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]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
If anything the heroes are portrayed as too swarthy in the Prince of Persia.
"And in reality, the portrayal of the ancient Persians as "White" is in fact historically accurate."
Then, as I stated above, why isn't the entire cast "White"? Why at the very least isn't the villain played by a "White" actor?
Also, nice straw man argument about The Princess in the Frog. The story took place in Nawlins, not Munich.
Also also, feel free to call me a racist Anti-White bigot. Perhaps I will, in the future, figure out a way to discriminate against myself.
Also also also, racist bigot is kinda redundant, donchathink?
"Shouldn't get anymore of a boycott than when they made the Green Lantern black in the Justice League cartoon."
/facepalm
They didn't MAKE the Green Lantern black. They used Jon Stewart (a pre-existing character from the comics and a Green Lantern) instead of Hal Jordan, Alan Scott, Kyle Raynor, or Guy Gardner.
The enemies of Persia were nonwhites, with the exception of Alexander the Great. And the original story of "The Princess and the Frog" is a German faerie tale. It did not originate from New Orleans. So not only did they change the race of the main character, but also the location of the story to fit the Negro persona. But still no calls for boycotts? Hmm....
And no, racist and bigot in fact do not mean the exact same thing, even though you have exposed yourself as both.
the last airbender will be a brilliant film. im glad at the people who have been casted. they look brilliant so what its heavilly influenced by japanese and chinese culture?
in the show do you ever here a conversation like this........
aang: hey toph your from the earth kingdom right?
toph: yeah
aang: so are you asian?
toph: of course look at me what else could i be?
there is NO RACE IN AIRBENDER well apart from fire nation, earth kingdom, water tribes and air nomads.
just to state a few things.
no the film isnt racist for casting caucasian actors for a cartoon that was heavilly influenced by asian culture.
the producer said that they werent looking to hire any actors from a particular ethnic background however when the casting sheets went out they SHOULD of said "Looking for Caucasians and Other Ethnicities." but instead it said "Looking for Caucasians or any Other Ethnicities."
shyamalan said the casting was open to anyone. but with that sort of mix up i dont think they would of got many actors from other ethnicities
marshall also said that this casting notice was poorly worded and offensive. However, it was not written nor distributed by the production, or the studio, but by a local extra casting entity that did not consult with either.
the humour in the show is being changed here and there due to the target audience being wider unlike the cartoon. as shyamalan said "somethings work in cartoons but they dont in films and vice versa" he also said a lot of the slapstick jokes have been taken out but the main humour will still be there.
nicola peltz talking about the film. the fact that jackson was playing around with her makes me think he'll bring comedy to the sokka role http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2EufbvCtQ
jackson rathbone talking about the film. sounds like he should be good with the sokka catchphrases http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cJLdXkgrNI
noah ringer talking about the film. just so you can hear what he sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iy1oeEdkbs
both appa and momo will be in the film but because momo is 100% CGI we probably wont spot him until the movie.......he'll be being created now im guessing or at the least having the finishing touches put on. appa is 50% CGI and 50% mechanical this is so he appears more "real"
firebenders can't bend without a source unless they are a firebending master iroh, zuko eventually, ozai. this is done imo for 2 reasons. shyamalan said they tried an early idea of all firebenders "creating" fire but it didnt look "real". the 2nd reason is to make the more powerful firebenders stand out they will be able to create fire whereas other will need a source......kinda like katara with her water source....they'll have a personal fire source im guessing. this is a good thing imo cos it really shows how powerful firebenders like iroh really are.
aang's aarows arent constantly blue like when in the cartoon. this is because shyamalan couldnt make them look "real". i like this idea too as its a live action movie i would prefer as much as possible looking "real"
finally no bumi, jet and his band of rebels, jeong jeong in this movie. but shyamalan will be using bumi in the 2nd film, jet in the 2nd film and jeong jeong in the 3rd. i believe shyamalan is doing this to "separate" the films properly so this film is heavilly focused on water with the 2nd heavilly focused on earth and the 3rd heavilly focused on fire. bumi and jet are from the earth kingdom so it makes sense that they would be in the 2nd film instead of using 10-15 mins on introducing them in this film then the audience forgeting who they are in the 2nd film. its just easier to introduce them both in the 2nd film adding an extra 10 mins too. same for jeong jeong and the 3rd film. the audience may forget about him for the 3rd if he was put in now. so that was another good part of clever thinking by shyamalan. its also not quite clear if azula will appear in this film although no actress has been said to be cast. she could just be kept underwraps until the final moment.
everything i have seen or heard about this film so far imo has been done brilliantly (apart from the casting but that wasnt really shyamalan, marshall or anyone that actually works for the film's fault).
You're completely adorable. Really. Adooooooorable.
You do know that the villain of the film is also supposed to be Persian, right? Any other flawed arguments you feel like making? Right now you're 0-2 in your defense of the movie, but I have a feeling that you can easily get a hat trick. I BELIEVE IN YOU, BABY!
Wait, you mean Disney changed a fairy tale story into something other than an exact adaptation the source material? Just like they've done with almost every single story they've ever made an animated film about? I am shocked and aghast. Also, you clearly didn't pay attention if you think Princess and the Frog was released without controversy.
Not all bigots are racists, but all racists are bigots. Additionally, all kittens are cats, but not all cats are kittens.
And you got me there, chief. I sure do hate them white people. Yep. Grr. White people. OH MY GOD WHY AM I PUNCHING MYSELF?!
"I’m fairly sure Asians weren’t Aryan whenever this one was set," - then you're a blind fool.
White people lived all over central Asia, until the Mongolian savages invaded and raped all the white women, and killed all the white men, leaving what we see today - the 'Chinese'.
Watch the video 'The death of beauty: Central Asia' for the evidence.
So you are a White who is anti-White? You mean you're a Jew then?
Seriously if you don't like the White hero cast then don't go and see the movie. They've tried the Black hero thing but there's just one problem:
It doesn't sell!
Hollywood is a business. Disney is in it for the money. Imagine that!
For the genius Andrew, who said: "And you got me there, chief. I sure do hate them white people. Yep. Grr. White people. OH MY GOD WHY AM I PUNCHING MYSELF?!"
Why aren't white people allowed to have their own countries any more?
Surely if white people were ALLOWED to have our OWN countries AGAIN, then all the brainwashed whites like you could go and live as ethnic minorities in third world countries (since that is the inevitable conclusion in OUR once white countries, of your insane 'open borders' policy), and all the 'evil' whites who have the audacity to not want their countries destroyed by third worlders, could live in our own countries, and there would be no more 'racist' whites 'holding down' the poor non-whites, who suffer from so much 'racism' that they just can't seem to stop flooding into WHITE countries?
Stupid much? Perhaps you should actually think this stuff through before posting...
Andrew you are the one who is 0-2 for your "argument" which you haven't been consistent on BTW. NowSwimBack is saying that the heroes and builders of the Persian Empire were white, then included photos of ancient relics to back up his claim, and that eventually they had to deal with nonwhite people so the movies portrayal of white heroes against a brown/black cast is accurate, meanwhile they changed the Princess and the Frog to a historically INACCURATE story, and no one called for boycotts against the movie. And even you try to defend that which makes you the anti-white bigot, racist, whatever.
So you don't like to see white heroes and black villains? Would you complain and call for boycotts if it was the other way around? Of course not. In addition to a bigot you are also a hypocrite.
Wow.
First, thanks for the compliment. I AM A GENIUS. But it is always nice when other people notice.
Second, you're gonna make me Godwin this comment section aren't you. You are really gonna make me Godwin it.
Ah well, if you insist.
I've got a country you can go live in. Climb into my time machine and I shall transport you back to Berlin 1939! You'll fit right in. Make sure to practice your goosestepping and Heils, first though.
Umm...can I actually answer your question..or..okay, no you're gonna answer for me. Cool.
Point out where I said anything about being in favor of boycotting. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Also, if the movie was called Prince of Ireland and the hero was played by Wesley Snipes and the love interest was a lovely Nubian-type while dudes who look like Conan O'Brien played the villains and supporting roles. I'd be saying the same thing.
Kindly look up the word "facetious" in the dictionary.
Also...you might as well look up "anti-semite" while you're at it.
"Andrew you are the one who is 0-2 for your "argument" which you haven't been consistent on BTW."
I wasn't making arguments. I was refuting. His/hers/its.
"NowSwimBack is saying that the heroes and builders of the Persian Empire were white, then included photos of ancient relics to back up his claim, and that eventually they had to deal with nonwhite people so the movies portrayal of white heroes against a brown/black cast is accurate, meanwhile they changed the Princess and the Frog to a historically INACCURATE story, and no one called for boycotts against the movie."
I was gonna respond line by line, but Holy run on sentence Batman.
If all the Persians were white, make the whole cast white. Simple fix, no? Because...the villain of the piece is also Persian. So explain that.
Did you just call a movie based on a fairy tale historically inaccurate? You know fairy tales aren't real, right? Man, I hope so. I'd feel pretty bad if I burst that bubble. Almost as bad as if I told you Santa Claus doesn't really exist.....oh crap. Now I feel terrible.
"And even you try to defend that which makes you the anti-white bigot, racist, whatever."
Huh? Wanna try that again in English?
Brilliantly argued, Andrew...
Like I said - you haven't actually thought any of this through, but I see you've blindly accepted your brainwashing from the Jewish owned media...
Why aren't white people allowed to have their own countries any more?
Oh, I see... you think that any white person who dares to want to actually live in a country where they never have to hear the word "racist" again, is a 'nazi'.
So how is this working out for your non-white friends then? Since all I hear every day is of how 'whitey' is 'holding non-whites down'. How are you going to FORCE every white person on Earth to actually LIKE watching our own countries being invaded?
Do you know what the definition of an invasion is?
What about genocidal population replacement? Do you know what that is? Is it okay when it's done to white people?
So yet again I repeat my very simple question, which your tiny little self-hating mind can't seem to answer:
Why aren't white people allowed to have their own countries any more?
Just to spell it out even more simply for you, Andrew, since I see that thinking isn't one of your strong points:
The ONLY reason that any non-whites suffer from 'racism' is because they are in the countries of white people, and some of those white people are in positions of power, and don't want to live with non-whites, but non-whites are FORCED on us.
Do you understand that simple problem? The bit about FORCING non-whites into OUR countries, against OUR will?
Because obviously the whites who are 'racist' against non-whites, DO NOT WANT THEM in our countries, because by definition, that means that we no longer have OUR OWN COUNTRIES.
So what percentage of whites do you think would choose to live in an all white country, if they had a choice? (Which they currently don't. How democratic).
It's more than 95%.
I know it's more than 95% of whites without asking any of them.
I know it's more than 95% of whites because in every white country on Earth, wherever non-whites move in, white people move out of an area. And that area continues to become more and more non-white, and more white people move out, and most importantly, almost none MOVE BACK IN. The only explanation for that is that MOST white people do not want to live around non-whites, otherwise it is statistically impossible for areas with a higher than the national average of non-whites in them, to come into being...
I told you you should have thought all of this through...
So just to spell it out for you: stop moaning about 'racist' whites, it's the non-whites who are choosing to FORCE themselves into OUR countries who are the problem, and who are clearly in the wrong.
Why aren't they living in their OWN countries? What's wrong with Somalia, or Liberia, or Haiti? Could it possibly be anything to do with the PEOPLE who live there, perchance? Say it ain't so!
My dearest Brandy,
First things first, you have a little froth still in the corners of your mouth. Here's a napkin. You're welcome. Now!
I thought maybe you were trying to troll me because the whole "Jew run media" comment was too good to be true. Because really...who says stuff like that except cartoon racists and obvious trolls? And I was more than willing to play along because I enjoy a reverse troll just as much as the next guy, but now maybe I think you might actually mean all that and now I just sorta feel sorry for you.
I feel bad that you don't have a country you can call your own. It's a terrible shame. I sincerely hope that one day you can get this glorious democratically designed white-topia of yours, so that you and all of the other Hitler Youth can hold hands and sing Prussian Blue songs together while trying to come up with a new scapegoat to blame all of your ills upon. Perhaps you can start discriminating based on eye color! Those dirty hazels! They took our jobs!
Meanwhile I'll be busy getting freaky with beautiful ladies of all races, colors, and creeds because love don't know no color.
Hugs and Kisses,
Andrew
Why can't they just have non-whites play protagonist roles or whole casts? Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did very well in the states and it had subtitles for crying out loud! So Hollywood needs to catch up and relies they can have non-white casts as central roles in today America. Making an all middle-Easter prince of Persia and not white leads and darker everyone else, or a all Asian last air-bender as it was in the cartoon (and don't say it wasn't! The animators them selves claimed the characters were intend to be Asian and some were based off living Asian people, I think they have more claim to the character designs of their work then you do!) could have been done, but Hollywood clearly is too racist to believe otherwise.
I see you couldn't actually rebut anything I said, Andrew... How pathetic.
The tiny problem of the MAJORITY of white people not wanting non-whites in our countries, apparently doesn't bother you. Which means you don't believe in democracy, but rather in tyranny.
Care to discuss?
My darling Brandylion,
Was there actually a point in all that gibberish up there? I'd gladly refute your points if you cared to actually make one. I'd settle for a semi coherent argument.
"The tiny problem of the MAJORITY of white people not wanting non-whites in our countries, apparently doesn't bother you. "
It really really doesn't. It seriously could not bother me less that it bothers me at this momemtn. Especially because it's apparently a tiny problem. Why would I be bothered by tiny problems? THEY'RE TINY!
Like I said, I don't have a problem with you and all of the other schutzstaffel going off and setting up some reservation for yourself away from the rest of us. In fact, I actively encourage it. I'll even pack you a sack lunch for the road. I'm assuming you like white bread?
Auf Wiedersehen,
Andrew
Zuko (Dev Patel) is Indian and he is arguably the most important character in the Last Airbender story. As someone who is incredibly familiar with the series I can say that making assumptions about whether one race nation or tribe is good or bad is a huge mistake. In the story there are bad water tribe members, a lot of bad earth kingdom members, and many good fire nation members. Many characters appear to be good but turn out bad and some appear to be bad but turn out to be good. People should watch the damn movie first before complaining about it's content.
These people who want to boycott are so ignorant and immature. I hope they end up missing out on the best movie of the summer because of their ignorant prejudiced beliefs.
I was responding to the sentiment expressed in that statement, which is clearly not your personal POV. Should have made that clear.
Tickets to Prince of Airbender are on me.
And for what it's worth- I think Brandy embarrassed even the other members of her Klan chapter with those "arguments".
I just wanted to thank you so much for writing about this. The racism still being seen in Hollywood to this day - it's the 21st century! - is beyond appalling, and it's especially horrible when it's being aimed at children. American kids loved this show the way it was - in an Asian-inspired fantasy world with characters of color - and to usurp everything in that world to carry the message "only white people can be heroes" is offensive and wrong. Thank you again for writing this article.
Racism does not have to be overt to be racism. Institutionalized racism (or systemic racism) can be very subtle and yet still enable marginalization. Whether or not there was intent is the difference between a racist (a person who purposely discriminatory) and racist behavior (and action that, while not intended to be racist, actually is).
This sort of 'unintentional racism' does not mean the person is a racist. It means their action is racist and they should know that it is so that they can correct themselves and not repeat that action.
Also, financial discrimination is still discrimination. Justifying institutionalized racism by saying 'it's all about making money' does not somehow eradicate the fact that the action is still racist.
Next » « Previous