Up in arms (while you're at it)

[netmouse]

A couple weeks ago bryanalexander asked if I knew of any particular ways to take action on the whitewashing of Avatar: the Last Airbender.

I have become aware that there is a petition effort here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/racebend/petition.html

sponsored by the folks here:
http://www.racebending.com/

pump up the volume.

Comments

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of the show and I was somewhat disappointed to hear that the cast was very white. Yes, Zuko is a villain but it strongly depends on how he comes off. In the TV show the character is very complex and evolving, kind of like the series is a coming of age for him. It's a very strong transformation. If they cover the whole series then this will be apparent. As far as the rest of the cast, I'd point out that the show was voiced by actors with midwestern accents and I being a cartoon their ethnicity was subtle. The only character who had an accent was Uncle Iroh, and maybe a slight accent for Zuko. Maybe.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

This movie will only cover the first season, not the whole series.

I did not watch the show, but looking at the pictures of the characters on racebender.com it seems dramatically misscast. This is not really about ethnicity to me (re: accents) so much as very directly about skin color and taking heroes who kids with a dark complexion could see looked like them and making them look completely different, and not like them at all, in the movie. (In a world where not that many heroes looked like them in the first place).

My understanding is that for small kids, much of TV these days is populated with characters of other colors and ethnicities. But for kids who watched Avatar as young teens that was not so true.