Warning, mindless rambling ahead. Stay sane.

Yesterday, I found myself aimlessly searching the internet, around Wikipedia and bouncing back and forth between pages. I stumbled across a casting list for the new Avatar live-action movie, and right with it, as if bound at the hip, was the article about how the entire internet fan-base has gone a-wall over some racial issue concerning the casting choices. So I did some more bouncing, got myself familiar with the four characters that have already been cast, namely Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko.
Now, the beef with the choices is supposedly because Hollywood choose them out of pure popularity and for the actors' names, instead of hiring a cast of Asian actors. The preference behind this is allegedly the basis that Avatar takes place in an Asian inspired world, with other Asian influences blossoming all over the place critical to the story, such as martial arts, style of the characters’ names and style of the animation being strictly anime with a rare case of lip-sync.
I moseyed through a few forums, taking particular note of the major arguments and such. One defence of the cast was that the characters had north American voice actors. Another was that it was created, not in Japan or any other Asian country but in America under Nickelodeon while animated in sync with actual anime in the case that it was animated in Korea. People are insane over this supposed case of ‘racial discrimination’. They’re burning up forums and signing petitions up the yin yang and in the name of ‘racial justice’ and ‘if we drop it, it will never be resolved or changed’, intend to continue this avenue.

This is my personal manifesto on the subject. A rant if you will. I do that...

Firstly, I personally was never ever, in the entirety of the series faced or approached with the idea that the main characters were supposed to be Asian. To me, they do – not – look – Asian. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko ALL have brown hair. Sokka and Katara have blue eyes and brown skin for heaven’s sake. I always thought the water tribe, with them living at the poles were supposed to represent Inuit influences. I always thought of the fire nation as a sort of Mordor, while on that topic. Anyways, I guess what I’m saying is that if the creators intended these to be Asian characters in their Asian fantasy world, they would have made this at least noticeable.

The world in itself, on that note is not entirely Asian influenced anyways. I made the mention above of the Inuit, which, by the Igloos, dog sleds and general style of clothing is, I think, a fair statement. The world of Avatar represents the four elements, and the world, as in land or map itself is comprised of everything on earth, not just in Asia. In short, it's supposed to represent the earth in the story.

I don’t think the world of Avatar was meant to actually be Asia... it is an original world that should exist solely in the context of the story of Avatar. I am not denying the fact that it takes its style, moods, designs and concepts from Asia, that is rather plain. But the story should, as all story’s I think should, represent itself and not be dragged out of fiction and narrative into our difference-and-unjust-obsessed universe.

Back to the characters. Now while I was doing a bit of research on this topic, I came across the Internet Movie Database for the actor cast to play Zuko: Jesse McCartney. On this page, was a few photographs of him and one in particular with him with short dark, hair. I said: ‘He... actually does look like Zuko!’ In the sense that if confronted with him as playing the character, the resemblance these actors should supposedly possess towards their animated counterparts, would be appropriate.

Now, going off of this, I don’t think it should matter what race they are, as long as the actors LOOK like the characters why the hell should anyone complain? The characters do not look Asian to me and I know that if they did change the cast to swap in a cast of Asain actors, I would very much struggle in being able to transfer the characters out of the animation world into a live action one. In my opinion, if Aang is young, has an innocent face and quirky facial expressions, is bald and has some muscle build, that is prime for me. Katara and Sokka are a strange case, I really thought their brown skin was one of their key physical attributes that identified them as being water tribe. And their actors are very white. Yet while I suppose this may have been a strange problem to confront as a casting director, as long as Sokka has a long face, with great comedic delivery, I’m sold. Katara, well we all know she has to be pretty, so pick someone who is young with brown, bushy hair and you’re off. Zuko, I don’t think will be a problem. Paint a scar on his face. I always wondered if the early-on voice lisp was intentional to the character... Jesse McCartney with a lisp would probably have me on the floor laughing.

So with all that being said, I’d have to diagnose this not as an issue of racial discrimination but as yet another case of Asian Purism. I’ll define it for you and I’ve ranted on it before. This is seen all the time, with anything that comes out of Japan such as an anime, and is translated into English for our audiences. Fans boo and chastise it as being not the original and tainted. They assume that anything out of Japan that has been touched on our shores, is a sin to the very concept of the thing in question. I really have to wonder how people get off pulling this rope with Avatar however.

Avatar is not an anime. It was devised and created by two white guys who took it to Nickelodeon, an american company. They used plenty of Asian influence, obviously as stated before but it was made for a North American audience. This is an interesting topic.

So, if Avatar characters are supposedly Asian because they live in an Asian world, then what happens to all the anime characters set it non-Asian environments? I’ll start with Trigun. If you’ve seen Trigun, you’ll probably agree that contextually it is about as Asian as a kangaroo. It boasts its own original world, however this world is so blatantly set in an old west American setting, it stings. Yet it was made in Japan. Are we to therefore assume that Vash, with his blonde hair and blue (greenish) eyes and 7’13 height, is Asian? Or is he American (or whatever)? What about all the anime set in a medieval-Europe, almost Tolkien-esque environment like Hack or Escaflowne? Are they Asian? They don’t look like it do they, for the most part? So then do they automatically just belong to the setting of their world?
I’ll give a more direct example. Bleach. Bleach’s main character is aesthetically NOT Asian. He is almost in every way, very American, (or insert something else). Orange hair, drastically angular face, long pointed nose and jagged chin, plus he’s gotta be 6’5. Yet the story is set in Japan. I’ll admit, that the only characters that I am actually alerted mentally that ‘oh, they’re Asian’ is those with straight black hair and eyes. This may be stating a very generalizing and controversial opinion but it’s true, personally at any rate. So, summarizing the last two paragraphs on these characters, I’m trying to say that characters do not necessarily EVER have a race. Character’s, regardless of their creators in most cases, define themselves.

I want to bounce off that topic to something similar for a second. Back to my point about Avatar being developed for a North American audience. Audience is everything. Did the two creators perhaps NOT make the character’s appear Asian because of its intended audience? Perhaps; they would certainly become much more apt for people in this demographic to be able to relate to them. I now relish that I have finally led up to a very interesting example. That of Final Fantasy. I’ll start with Advent Children.

I cannot count how many times I have heard that people are turned off of becoming attached to the characters because they are Asian looking. (this naturally comes from people, who are not Asian) Final Fantasy VII is oddly enough, not set in Japan or any other Asian inspired land for that matter. It is set in a semi-rustic urban industrial cityscape with some endless plains in between. And then they threw in Wutai. So here we're are faced with characters, set in an environment that people in North American can very much relate to and notice that it really could be inspired from any modern city anywhere in the world, yet the characters all have that slight Asian touch to their faces. Nearly and mostly nothing else about them, just their faces. (and Tifa’s hair is not black... actually)

Final Fantasy XIII is set in some bizarre fantasy/starwars/fairytale something or other world, none of which is directly relatable to Japanese anything. (And Versus is supposed to be in an Italian-inspired world...!) Yet the characters, similarly to Advent Children, have that faint Asian countenance. Now why do they do this? Simply enough, Final Fantasy is intended for a Japanese audience first and foremost. Japan does this all the frickn time, and yet fans do not object. They expect it. I know I do, I’m used to it and I suppose now am even somewhat immune to it. The newer characters of Square Enix do tend towards a more balanced face anyways, suggesting that they can belong anywhere, which is nice. And so, getting back to my point, Japan can make their characters appealing to their audiences, but North Americaa cannot? Typical.
This isn’t some sort of racial controversy and it certainly has nothing to do with racial discrimination. People seem much too eager to jump on the race-card bandwagon in my opinion. Did Prince of Persia have Persian characters? No, its audience was not people in Persia, it was people in North America. Was it actually set in Persia? No, it was set in a Persian inspired world.

Are we therefore to assume that any world that has any influence from a place not the home land of the creator, does not in fact answer to him, but to that place? The world of Prince of Persia, and the world of Avatar are not actually Asia and Persia. They are fantasy worlds inspired by these places, nothing more. I argue that just because Avatar takes so much inspiration from Asia, that does not mean that Asia owns it. These characters define themselves, they have their own physical attributes that define them, not necessarily a race unto itself. In short, I believe that white actors will physically portray the original characters much better than an Asian actor who was hired just because they are Asian. Now, if the actor is Asian and actually does look like the character, like say Toph or something? Fire away, by all means. My point is the characters come first.

I may add to this later, but that's it for now.

Bloody Purists. (Ar!)

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Kyuumu and JKI.S Appologize for any drowsyness or severe Boredom you may have experienced during the reading of this entry. Should symptoms persist, lighten dosage and go watch something mindless. JKI.S will not be held responsible for any damages to your keyboard due to excessive drooling caused by random and serious affects of snoozing,dozing or otherwise know as napping. Should reader fail to wake up seek medical attention immediately. We appologize for any innconveinience and request that you please not sue us.


THE LIST............................
1. Introduction--[link]
2. Love--[link]
3. Light--[link]
4. Dark--[link]
5. Seeking Solace--[link]
6. Break Away--[link]
7. Heaven--[link]
8. Innocence--[link]
9. Drive--[link]
10. Breathe Again--[link]
11. Memory--[link]
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile--[link]
15. Silence--[link]
16. Questioning
17. Blood--[link]
18. Rainbow--[link]
19. Gray
20. Fortitude--[link]
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. No Time
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars
35. Hold My Hand--[link]
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still--[link]
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror
66. Traps
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can't
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces
77. Test
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation


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