Fuck you M. Night Shamwow, the Last Airbender totally sucked!

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by NonCon

I really can't get over the actors for Sokka and Kitara. They just don't seem to fit the roles at all. Like, I see them, and I start laughing for all the wrong reasons.

Well, you can't win 'em all. I agree there were probably better options. On the other hand, it's probably executive meddling just to squeeze a few more white faces in.

Personally, I'm just going to wait and see, because that preview posted by Sith wasn't all that encouraging on those two's abilities.

[Nique]

2. It's possible to be a person of color and still be racist.

Or to make decisions that reflect a, perhaps unintentionally, racist system.

Here's my take on it: Airbender is probably not a "racist" movie, becuase it is likely not going to reinfore negative racial stereotypes. This would slightly difficult to do on accident anyway since these are fictional races of people. Though the analogy to actual cultures is pretty blatent, even that issue is a little blurry now that the main cast is white-(ish? these trailers are kind of dimly lit so I dunno).

But the casting of the movie reflects either flat-out racisim ("But we want our general audience (white people) to relate to these characters") or an ignorance about how sensitive this issue can be... I mean, quoting Marissa from the Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog Commentary, nobody is Asian in the movies. If any film should have been a legitmate platform for Asian actors beyond the buddy-cop genre (I'm glaring at you, Jackie Chan) this was it.

I'm gonna go see it, and hopefully it will be a good movie, despite how much the casting decisions bother me. Hopefully the actors can seperate the critisism of the casting choices from critisism of their own performance.

[Premmy]

My Twitter is Lighting up with
"Just saw it, It sucks"
So yeah,was not seeing it, (maybe see it totally legally so I can know what I'm talking about when I diss it,) and I feel Double Happy about it

Edit:
*Sigh*

Perhaps we should snowball this into a 100 page yelling match on racism in Hollywood! I'll put 10 down on Prems, he's got 2:1 odds against Nique and Funka.

I got five on it.

Here's my take on it: Airbender is probably not a "racist" movie, becuase it is likely not going to reinfore negative racial stereotypes. This would slightly difficult to do on accident anyway since these are fictional races of people. Though the analogy to actual cultures is pretty blatent, even that issue is a little blurry now that the main cast is white-(ish? these trailers are kind of dimly lit so I dunno).

Well, I'd say they Reinforce at least one Stereotype

There needs to be a shot of a random brown extra from the background with "Not important" underneath to make it complete, cause that's what diversity means according to this flick, kids.

[Archbio]

The race issue aside (and it is very much an issue,) why would I go see it?

Does it seem like it's going to be a work of fiction that uses cinema as well or better as the series used animation*? Far from it. So what does it bring? Live actors? Personally I'm unconvinced that live action is so much superior that it counterbalances drops in many other qualities and the price of admission.

Also, the race thing.

*Season two contains amazing animated stuff.

[Premmy]

Fish Punching, Darlin', Fish Punchin'

Review One
Review Two

[Kyanbu The Legend]

And in the end it did suck. Somewhat.

[Archbio]

The first review seems to deplore some things that was stuff that really should be expected to be trimmed out for time/coherence alongside some really important cut that shouldn't have been cut ever.

The thing that will now define why not see this movie for me:

There are dozens of Earthbenders being held prisoner by three or four Firebender guards (who have the one big "fire pot" source to bend from since they can't generate their own fire).

[Premmy]

That Bugged me, Airbenders and Firebenders were always so limited in the use of their power (Air=Defense Fire=Offense) that they got balance from having their Element always readily available. Water Benders and Earth Benders were more versatile, but needed their element present. These concepts of balance are missing from the flick, obviously.

[Archbio]

In that passage there's also the part about how a couple of (nerfed) firebenders were holding a bunch of earthbenders prisoner in an ordinary camp on land.

In addition to a the absence of the sense of plausibility that the series (a cartoon suitable for kids) had, the thought that went into things like the Earthbender prison also seems to have been sucked out.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Damn it, james that makes no sense at all.