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Apologies for beating on the same drum, but...
"We in fandom are a community of storytellers. We love the stories in literature, in film, in our history from all over the world. Words, images, videos and music are our currency, and we value them highly. We prize the connections we make through the intagible, the familiar rhythms of the stories we read and the stories we write vibrating through our chest like a heartbeat.
Stories feed us. Stories sustain us. They tell us who we are, who we could be. They tell us where we've been, and where we are going. Stories are what we leave behind.
If you think that stories are not important, if you think a movie that just removed real world people from the landscape of a source material that respected and loved their 5000 years of culture and history is no big deal, if you've never known what it means to be erased from your own world and told to be thankful for it, I want you to do something for me.
Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Put down your books, put down your pens, forget your stories. Close your eyes and plug your ears. Forget what your story sounds like. You have no myths. You have no history. Stop breathing with your heart and living in your head. Your dreams are worthless, because they are not real. They are not tangible. You can't sell them. They are worthless. Go outside and consume, consume, consume. But never question. Never speak. Never dare to feel that you've been malnourished or mistreated. Never, ever admit that you have been poisoned. Be satisfied; you are well fed.
Remember: It's no big deal. It doesn't matter. And neither do you."
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ssj10
Words. Someone actually wrote meta-y logical words about the incoherent WTF that I've been feeling about this matter. The topic of concern?
M. Night Shyamalan's movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
... in a follow-up conversation with UGO.com, a writer pointed out that the film will feature a villainous nation of Asians attacking nations led by three white heroes, Shyamalan replied, "It's called irony." - from here.
"If you pay for this movie, knowing full well why its cast and its production are racist and problematic, then you are actively, in good conscience, supporting institutionalized racism. Period."
Word.
"Here was a fantastical Asian world, full of well developed and delineated countries, each with a distinctive culture and a carefully developed mythology born from real world Asian traditions, art forms, myths and religions. [...]
And here were the Heroes: Brave, noble, beautiful, strong, and Asian.
[...However] when the cast of the movie was originally announced sometime in 2009, the four main characters Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko, were all cast as white kids. An uproar occurred from the outraged fans--Asians and non Asians alike--because how, in 2009, could such a blatantly racist, discriminatory casting exercise in old school Hollywood whitewashing be justified? High budget Yellowface slated for release in 2010? It seemed almost too ridiculous to be true.
And so, Paramount responded by re-casting for one role. They re-cast Dev Patel, a young Indian actor, as Zuko. None of the other lead roles were re-cast.
Zuko is the villain. A villain, mind you, who switches sides and joins forces with the heroes to defeat the ultimate villain of the story, who just happens to be Zuko's father.
So now, we've gone from a completely whitewashed cast of heroes (supported by faceless, dark-skinned background noise otherwise known as extras, otherwise known as collateral damage, otherwise known as set decoration on par with that exotic vase from somewhere no one cares about in China), to a whitewashed trio of heroes who will eventually show our poor, misled brown child the light so that he can help them save the world from the rest of The Evil Brown People."
Yeah seriously just go read their post.
also: http://www.racebending.com/
Most Current Lowlight: Aang's tattoo, which used to delineate the lines of chi, is now a cross. SERIOUSLY?
"We in fandom are a community of storytellers. We love the stories in literature, in film, in our history from all over the world. Words, images, videos and music are our currency, and we value them highly. We prize the connections we make through the intagible, the familiar rhythms of the stories we read and the stories we write vibrating through our chest like a heartbeat.
Stories feed us. Stories sustain us. They tell us who we are, who we could be. They tell us where we've been, and where we are going. Stories are what we leave behind.
If you think that stories are not important, if you think a movie that just removed real world people from the landscape of a source material that respected and loved their 5000 years of culture and history is no big deal, if you've never known what it means to be erased from your own world and told to be thankful for it, I want you to do something for me.
Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Put down your books, put down your pens, forget your stories. Close your eyes and plug your ears. Forget what your story sounds like. You have no myths. You have no history. Stop breathing with your heart and living in your head. Your dreams are worthless, because they are not real. They are not tangible. You can't sell them. They are worthless. Go outside and consume, consume, consume. But never question. Never speak. Never dare to feel that you've been malnourished or mistreated. Never, ever admit that you have been poisoned. Be satisfied; you are well fed.
Remember: It's no big deal. It doesn't matter. And neither do you."
--
ssj10Words. Someone actually wrote meta-y logical words about the incoherent WTF that I've been feeling about this matter. The topic of concern?
M. Night Shyamalan's movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
... in a follow-up conversation with UGO.com, a writer pointed out that the film will feature a villainous nation of Asians attacking nations led by three white heroes, Shyamalan replied, "It's called irony." - from here.
"If you pay for this movie, knowing full well why its cast and its production are racist and problematic, then you are actively, in good conscience, supporting institutionalized racism. Period."
Word.
"Here was a fantastical Asian world, full of well developed and delineated countries, each with a distinctive culture and a carefully developed mythology born from real world Asian traditions, art forms, myths and religions. [...]
And here were the Heroes: Brave, noble, beautiful, strong, and Asian.
[...However] when the cast of the movie was originally announced sometime in 2009, the four main characters Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko, were all cast as white kids. An uproar occurred from the outraged fans--Asians and non Asians alike--because how, in 2009, could such a blatantly racist, discriminatory casting exercise in old school Hollywood whitewashing be justified? High budget Yellowface slated for release in 2010? It seemed almost too ridiculous to be true.
And so, Paramount responded by re-casting for one role. They re-cast Dev Patel, a young Indian actor, as Zuko. None of the other lead roles were re-cast.
Zuko is the villain. A villain, mind you, who switches sides and joins forces with the heroes to defeat the ultimate villain of the story, who just happens to be Zuko's father.
So now, we've gone from a completely whitewashed cast of heroes (supported by faceless, dark-skinned background noise otherwise known as extras, otherwise known as collateral damage, otherwise known as set decoration on par with that exotic vase from somewhere no one cares about in China), to a whitewashed trio of heroes who will eventually show our poor, misled brown child the light so that he can help them save the world from the rest of The Evil Brown People."
Yeah seriously just go read their post.
also: http://www.racebending.com/
Most Current Lowlight: Aang's tattoo, which used to delineate the lines of chi, is now a cross. SERIOUSLY?
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