Boycotts Urged Over White Stars in Prince of Persia, Last Airbender
If it's summer, and there are a pair of mainstream blockbusters about Persian and Asian warriors ready to open, then count on a "yellowface" controversy to saddle both on the way to release. Such are the scenarios facing Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender, both of which are presently on defensive as unfortunate casualties of the Slowest News Day of 2010.
The LAT on Sunday filed from both fronts, first documenting actual Persians' displeasure that fake-Persian Jake Gyllenhaal was portraying the titular hero of Prince of Persia. No one would comment from the production side, though a previously used Jerry Bruckheimer gem was dusted off for historical context: "Persians were very light skinned. [...] The Turks kind of changed everything. But back in the 6th century, a lot of them were blond and blue-eyed." While not easily swallowed by the film's outraged critics, this little-known historical detail was indeed confirmed by Disney's Middle Eastern sensitivity consultant, who has reached out to skeptical cultural organizations to insist that Prince of Persia is the "anti-300 [...] If we went back in time 1,700 years to the mythological era, all Iranians would look like Jake Gyllenhaal." What? Then why are the bad guys in the trailer and TV spots so much swarthier than Gyllenhaal? Not very Aryan, pal!
Meanwhile, Manoj Night Shyamalan doesn't have that excuse for The Last Airbender. The filmmaker cast young Caucasian actor Noah Ringer as his adolescent hero Aang, who, along with his pals, engage the Fire Lord and Co. in a battle to save the world. I'm fairly sure Asians weren't Aryan whenever this one was set, but the director was able to stem a bit of the protest around the casting by replacing Jesse McCartney with Dev Patel as dark prince Zuko and installing Native American Maori actor Cliff Curtis as chief baddie Ozai. Manoj addressed this last year in an interview with the paper ("Ultimately, this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tentpole movies ever released, period. So if I'm failing the bar, I'm not sure whose bar is set higher than this movie"), but now an organization called Racebender is coming right and urging a boycott.
Paramount has offered to screen Airbender for the group once its 3-D conversion is completed, but has released a statement in the meantime:
"The movie has 23 credited speaking roles -- more than half of which feature Asian and Pan Asian actors of Korean, Japanese and Indian decent. The filmmaker's interpretation reflects the myriad qualities that have made this series a global phenomenon. We believe fans of the original and new audiences alike will respond positively once they see it."
Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's, though? Still racist. There's your bar, Manoj.
· A whitewash for 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' and 'The Last Airbender' [LAT]
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While I certainly understand the seething anger (I'm Filipino. All I got from Hollywood is Rufio in Hook), I tend to agree with the MOST rep quoted in the LAT article... it's not malicious, it's execs uncomfortable with getting an unknown to topline a big budget picture. I always think of Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li getting the key roles in Memoirs of a Geisha. Either the execs and Rob Marshall REALLY hate the Japanese, or they were going with the (relatively) known commodities. Stupid, certainly, but not malicious.
"Paramount has offered to screen Airbender for the group once its 3-D conversion is completed..."
Because they want to make sure that it's the absolute worst version of the movie possible before they allow anyone to see it.
Plus, if we go forward in time 1,700 years to the doomsday era, all humans will look like Jake Gyllenhaal.
Cliff Curtis isn't Native American, he's Maori.
Oh wah and boo hoo! Racist, racist, Hollywood won't put an unknown but racially correct actor in the lead role of a multi-million dollar film.
Noah Ringer though? _Airbender_ is the first entry on his IMDB page.
Right. Only unknown white actors allowed.
Let's remember these are fantasy movies. Casting a white guy to play Martin Luther King Jr.? Inexcusable. Casting Jake Gyllenhaal to play a fictional hero in a fantasy version of ancient Persia? Forgivable. Someone letting M. Night Shyamalan make another big-budget movie? Priceless.
So now I can refuse to watch these films because of my noble support for the cause of these oppressed people, and not because they look like train-wrecks. Can I get a receipt for tax write-off purposes?
I'd presume the thought process was, "Unknown Caucasian Actor vs Unknown Asian-American Actor. Who sells more tickets in Oklahoma?"
I'm not saying this is a *smart* thought process. But it's not out-and-out racism. I'd go so far as to say it's disheartening, unimaginative, and close-minded, but not racist.
By the way, based on The Last Airbender's trailer, that kid with arrow on his bald head has fairly nondescript features.
indeed. these are not documentaries or even historical films.
Next thing we'll have some group suing because vampires don't sparkle
There shouldn't be no problem with them in this movie as
1) It is a work of pure fiction in a world of pure fiction.
2) It is played by an actor who is very undiscerning features so he could still foot the bill on it.
It isn't like they tried to do a work based on Martin Luther King only to make him white or did one on Abraham Lincoln but made him Black.
Shouldn't get anymore of a boycott than when they made the Green Lantern black in the Justice League cartoon.
I'm sorry but this is the dumbest controversy ever. The Last Airbender is never said to take place on Earth or in any of Earth's nations. It is never explicitly stated what ethnicities the characters are. The story takes place in a fantasy world like Lord of the Rings. Furthermore the actor playing Aang looks nearly identical to the cartoon character. Saying that they chose him solely because he is white is moronic. Not only is Noah Ringer a martial arts expert but he looks exactly like the character. Everyone wants to boycott everything and claim everything as a racial slight.
The producers of the Nickelodeon cartoon selected Caucasian actors to voice all of the characters on the show yet nobody ever complained about that.
Also two of the main characters of the Last Airbender are not played by white actors, one of which is arguably the most important character (Zuko) is Indian. These were also the only two voice actors in the cartoon who were not white. The actors in the movie are consistent with the actors for the cartoon.
I think movies should be judged based upon their quality and content, not on the skin color of the actors. The people boycotting these movies seem like the most racist people in the country. These are the people who watch these films and only focus on the skin color of the actors. Boycotters are the most superficial racists.
Turns out Noah Ringer is of mixed ethnicity anyway. Which ones? Don't know and don't care.
Noah Ringer is a martial arts expert and he looks exactly like the cartoon character. Should they have cast a Chinese actor with no martial arts experience who doesn't even look like the character just to placate the superficial racists who are boycotting this movie because they don't like white people?
To the people bitching about Jake playing a FICTIONAL Persian character, I want to see ten times the outrage coming from you guys when that Freddie Mercury biopic comes out... because he was of Persian and Indian descent, and he will be played by Johnny Depp, who is, brace yourselves for this, a WHITE GUY! Otherwise, you will just look like giant, douchey hypocrites.
Seriously people, complain only when the character's race is inextricably tied to the storyline or the character is a real-life person. Otherwise, it's not even worth making a big deal about. PLENTY of actors take on roles in which their character's ethnicity doesn't even match their own. I mean, didn't Ben Kingsley, who the last I checked is Caucasian, play Ghandi in a biopic? He won an Oscar for it, no controversy there. Or when that French actor Louis Jourdan played an Afghan prince in Octopussy. It happens all the freakin' time, yet only in exceedingly rare cases do people care. It's called ACTING, people, and there's a reason it is called so. Because it's make-believe, it's fantasy, it's not real. Guess what, some actors even play characters that aren't the same gender as them. Do people complain? No. Did gay rights group protest Felicity Huffman playing a transexual in the movie Transamerica all because she's not one in real life, and is taking away opportunities from struggling transexual actors? No, there was none of that nonsense. She was playing a part, and the only thing that mattered is that she did the role justice.
Even in movies where the character is a real person, it is not ALWAYS necessary that the actor who plays it is the same ethnicity as the character, if they can look and act the part well, and race doesn't play a big role in the plot, then that should be enough to satisfy everyone. Obviously in the more extreme cases, like a movie on Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy, getting a character whose ethnicity is not the same as those guys' would be beyond unacceptable, but in a less extreme case, such as the movie about Freddie Mercury I just mentioned, it won't matter that he won't be played by a Parsi actor. Johnny Depp may be worlds away from him ethnicity-wise, but he looks just like him, and considering how great and versatile an actor he is, I know he'll do the role justice. And besides, Prince of Persia is a movie based on a video game. Reality went out the window from the moment that game was conceived. Think on that for a minute.
Let's make one thing clear. The outrage over Prince of Persia isn't that Jake G is playing a Persian character. It's that the villain and the supporting characters are (as the article points out) conspicuously swarthy while the hero and heroine are dainty white flowers.
And if 6th century Persians all looked like Jake G, then why not populate THE ENTIRE FILM with Nordic types instead of a couple of honkies and a sea of brown faces?
So the movie sends a clear message. Only white people can be Heroes and Heroines. Brown people can only be villains, comic relief, or stuck in the background.
I'm so white I'm translucent and even I was offended by that message.
But as for Last Airbender...that one I think is silly, as traditional Japanese anime (which is clearly the biggest influence on the creators of the cartoon) has always featured non-racially specific characters with anglocized features. Typically large round eyes. The show takes place in a fantasy world with no set racial identities.
The cast contains a great number of multi-racial or non-racially specific cast members, and heroes, villains, and supporting characters alike are played by actors of color.
I think if anything, the people calling for a boycott of Last Airbender are the racists, not the filmmakers.
Now if people want to boycott it because Manoj is a pompous asshole who hasn't made a good movie since Unbreakable...well that's a different story.
I'm sure these same people boycotted Iron Man 2 because Nick Fury was played by Samuel L. Jackson. Typical Hollywood blackwashing. They even made Kingpin black in the Daredevil movie when he was played by Michael Clark Duncan. I'm sure these protesters applauded that as forward thinking. Some people are so stupid. Somehow I have a feeling these boycotters only boycott when the actors are white. Now tell me again who are the real racists?
I absolutely hated every second of Unbreakable. I loved Signs though. Signs is by far my favorite M. Night movie. If not for the twist ending even the Village could have been a great movie. Lady in the Water and The Happening on the otherhand...... not so much.
Never the less Last Airbender was not created by M. Night so it might actually turn out to be a good movie. The story is very good, though like Star Wars it doesn't really start to hit it's stride until the end of the first movie/season. And the second movie/season is of course the best of all. I just hope these dumb boycotters don't ruin the Last Airbender sequels by influencing the producers to choose skin colors over talent.
The Marvel produced films draw most of their inspiration from the Ultimate universe. And in the Ultimate Marvel line Nick Fury is not only black, but he was specifically drawn to look like Samuel L. Jackson.
As for Kingpin...find a white actor who is Michael Clarke Duncan's size and was as big a name (Duncan was coming off an Academy Award nomination) then maybe you've got an argument.
Sure, that's what I suggested. Dolt.
You're absolutely right; what a dumb, dumb error. I regret it.
"So the movie sends a clear message. Only white people can be Heroes and Heroines. Brown people can only be villains, comic relief, or stuck in the background."
Fortunately, you're mistaken that minorities can't play heroes in Hollywood. Will Smith has been the highest-grossing box office star for the past decade. Would it be nice to see more minorities in lead roles? Definitely. But don't say that it doesn't happen when the biggest movie star in the world is black.
There isn't a Persian actor in the world who could get Prince of Persia made. Even Jerry Bruckheimer couldn't get financing for a $150 million movie without the right lead. I'm honestly surprised Gyllenhall was enough to get it done.
Where were all the calls for boycotts against "The Princess and the Frog" (a German faerie tale) for turning the traditional German princess into a Negress? Are there going to be boycotts against the new "Thor" movie for portraying the Nordic god "Heimdall" as a Negro? Don't hold your breath.
The complaints about the actors in the above movies being being "too White" have nothing to do with any alleged "historical inaccuracies." The people complaining are just racist anti-White bigots.
And in reality, the portrayal of the ancient Persians as "White" is in fact historically accurate. Take a look at the art on Alexander the Great's sarcophagus and see how the ancients portrayed Persians:
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3899/sidon300bcealexandersar.jpg
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9757/persian01.jpg
Yes, I very clearly said that no minorities could ever play heroes ever.
Perhaps next time you should actually READ the substance of someone's words before taking those words out of context so that you can respond in a completely kneejerk and WRONG manner.
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