian, if not Asian based characters with Asian costumes and martial arts. The issue is not limited to this movie, but other movies as well. This is the lowest Shyamalan has ever gone to please white Hollywood.

i think those of you who are bitching about the
movies casting need to remember one important thing it does'nt matter its only a mo
vie so get a grip on yur selves

@gwelsh
Sure it's only a movie. But that's how stereotypes get formed and why people get treated badly.

Blackface was just an expression of comedy right?

_____

Sure this isn't earth. But you've named the characters with distinct asian names.

commander ZHOU? princess YUE? SIFU? What the heck is an alien SIFU? Is it the same as an Earth Sifu?

______________

Would it have been ok to cast Cyclops as an Asian? Or wolverine as an Asian? No...they weren't asian in the comics...no foul. But what if we did? I mean it's just based on earth right? It's not really earth I mean it's sci-fi right so we could have made a black wolverine? But they didn't because they stayed true to the source.

I was looking forward to seeing this live action production. To see this beloved story brought to life by real people acting it out. I assumed that it would be an all Asian cast like "The Flower Drum Song" or "The King and I." But when I began to read about the casting, I thought, I should have know that M.Night would botch this. His last few films have been flops. And, I have never heard of him doing a live-action kung-fu type action film. I had miss-givings before, and now I am just truly disappointed. Not for just the cast, but to me, something endearing will be lost. And, of course it would have been a golden opportunity for the Asian-American actors to show their stuff. I wonder what Mako would have thought of it all, may he rest in peace.

i agree that the cast is a farce and the movie will suck imo, however the movie can be a success with those who are rascist, that cant see the culture in the cartoon, they are no better than those who feel all anime are based on white people. its sad how twisted their minds are and how they cant see that they themselves are rascist.

u guys are racist for noticing how about u just say 4 ppl are playing the main characters not that all of em are white and im chinese and im saying this

oprahhelpsppl, I know this example has been used before, but I'll say it again: I suppose you don't think that black-face comedy-in which white people put shoe polish on their faces and run around acting like idiots for laughs-is offensive? After all, who cares if they're black or white, they're all people, right?
*Obviously* not. If it didn't matter whether the actors were black or white, there would be no reason for the shoe polish! Pointing out racism is NOT racist in and of itself.
The fact that you are Chinese does make it unlikely that you are racist when it comes to other Asian people, but it doesn't magically make you the authority on what is and isn't racist.

Okay. My two cents aren't worth jack. This is a debate about racism. It will likely never end (the general debate, not this this one specifically).

However, as a fan of Avatar: The Legend of Aang, and a fan of M. Night Shyamalan's movies, I thought I might give my thoughts.

Firstly, "racist" is thrown around so easily these days. If you don't wave at a black person when they pass you, someone might call you racist. It's really rather sad.

I hate racism. But I also hate playing the "race card," as it's come to be called. Every little thing is racist now, it seems.

A quick question. How many of you here have direct, trustworthy connections to the post-production crew of the movie?

That's what I thought. So, you don't know. You are ranting and raving based solely on speculation. Just wait and see.

Yes, the TV series is based off of various cultures from around the world. However, it was created in the US. Along the same lines, there are several martial arts masters who are not Asian. From what many of you have said, since martial arts originated in Asian nations, the only ones who could know any martial arts must me Asian, as well.

I understand the debate. The characters, and the entire Avatar world, is based off of different cultures. That much we all seem to agree on.

Should the characters in the movie be Asian or whatever other subdivision of human you want to throw in there? Maybe not all of them. Because if all of them were Asian, then - by your own definition - it would be racist against non-Asians.

I do believe there should be a balance. Not all of the characters should be non-Asian. In fact, the main characters should most likely at least have cultural ties to their respective cultural bases.

But calling Shyamalan a racist? I mean, he isn't white, either. He is from India. India, last I checked, was part of Asian. Therefore, Shyamalan is, in fact, Asian.

So, you are calling an Asian man racist against Asians? It is not unheard of, no, but far more unlikely.

This debate isn't really "oh my gosh, he's racist!" It's "I want everyone who doesn't do everything for non-White to be arrested for racism!"

And that, my friends, is the saddest part of this entire thing.

I'll never watch this garbage...Avatar should never have been live-action to begin with...don't care who's the director/star. Just another attempt by Hollywood to make more money and corrupt a perfectly good animated series, a la Garfield, Transformers, G.I.Joe, etc...need I continue?

IMO Avatar ended with Book 3 and will forever stay that way.