The Los Angeles Times suddenly notices that two of Hollywood’s would-be blockbusters for Summer 2010 are full of white actors playing nonwhite characters:
So when Disney studios announced plans for a live-action adaptation of Prince, Dar held out hope it would be a “serious story that would dispel a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions.” Then came the bad news regarding “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” (the movie which arrives in theaters on Friday). None of its principle cast members are of Iranian, Middle Eastern or Muslim descent. And playing Dastan, the hero and titular heir to the Persian throne in the $200-million tent-pole film, is none other than Hancock Park’s own Swedish-Jewish-American prince, Jake Gyllenhaal.
“Swedish-Jewish-American prince”? That’s pretty funny.
In addition to Gyllenhaal and British actress Gemma Arterton’s portrayal of Iranian characters in the swords-and-sandals action epic “Prince of Persia,” Paramount has come under attack for its live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated series ” Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Directed by “Sixth Sense” auteur M. Night Shyamalan, “The Last Airbender” (as the movie is called to distinguish it from a certain James Cameron-directed 3-D blockbuster) has enraged some of the show’s aficionados by casting white actors in three of four principal roles — characters that fans of the original property insist are Asian and Native American.
But it’s not anything to get worked up about, unles you’re a fan of the source material, and then you’re only getting worked up because you’ve merely been interpreting characters as nonwhite all along — maybe they’re just stylized white people, okay?
And then the Times goes on to detail all the adorable measures these wacky Airbender fans are taking:
And with just weeks until the movie’s July 2 release — after a year-and-a-half-long letter-writing campaign to the film’s producers and a correspondence with Paramount President Adam Goodman to underscore the importance of casting Asian actors in designated Asian roles — members of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and an organization called http://www.racebending.com are urging fans to boycott “Airbender.”
The movie’s detractors have spoken against the film at six college campuses, including M.I.T., New York University and UCLA, also setting up booths at events such as San Francisco’s WonderCon pop culture expo to publicize their discontent. At last count, the group’s Facebook group had 7,125 supporters and attracted petitioners against the movie’s casting in 55 countries. The stated goal: to prevent “Airbender” from blooming into a lucrative three-part franchise via negative word of mouth.
See? Hollywood’s whitewashing and racebending isn’t actually a problem: it’s just that a bunch of fans with nothing else better to do have set up a Facebook page and launched a petition and a boycott. They’re just like those people who dress up like Klingons at Star Trek conventions, really. Aren’t they cute, thinking they can change anything? Not that anything needs changing, mind:
Although the studios behind both “Prince of Persia” and “Airbender” have taken costly steps to not seem insensitive toward — or out of touch with — the minority constituencies represented in their respective films
What costly steps? Have you seen any ads for Prince of Persia featuring George W. Bush praising the movie as part of the Axis of Evilly Good Fun? Do you know how much Disney had to pay to get the former President out of that contractually obligated ad campaign?
Actually, Disney insists Prince of Persia isn’t really about “Persia,” anyway:
During “Prince of Persia’s” scripting process, Disney hired BoomGen Studios, a consultation and niche marketing firm specializing in creative content about the Middle East, to help address issues of historical congruity and cultural contexts. Consultants advised the filmmakers to avoid specifically characterizing religion by setting “Prince” in a “mythological time” before the arrival of Islam. As well, the company worked to assure members of the Iranian American community that the film was the antithesis of a recent action-adventure movie felt to vilify the people of Persia.
“We said, ‘This is the anti-‘300,’ ” said BoomGen’s co-founder Reza Aslan.
Asked point blank by the Times of London, “Isn’t Gyllenhaal a bit pale to play a Persian?” Bruckheimer delivered this history lecture. “Persians were very light skinned,” he said. “The Turks kind of changed everything. But back in the 6th century, a lot of them were blond and blue-eyed.”
Also: Look! Buff Jake Gyllenhaal! OMG!
“But it’s acting! It’s all dress-up and pretend! A good actor is a good actor, period! Acting is all about pretending to be someone else! It’s perfectly fine for someone who identifies one way to play a character who identifies a different way!”
…Except when it’s not.
In both ‘Airbender and the ‘Prince (the Game) the animators and game designers them selves said the characters were Asian and Persian, so that trumps both the fans and your opinion. Imagine the color purple with and all white cast or Lord of the Rings staring only Mexicans.
3 white kids saving all the other token and background character races from the evil Arab and Indian race… is really racist no matter how you cut it.
A white central character and his white female companion surrounded by dark skinned people in all the lesser and villainous roles is racist as well, or at the very least is incongruent with the setting.
Ugh, I had that same conversation about “The Prince of Persia” with one of my friends the other day. “That’s what actors do! They pretend to be people they’re not!”
I’d like to see how long that argument would hold up if Jet Li played Queen Victoria in a serious historical drama about her life. What? You mean you’re not able to suspend your disbelief while watching an Asian man play a European woman without the movie being a parody? But Jet Li’s an actor! It’s his job to pretend to be someone he’s not! Why are you being so racist/PC/picky/whiny/etc.?
If such a thing were to happen, it would be treated with all the contempt and ridicule it would deserve.
Of course, the follow-up argument is: “Well, Queen Victoria was a real person!” Yeah, because Hollywood’s never whitewashed real people. Just ask Genghis Khan (once played by John Wayne and soon to be played by Mickey Rourke) or Alexandre Dumas (soon to be played by Gerard Depardieu). I’m willing to be that these oh-so-tolerant “colorblind” people would pitch a fit if Harry Potter was played by a black British actor. Or if Bruce Wayne became “Bruce Wang.”
If only the same reaction were universal when it came to whitewashing, yellowface, brownface, and blackface.
What Bluejay said. Guess what folks? Every actor is playing a part that is not them. I saw You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway where the actor playing Schroeder was black. He was great — and more importantly, he became Schroeder in my eyes. That’s what acting is about.
I understand minority actors have traditionally fought to get parts, so when a part that coincides with their ethnic or national background comes along it feels that much more unfair that it goes to the usual blond star. And certainly we can all recall the days of stereotypes on the screen where the Native Americans are saying “ugh” a lot.
But if you can move beyond stereotypes and treat history with respect and accuracy, you have to let actors be actors. That’s what they do: pretend to be what they are not. If Gemma can pretend to be Persian, and do it in a way that suspends disbelief as my black Schroeder did, more power to her.
But this principle aside, I’m just guessing that Prince of Persia will be the usual Hollywood stereotypes.
I admit to not knowing much about the game, but I had assumed that the story was set pre-Islam, when Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in the region.
Even though ‘300’ the movie (based on the comic) was stylized and was told as if the story was handed down from generation to generation and embelished by each re-telling, the basic story is still historical – so, jeeze, sorry for letting… you know, HISTORY – get in the way.
I think these folks might need to lay off of Airbender a little. It’s not that it’s the actor’s job to “convincingly play Asian”, it’s that they underwent a massive search to find him at all. Yeah, okay, the character may be Asian (and admittedly I know nothing about the series nor have any interest in the movie, making me free of investment in this debate), but when it comes to child actors, I think you have to take what you can get.
No excuses for Persia, though. Part of the big deal here is that the studio is undoubtedly ignoring unheard of actors to cast stars in these ethnic roles. Since the kid in Airbender is an unknown, I can believe they just cast the best kid for the job; it’s not like they’re favoring some white High School Musical reject over a better actor. I don’t have any problem with Jake Gyllenhaal, but it doesn’t sound like the same story.
@ JoshB: It more based on the Arabian Nights than anything else–at least that’s my interpretation (there’s certainly no overt Muslim imagery, anyway). Not that the story is overly concerned with things like exact dates…
I do think that the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal is a bit odd. Do they not think they can sell a movie with an obviously middle-eastern protagonist?
Hmmm… Maybe you mean “What Bluejay paraphrased from arguments made by others, and intended ironically.”
I actually agree with MAJ, and with Kat.
:-)
Wait? One of the most famous black writers in European history is being played by a white actor? And no one is raising a fuss about that?
I can understand how some Hollywood writers may be unacquainted with, say, Alexander Pushkin, James Baldwin or Langston Hughes. But being unacquainted with the guy who wrote The Three Musketeers?
Then again, any Dumas biopic which is not based on anything as readable as Guy Endore’s novel King of Paris probably isn’t worth watching, anyway…
However, I somehow doubt we’ll be seeing future projects in which Voltaire and Rousseau just happen to be played by Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington. Or even Eddie Murphy or Will Smith…
Actually, Tonio, they are.
Sorry, Bluejay, my bad for reading your post quickly and missing your point.
So . . . No one wants to comment on my experience seeing a black actor playing an iconically white role and believing it completely?
This is an argument that goes back more than a hundred years in the movies. I’d prefer Iranian actors in Prince of Persia (no I wouldn’t, I have no intention of seeing this film anyway, but you get my point), but I’m willing to give any actor a chance. I don’t care about skin color or national origin. Act, and I’ll believe it or not.
Um, do they mean “mythological times” like, say, anytime before the year 610? I know history isn’t that popular these, days, but is all of “ago” really mythological? (And, yes – for the overly literal, I understand what they think they were saying.)
Funwithheadlines, here are some initial thoughts:
Although Schroeder is “traditionally” white, he isn’t specifically written to be white, and thus it’s conceivable that anyone could play him. (As opposed to, say, Othello, who’s specifically written to be not white, and eyebrows would be raised if a white actor played him.)
As I understand it, the characters in Prince of Persia are specifically written to be, well, Persian, living in a Persian culture, in Persia. The objection is to Gyllenhaal playing a Persian, which fits into the historical pattern of whites playing non-white or mixed-race characters instead of letting non-whites represent themselves.
It rarely ever seems to go in the other direction: We may say it’s all about acting, and good actors should get the job regardless of color or nationality, but no one ever seems to propose that James Earl Jones be cast as John Adams, or Morgan Freeman as Abraham Lincoln.
Well, I thank you for the nicely reasoned response. I do disagree about Schroeder however. He is clearly written to be white, for there has always been Franklin in the group.
I would buy Freeman as Lincoln, absolutely. It’s all in the skill. But I seem to be in the minority here.
When it comes to actors playing actual historical figure, race totally matters. For example, there is an Australian tv miniseries called Legend of Billy Sing, and it’s about a Chinese Australian, who was a sniper during the Galipoli campaign during World War 1. The casting decision was made to have white actors play Billy Sing and his father, who according to history, is Chinese. The public reaction to the miniseries was negative because Australians, especially the Chinese communities felt like their history was disrespected. So when you guys talk about whitewashing as just mere whining, you better consider how many people’s history and culture are being trampled on, exploited, ignored and uncredited by the entertainment industry, for your ‘enjoyment’ and their (the movie industries) profits.
From what I remember, the “Prince” from the Prince of Persia is always a visitor from another country. In the first game, if I remember correctly, he gets locked up by the vizier for falling in love with the sultan’s daughter. At the end, he marries her, becoming the Prince of Persia, which is where the title comes from. Not sure about his nationality in the other games, but I am pretty sure he is always a visiting foreigner who falls in love with the Persian princess. I’m not saying the movie isn’t white-washed, but the main character at least should get a pass.
I would pay good money to see Morgan Freeman play Abraham Lincoln. Quite honestly, I would pay to see Morgan Freeman play almost any role (or narrate any movie).
As to this thread’s subject matter, casting white actors in non-white roles is AT BEST racially insensitive, and at worst … well you know.
I’m not interested in seeing “Prince” or “Airbender” anyway.
I would buy Freeman as Lincoln too. But the only way he’d ever be cast as Lincoln is as a stunt, to make a specific political or cultural statement. He wouldn’t be cast as Lincoln in a straightforward historical film just because he’s one of the best actors around.
In the opposite direction, Hollywood seems to be respectful enough of the African American community to not just casually cast white actors in black roles. They wouldn’t cast Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman as the lead black characters in a movie remake of Roots, just because they’d be a box office draw.
But for some reason Hollywood still feels comfortable putting whites in roles either written for Asians and other (non-black) minorities, or explicitly inspired by those minorities. The reasons seem to range from “We wanted the best actor for the job” to “We wanted a bankable actor” to “The character isn’t really Asian, but is meant to be universal” (which means white, I suppose). In all cases, the default is to hire white actors.
I’ve posted this link in another thread a while ago, but Derek Kirk Kim discusses the issue eloquently.
I think it’s probably safe to say, funWithHeadlines, that many of the regular commenters here would agree with you: that it’s all about the skill.
But we here are not Hollywood execs. If we were, Hollywood would reflect that. The issue isn’t about talent — whatever anyone thinks about Gyllenhaal’s talent (and I know opinion about him is all over the place), no one is questioning whether he has the talent to play this role. The question is, rather (as a couple of other commenters in this thread have already mentioned), why it never goes in the other direction, why nonwhite actors aren’t seen more often in colorblind roles, or even roles meant to be “white.” If Hollywood believed it was all about talent, we wouldn’t have to ask these questions.
That may be true, kitten. But if it is, why isn’t Hollywood worried about casting Asian actors in roles that represent actual Asian people alive today? Recent films such as *21* and *Extraordinary Measures* are based on true stories that had Asian-Americans at their centers, but by the time the stories got to film, the central characters had mysteriously been rendered Caucasian.
Re Othello: I’d love to see a production in which most of the cast is black and Othello is white. (I’d bet that’s already been done.)
Unless I’m mistaken, the Prince isn’t a native Persian in the game anyway. So I don’t think this should be an issue for that movie.
Just thought I’d mention that Denzel Washington plays Don Pedro, brother to Keanu Reeve’s Don John in Much Ado About Nothing.
Re Othello, a few years back there was an all-black cast with the exception of Patrick Stewart as “the Moor”…
Because society is racist with whites at the top. More or less.
But stepping back from that stark cliff, let me explain why I used to think more like the rest of you and then switched. It happened when opened on Broadway from the London stage and Jonathan Pryce reprised his great role as the Engineer. Lots of articles from Asians saying this was wrong, it should have gone to an asian actor, etc. I thought so too.
Then I came to my realization that all acting is fake. If you cast an asian as the Engineer, is he the Engineer? No, of course not, it will be Lenny Liu from Queens pretending to be the Engineer in Saigon. Just because he’s asian is no reason to suddenly think all is right in the world again. Unless he’s Vietnamese, from Saigon, having lived the Engineer’s life, it would always be a fake. That’s what acting is, a fake.
So when Patrick Steward plays the Moor, or Denzel plays Don Pedro, or when Stanley Wayne Mathis (http://www.yalerep.org/on_stage/currentseason/salesman/_images/headshots/mathis_stanley.jpg) as Schroeder on Broadway, it’s all fine by me. Just become the character and I will accept you as that character even if you are really just a dude from New Jersey or whatever in real life.
Because none of these actors are the real thing in their real life. So if you think it’s OK to accept them if they are ethnically correct, but you ignore everything else about them in real life that is not correct for that character, you are, in a way, engaging in a type of racism.
I say let humans portray humans. All the rest are details.
Sorry, the system cut out some of my post and now it doesn’t make sense. My first sentence (Because society is racist…) was in answer to MaryAnn’s question why it almost never goes in reverse.
And my comment about Jonathan Pryce was about the show Miss Saigon.
The full URL for the Stanley Wayne Mathis headshot is:
http://www.yalerep.org/on_stage/currentseason/salesman/_images/headshots/mathis_stanley.jpg
On the Othello front, there is a 1981 version of Othello with the moor played by Anthony Hopkins. And it’s exactly as screen-chewing as you would imagine.
funWithHeadlines, having read your comments I feel that you are somewhat missing the context of the debate. Few people would argue that most fictional characters can ONLY be properly played by a person of race X or Y. The point isn’t necessarily that white actors are unable to play these roles. The trouble that most people see is that white actors are the only ones being considered for these roles.
In fact one of the Last Airbender casting calls (which the producers have since tried to distance themselves from) specifically requested only Caucasian actors for the leads and ethnic people for the extras. It’s not racism because the studios cast white actors in ‘ethnic’ roles. It’s racism because no one seriously believes that they considered casting anyone other than white actors in ethnic roles.
From a purely theoretical point of view a good actor can give a credible performance in any role. That’s why its called acting. And you can point to any single example of a white actor playing an ethnic role and say there is nothing wrong with that particular instance. You would even be right.
However, when white actors are regularly given roles that are historically or thematically associated with a specific ethnicity yet ethnic actors rarely, if ever, play parts that are associated with white culture it becomes racism.
If Hollywood believed all acting was fake, then we would see lots of Asian actors playing Caucausians, blacks playing whites, and so on… all the time, not just as a rare stunt. But we don’t. Instead we see whites playing almost every role, whether they’re racially appropriate for the part or not. And we’ll never get to a point at which there’s an actor of Persian heritage — even if he’s a 100 percent all-American boy otherwise — who could star in a movie called *Prince of Persia,* because nonwhite actors are never given the opportunity to break out simply because they’re not white.
And yes, we all understand that Hollywood is racist with whites at the top. But the only way to put a stop to that is to call out Hollywood on its racist bullshit when we can, instead of just shrugging and telling ourselves, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”
Also, an addendum to my post. funWithHeadlines you keep referencing stage plays. While interesting, it’s not particularly relevant to the discussion. Theater is different in many ways from film. Not only does it have a different culture, conventions and style but the method of acting is vastly different. The types of costuming and distance form the actors tends to make body language and voice far more important on the stage. On screen the eyes and facial expression is a more powerful tool than body language and tends to reveal more of the actor.
So appropriate physical casting matters far more on screen than on stage. For example, I have seen many skinny or older actors play very physical characters on stage to great success. Yet on screen a scrawny 50 year old would have a hard time crafting a believable Conan type character regardless of acting ability.
What Ryan H and MaryAnn said.
Denzel and Stanley Wayne Mathis playing “white” are rare exceptions of deliberate casting against type; they’re not equivalent to the historical injustice of Asian roles overwhelmingly going to white actors. This is the larger situation that the Airbender detractors are protesting against: the fact that the media that surrounds us doesn’t seem to think Asian faces are worth seeing.
To quote from Derek Kirk Kim’s blog:
Economics, kids. Not racist agenda. $200 million budget leaves no room to make social statements and/or be progressive and cast someone no ones ever heard of. Welcome to Hollywood. If u don’t like it, save yourself two hours and 10 bucks.
But The Last Airbender has cast someone no-one’s ever heard of! It’s just a white someone, so that’s a safe investment.
Wow. Major fail by Bruckheimer. Not only does he insist that they were white in the 6th century but he attributes the Persians’ current “darkness” to “Turks” who are way, way whiter than the folks in Iran. If anything, you’d think that the Turks “changing everything” would have made the Persians lighter/more white. This guy is clueless.
Oh yeah, another wannabe blockbuster with Gemma Atherton in it. They’re really trying to make her the next Keira Knightly, arent they. She just doesnt cut it for me. Her annoying nasal, british accent in the trailer was enough to turn me away from this movie.
It’s interesting that you just accept as a given that no one has ever heard of non-white actors.
Once upon a time no one had heard of Jake Gyllenhaal.
Logic, kids. Not progressive agenda.
Come on. It’s [Prince of Persia] a silly movie based off a video game. Nothing worth getting excited about. If you don’t like the fact that it’s white actors portraying ethnic characters, then just don’t go see it. There are a lot more important things out there that deserve getting upset about.
Pollas: I think we’re capable of being upset about more than one thing at a time. We haven’t forgotten about the BP oil spill, I assure you. ;-)
That’s exactly what the Airbender protesters will do: boycott the film. But they’re talking loudly about it too, to raise consciousness. If enough people choose not to see it, maybe Hollywood will get the message.
And it’s not this one “silly” movie per se; it’s the fact that this is just a recent example of an unjust practice that’s been going on for a long time. It matters how the media chooses to reflect society. It matters to ethnic actors who are unjustly being denied opportunities, and it matters to non-white American audiences who are getting the message that they’re not good enough to be shown as main characters in the stories we tell ourselves. That’s a message I’ve personally lived with, and I think it deserves getting upset about.
I realize I’m occasionally confusing “Airbender” with “Prince of Persia” — sorry. The issue with both films is the same.
On a side note, I just noticed this from the LA Times article:
What is “Muslim descent”? Are Cat Stevens’ and Malcolm X’s kids of “Muslim descent”? Are Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton of “Christian descent”? Is my daughter of “atheist descent”? Weird…
To the people who say, “But acting is acting!”: that’s not the issue here at all. We’re not discussing whether we can believe Jake Gyllenhal in his role, or whether he will act well. The issue is that non-white actors are often discriminated against in Hollywood and rarely get good roles. Period. When is that going to change?
For the Prince of Persia, I don’t really care about the race of the main actor. It’s a Hollywood blockbuster based on a video game that places only the scantest of importance on historical accuracy. In this case, it makes sense to cast Gyllenhal in the role because he’s a big movie star and race/ethnicity isn’t *really* important to the story.
For Avatar, race is a bigger issue. Asian culture was *hugely* influential in the original cartoon. A large part of its appeal was how it blended West and East, and as an American anime, it was really the first of its kind. Plus, all the characters were clearly, undeniably not white. Prince of Persia is just in Persia because “ooh, it’s so cool and foreign and exotic”, but in Avatar the cultural background is quite important. So the controversy there is much more understandable.
Bluejay, perhaps “Muslim descent” is meant in the same way that Jewish descent usually specifically means Ashkenazi or Eastern-European Jewish descent? I do agree, though, that it still wouldn’t be accurate, unless it is supposed to differentiate, say, Bengalis from Hindu Indians.
Actually, I always thought that “Jewism descent” was usually used to just mean someone is Jewish. If people feel the need to differentiate between, say, Ashkenazi and Sephardic people, they usually just say “Ashkenazi” and “Sephardic” people.
Then again, people do tend to use the word “Americans” all too often to specifically refer to “white Americans”–if not “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans.” And not every person of American descent appreciates that.
Okay, “appreciates” is too mild a term.
Not every American necessarily agrees that the only real Americans are white Americans, white Anglo-Saxon Americans, etc.
Now back to our original topic…
Now THAT would make for a fascinating conspiracy theory…
And…
Well, it would be even nicer if the rest of the goyim knew that there are more types of jews in the world than Ashkenazi (German, direct translation) and Sephardim (Iberian, which means both Spain and Portugal) jews. Fer instance, my family was Bene Roma…which are distinct from the Roma who aren’t jewish but are Romanay, ‘kay?
/end off-topic rant. :)
Heh. My mom does this all the time. Americans this, Americans that. I’m constantly reminding her, “Mom, you’re American too, you know,” and she waves it away and says, “Oh, you know who I mean…”
@ LaSargenta’s off-topic rant
LaSargenta, have you ever considered writing a book or a blog about your life? From the various bits of personal history you’ve included in posts here it looks like it would be fascinating. Seriously.
Ssh! You’re throwing off the nice and tidy “It’s not racist, you’re just being naive because it’s all about money” argument. Well, it is about money, but it’s also racist, because they don’t think a non-white actor will sell as well.
What’s funny is comparing this to a movie like 300. Sure, 300 is history told as a legend, but you can’t deny that it plays up the Persians as the embodiment of evil and the heroic white people as the embodiment of good.
But the thing is, it never tries to act like it’s saying anything but that in this story, the white guys are the good guys and the Persians are the bad guys. It’s a clash of two cultures, plain and simple.
I actually find that way less offensive than this Disney bullshit. They act like they’re being all “It’s a Small World After All”, telling a story about a foreign people and saying that look, there’s both good and bad people here! But without fail, it’s only the bad guys who look “ethnic” and the good guys look like white people with a tan.
I’ll take the honesty of 300 any day over the “Oh yeah, other cultures are great, as long as they look and act like us” bullshit.
@ Dokeo, tx but I prefer to amuse my friends over beers. Everyone has stories like this. It’s all in how u tell the tale and cherry-pick the details. ;-)
If you don’t have the stories, then u need to take to heart the line from HSThompson: Buy the ticket, take the ride!
I can understand why directors and producers feel the need to have an established star (aka Whitey) to helm their $200 million dollar summer tentpole, but we all know what really draws audiences in is the concept and not the actors.
Avatar, District 9, Alice in Wonderland, The Hangover, Paranormal Activity and Twilight didn’t need stars to rake in the cash. With the proper concept and decent marketing (Hollywood’s real forte) any film can be profitable,
The idea that no one will see these films if they don’t have white faces on the posters is just insulting.
What Persian-American actor would you suggest to replace Jake Gylenhaal? The only one I know who’s at all well known is Adrian Pasdar and he’s at least ten years too old.
I think that the concept of being racially sensitive to the source material didn’t even cross the minds of the folks doing The Last Airbender, and by the time the fans found out and started throwing a riot it was way too late to go back and change. And now they are trying to make excuses. At least the boy playing Aang earned it for himself. Sure he is a white kid from Texas, but even before he new a movie was being made he was such a fan of the series that he shaved his head and all his friends and classmates started calling him Aang. He was already spending all his time acting and looking like the character plus he is already really good at martial arts, it would be hard to not go with him.
Allow me to be quite frank in saying, “who gives a fuck?”