(no subject)

[swatkat]

This might be of interest to the Avatar fans in the flist: Slumdog's Dev Patel to replace Jesse McCartney in the Avatar movie.

a. So now all PoC are interchangeable? Because the last time I checked, the characters in Avatar are East Asian, not Indian (and Dev Patel has an impeccable Brit accent, which irritated me even in Slumdog).

b. Way to cash in on the popularity of Slumdog, Shymalan. You are still full of fail.

c. Does not change the fact that the other three actors are still white.

Comments

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeahhhh, Patel is actually British, and he got noticed on the BBC show Skins. Also, apparently he has gone to the World Taekwan-do championships. Trufax.

But yeah, HEY WAIT, WHITE PEOPLE WILL SEE MOVIES WITH ASIAN PEOPLE IN THEM. *eyeroll*

Also, (d) He's apparently playing the villain who gets redeemed by the heroes (who are still all being played by white actors). For an extra-special layer of fail.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm all for Danny Boyle hiring Asian actors from Britain in his movie (though I'd have preferred if he had told him to modify his accent a little bit), but how does an actor of Indian descent equal an East Asian actor, which is what the fans have been demanding? Oh wait, all Asians look alike! *rolls eyes*

Also, (d) He's apparently playing the villain who gets redeemed by the heroes (who are still all being played by white actors). For an extra-special layer of fail.

Okay. Wow.

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

There was also casting news today about how Suki (Sokka's eventual girlfriend, I think?) has been cast as an East Asian. Apparently, in the original show, her presence was not very large, though they might beef it up for the movie.

I'm excited about this, because just what we East Asian women need is to be seen as sexual objects some more (especially for white men)! Thanks, Paramount!

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I'm excited about this, because just what we East Asian women need is to be seen as sexual objects some more (especially for white men)! Thanks, Paramount!

Oh, that's just awesome. Seriously. And I'm sure when you convey your problem with this there'll be cries of 'But we gave the role to an East Asian actor! You should be happy!'

[sk56.livejournal.com]

What a wet mess. I did want to say, though, that in general, the film industry turns all women, whatever age or ethnic background, into sexual objects. Or we don't exist at all.

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with this statement, but would you really say that East Asian women don't get it particularly bad when a lot of the time, we show up as prostitutes or as the girlfriend of white guys (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MeLoveYouLongTime)? That the underrepresentation of Asians on film contributes a lot to this and makes it problematic on levels that it's not for white women?

(Like I said, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying your statement seems to be erasing the ways in which racism and sexism interact, and considering the conversation you're walking into, I don't think that's the best tactic to take.)

[sk56.livejournal.com]

Don't mean to duck this conversation, but paying work is raising its ugly head Am thinking, but don't have time for thoughtful talking right now -- will return...

[sk56.livejournal.com]

Am back -- hopefully not too late.

I certainly don't mean to detach sexism and racism, or to exclude other instances of thoughtless assumptions having to do with religion, economic status, age, sexual preference -- the fact that the list is so long, and so easily added to, just makes it clear that human beings are very fallible creatures, and that we all still have a great deal of work to do. And it's no surprise that small thinking about one aspect of a person (their gender) would be connected with equally small thinking about other parts of them.

I think you put your finger on a very fundamental idea when you link underrepresentation with a false image of any group -- it's a statistical problem. Without a large enough sample, how can we make any truthful observations about a population? The fewer the roles for any group, the more artificially important each role becomes.

But I think there are two arguments working here in this thread -- both legit, but not necessarily identical. One is the kind of characters assigned to a group, and the other is the identity of the actors playing those characters. To use a older example -- the Charlie Chan films were full of very creaky stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans. The fact that a Swede played the title character was another, different problem.

I doubt that we'll see something quite this egregious today (though apparently someone floated the idea of casting Lucy Lui in a detective film as the "granddaughter of Charlie Chan!") but that's not really the point. I just want to see more -- more humans altogether.

(And honestly, the fact that the biggest grossing movie in the U.S. for two weeks has been "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" makes me queasy.)'

I'm afraid this is a bit jumbled, but my son is breathing down my neck for computer time, so I need to stop erasing and starting over, and just post this.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I did want to say, though, that in general, the film industry turns all women, whatever age or ethnic background, into sexual objects. Or we don't exist at all.

Oh yes. And it is worse for Asian actors, for whom the availability of roles are limited, and almost all of them involve some form of racial and sexual stereotyping.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

No matter what happens, entire movie is turning into a fuckball of fail.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I'm not an anime fan, but this controversy has actually made me want to watch. Only good thing to come out of the controversy? Heh.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Hee! It is, in my opinion, one of the best shows I've ever seen, doesn't even matter that it is a cartoon. Great story-telling, attention to detail, mix of humour and drama, strong female (and male) characters... what's not to love? ;)

But despite my love, I'm fairly certain I won't be watching this movie.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I love cartoons! I just don't... watch them very often anymore. But I am seriously tempted, so maybe someday?

[ijemanja.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, watch it, watch it! It really is a fantastic show. So many wonderful female characters, all of whom kick ass like whoa and have agency and feelings and flaws and everything.

(It just makes it EVEN WORSE how badly they are fucking up the movie.)

[ijemanja.livejournal.com]

There is so much fail here. It's just fail piled on fail on top of more fail.

A token PoC actor, and he is the wrong ethnicity for the part. He's going to play a dark skinned character being redeemed by three white heroes, while his bug-nuts crazy evil sister and father (whom I suppose will be also played by PoCs) are ultimately defeated by the white forces of good.

Not enough WTF in the world.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

A token PoC actor, and he is the wrong ethnicity for the part

Oh, no, no - you got it WRONG. All PoC look *exactly* the same, so people aren't gonna even *notice*. (The sheer wrongness... even Indians with 'Asian' features don't look like Japanese!)

And also, apparently an East Asian actor has been hired as a love interest. Shiny, no?

[ijemanja.livejournal.com]

Yeeeah. I'm fully expecting several of the other secondary female characters to be cast East Asian, too. Because diversity is good, you understand. Not because Japanese chicks are hot. (OH GOD THE FAIL.)

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

What? All Asian people aren't the same?

/dumbAmerican

Seriously, I don't know much about this movie, but from what I've heard, sailing in a failboat. Ridiculously ridiculous.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

We all look exactly the same, didn't you know? ARGH.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

That's okay. All white people look the same.

I just don't even comprehend any of this. I feel like American audiences are dumb because we're treated like we're dumb and couldn't possibly enjoy a movie with East Asian or South Asian or non-white actors. I wish more people would make smart movies.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Slumdog Millionaire just happened to be a hit. Yeah, right.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

We do love our game shows.

I got crabby during that movie because that's not what it's called! Where is Amitabh? When I was in India, Amitabh was hosting and KBC was on all the time! Bah! But it was a good example of the point that not pandering to the least common denominator can maybe elevate everyone.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

It was! And then SRK took over and it was not as popular, because was AB's show!

I did get the feeling that Anil Kapoor was channeling AB throughout his performance, though.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

I also got that feeling. And I approved, in a way. But I still sulked because he wasn't AB.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.veryshortlist.com/science/daily.cfm/review/980/Other_print_publication/other-race-training-reduces-implicit-racial-bias/?tp) was interesting.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

That *is* interesting. And I know it's true because (I'm ashamed to admit) that a few years ago, I couldn't have told the difference between the various ethnic groups in India who look 'Asian'. *facepalm*

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

I would not be great at that, I admit. But my experience is pretty much limited to my time in Sikkim. So. At least, having been from Madurai to Jodhpur to Gangtok, I know that not all Indians look the same!