Of Avatars and Racebending

Earlier today this blog post was forwarded to my by Hugh, apparently championed by some other journalist as a well-written article on the issue of the Hollywood Avatar: The Last Airbender and it's lack of racial diversity.

http://splinterend.tumblr.com/post/749364670/facepainting

Having already commented and read comments regarding how points are laboured and retrodden I made a couple of facebook comments and decided to prop them up here (out of context, yes) because Facebook comments aren't always the ideal place for my inane ramblings.

"Read the article. The author needs to get his/her facts sorted. The role of Zuko was recast due to race-related petitions and the rising popularity of the actor they now used. Whilst it is true that it is harder for ethnic minorities to get leading roles in Hollywood (Bruce Lee's life has been testimony to that) it is mostly because of a mistaken ... See morebelief that casting a minority as a lead will somehow change the film into a " Movie" which only will come to see.

Flawed bullshit logic but not exactly outright villainy. The arguments in this article could just as easily say that Cameron's Avatar was Blueface."

There were some good replies (thank you Jonathan) and also some revealing comments regarding the of those in racial minorities and their personal stories of how it was like growing up. I can feel their pain in regards to that. It's something close to my own heart and I have my own painful memories, so I relate to that quite heavily.

"Now if you're talking about relatable heroes growing up, it makes me so thankful that I was born in an era when martial arts, anime, foreign cinema and all-things-asian were on the rise in the West. If it weren't for the likes of Jackie Chan and Power Rangers I'd still be likened to that kid in The Goonies.

Even in the 80s, racism was still pretty... See more harsh though. Just being an under-10 half-CHINESE made you an eligible candidate for "Paki Beatings" and the only way to survive was to have a quick violent temper. That's not a healthy way to grow up.

It's only later on with the crazes of Karate Kid and Ninja Turtles that children's eyes were opened up to the concept of foreign culture and cool things from the East. Kids like me were no longer second-class citzens and Fu-Man-Chus. We were people with culture, backgrounds and histories. Thanks to Jackie Chan we even had role models to look up to and their rising popularity gave us something to talk to the other children about.

By the time Dragonball Z came to Cartoon Network we were set. The China Town kids suddenly jumped up the food chain a few notches as there was a hunger for anime and cool movies and we already had those babies imported.

So when it comes to Avatar's lacking diversity, they seem to have really missed a trick. As contrived as it might look to adults, a Saban-ese pick-n'-mix of colours is well-suited to a story that encompasses Nations from around the world and has obvious ethnic inspirations. A missed chance for children to come together once more and show that what makes them different makes them special.

So to every single person out there who likes to walk around saying "Sorry for being white", I politely say fuck you. This is not about just you. It's not about a racial grudge against Caucasians. It's about giving that one kid that looks different to the others someone to relate to and giving them a medium to mingle with those around him. It's about the little black girl finally getting to play a Disney Princess on stage alongside all the other girls in school."

This is all clearly shooting straight from the gut (which is notably closer to the heart than the brain, thank you Stephen Clobert) and where emotion can take over form sense but it still has its place in here. It's when you touch on subjects that are sensitive and hit raw nerves that it becomes very hard for people to talk about it in a completely objective manner. People have baggage and people have needs. Its these things that drive us and in discussion of entertainment mediums that a there to move us it is highly important to see how people feel.

What isn't so much, is Internet discussion. You talk to a little glowing wall long enough and your mind trails. Points, logic and reason go out the window until you are left only with your thoughts and whatever raw emotions you have at hand. Mountains become mole-hills and the lost opportunity to celebrate racial diversity quickly becomes something else altogether. It becomes distracted to that annoying mosquito in that has flown in the window, the urge to kill rising and suddenly tearing us all apart.

In summary; This had great potential for racial diversity. It would have complemented the cultural diversity that went into creating the original source material.
Was it disappointing? Very much so.
Was it offensive? mmm...
Was it criminal or sinister? Not bloody likely.

So we don't have a boogeyman behind the curtains leading a secret white agenda against the world through the medium of celluloid as he strokes his cat and curses Black James Bond. We have producers and other individuals that are completely clueless in regards to race, who don't get it and never will even if they try. We have those who do and we have misdirected anger firing left right and center. Essentially we have idiots, the lot of us - all of which fail to notice that Goku being white was one of the last reasons Dragonball Evolution sucked.

Love & Peace 'Yall.