I feel really bad for Giancarlo. He worked on the show so hard and then has to see a casting director say inane stuff like that. I mean, seriously. Kimonos if you're Korean and lederhosen if your Belgian? Where is this person from and why have they never watched Avatar?

Oh, great. Now I'm seeing lederhosen and the Land of Chocolate in my idea of the Avatar movie. Save me, Homer Simpson!

Do you want to know who I blame? M. Night Shamallamaman. What a twist indeed.

Lederhosen.

Truly sad. Nickelodeon/Creators should not have signed away the rights without putting in a clause that says that they have to finalize things like JKR and some authors do. They didn't, and know the people who own the movie have free reign. Sad... Kanea and I told a couple friends of hers who are major anime fans, and they were both annoyed, and brought DB, which comes out later this year, I'm not mistaken, which has a white person in the leading role. This goes along with what Derek Kim said in his rant, which was a good read. It's good to see that peole are annoyed, and I'm glad that they've started a petition, and rightfully so.

I also already planned on boycotting, as does Kanea and our friends. Another friend of ours, who is Asian btw, is very upset. My mom's disappointed. None of us are planning on going to that movie, and I wouldn't think any true Avatar fan would. What an insult would that be to people who worked so hard to bring us that wonderful show to insult them by going to a movie where white people are cast in the lead. It's not the point that they can make them look Asian or Inuit. The point is that there are talented Asian actors who can play those parts. Hire them! No, they hired Jesse McCartney, and now a bunch of teenyboppers (no offense to the teenage girls on this site, I mean no offense) who will go to see him and not know a thing about Avatar. Harsh, but it's probably true, and that's disappointing.

(BTW, Korean kimonos? Belgian Lederhosen? What freaking moron do they have doing the casting? Jesus Christ, no wonder there's white people being casted for the leads. The Casting Director's a moron!)

Ok. I am once again facing a real brick wall in my reasonings. I once complained to a situation I was in to a very dear friend. Used incredible logic and reason to explain this situation, why it was unfair to me, why everyone else involved was at fault. It made perfect sense to me and her. She responded by saying. "But if the whole world thinks one thing, and you think the other, doesn't that make -you- wrong." Whether or not this is correct is debatable, but I understood her point. Nonetheless:

I am getting sick to my stomach of all this ridiculous whining about 'RACISM!' and 'DISCRIMINATION!' and all this rubbish about one movie in a large entertainment industry.

The casting audition for Aang said "Children of -any- race/colour/whatevertheFACKisthepoliticallycorrecttermnowadays" to come try out. Same as all the other characters. So Aang could have been black, indian, native american, whatever. There was NO discrimination involved in the casting roles. There was a lot of stupidity involved, but I'm committed to being the devil's advocate here. If -anything- your logic is utterly circular. You say that these roles should have been played by Asians/Asian Americans, white people should not have been casted. That's discrimination in exactly the same way.

How about we address a -real- issue. Rathbone is twenty-five! Why!? Because men peak in their 20's! He is a decade older than Sokka is supposed to be. That's just assinine. But no, let's whine about white people being included instead. Any of you could turn on me and say 'but by your logic: age shouldn't be an issue either.'

What I'm saying is, I don't think this movie is telling everyone 'you should be white.' I do think it's telling a lot of teenaged boys that to fit the conventional standard of handsomeness you should look 10 years older than you do. I also think it's encouraging younger girls to find older and older guys attractive.

In summary. I have a gigantic bone to pick with the concensus that: Rathbone, Mcartney, and whoever else got casted most likely don't have a fraction of the talent of the voice-actors of these characters, which is doesn't matter. But they're WHITE! RACISTS! RAAAACISTS!

The only reason I would want Asian actors in this movie is to increase the idea of segregation.

No I don't want people of colour to use different bathrooms than whites. What I want is for everyone in the world to find some sense of pride in their individual culture and heritages, I'm sick off all this Christmas is offensive Bull-s#!7. I think the way different races of humans developed is fascinating, and I think our goal of racial 'unity' should be something more to 'racial harmony.' Instead of trying to mold everyone into 'one race' I'd rather the different cultures try to respect each other, while keeping their individual beliefs and customs.

Of course I'm heading down a slippery and rambly slope here and have deviated sooo far from the topic. Anyhoo.

[glow=3E8BFF,2,300]<Kai edit: Hey, Tenoko? Try not to go so off-topic next time, please. This is a discussion about the movie. >[/glow]

I have finally come to a conclusion as to what decision to vote for on this poll...

there is no God anymore. Yue and the Ocean Spirits protect me, you want me to tell you what's worse than the casting decisions?

well first of all let's get back to the "Tenoko-not-giving-a-damn" part. This is worse than the reactions to the finale which said "OMG SUCKNESSZZ1!!!11!11oneone!!onetwo"

now granted, I personally think the season III finale was a total destroyer of Avatar. guess what else? I'm a Zutarian. guess what else? me being Zutarian and the finale sucking worse than no more avatar, are NOT interrelated. I thought the finale sucked for other reasons, which, if anyone wonders [doubtful] I will be glad to answer.

Anyhoot, back on topic. yeah, it's 4:15AM, so Tenoko's gonna be in her groove tonight... gimme a frozen pizza and some strawberry lemonade, and then grab your popcorn and hold onto your hats, 'coz this is gonna be a rant.

Have we seen the way these actors have played Katara, Sokka, and Zuko yet? I'm pretty sure Shyamalan wasn't thinking "omg letz make sure dat all da cast memberz r white lolz"
I lived a life that had the philosophy "there is a reason for everything".
there's still 18 fracking months until the damn movie comes out and already people act like they know exactly what's going to happen and that OMG IT'S GONNA SUCKZORZ SO BADLY!!!!1111oneone. seriously, this is worse than the rabid Zutara fandom or the Kataangers trying to say that there is no such thing as Zutara. honestly, it makes me almsot fear coming into Avatar discussions because even today when I say "hey, I ship Zutara 'coz no one cares, the show is over" people flip out on me.

again though, I'm going off topic. *chugs some water* it's way too early to be making judgments. it's the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" principle all over again. now maybe, MAYBE if there was a teaser, some actual media directly related to the movie, a preview, or something of that sort out, then I think it would be reasonable to be making such extreme judgments. but at this point? January 30, 2009? and the movie comes out July 2, 2010? yeah... that's a year and 5 months--17 whole fracking months before we'll be able to see this one. claiming you're going to boycott this movie at this point is like boycotting Harry Potter 7 after learning that Harry marries Ginny at the end of the book, and is therefore straight, thus ruining all your "hopes and dreams". I'm not sure why, but people don't seem to realize that things are not designed to please the fans, because again, the old saying "you can never please everyone" comes into play. guess what folks? it's true. it's always going to be true. live with it; love it; savor it; cherish it; live BY it; adore it; date it; BE IT; WORSHIP IT; LICK THE GROUND WHICH IT TRODS UPON!!! it's always going to be true.

an example of this: Kataang. they made it happen. they incurred the wrath of over 27,000 rabid Zutara fangirls, not to mention all the other Zutarians who were so adamant that they were not able to accept it. Avatar was just not designed to please everyone. Was I among some of those rabid Zutarians? maybe, but probably now. did I just deal with it? yes I did. guess what? I'm still a fan of avatar. was I disappointed? yes, but did I let that affect my liking for the show? not really. [although, I was never into "into" the show as much as I was into the bending moves, the world, the four nations, the cultures, and those types of things.] Again, Avatar was not designed to please everyone. Why did anyone think that the casting would automatically magically fit their strict criteria? and on that note, although an All-Asian cast would supposedly "fit the show" better, wouldn't that be displaying the same sense of "racism" that this all-white cast supposedly exudes?

Another good philosophy to live in life is "if you can't do anything about it, then save your breath." complaining only makes people look like immature little 6-year-olds unless they can actually do something about it. Or, as the old saying goes, "if you think it sucks, make a better one". the analogy here: me. though I didn't think the avatar story sucked, I thought there were things that could have been improved upon [again, off topic, so not gonna get into em] so what did I do? I wrote another story set in the avatar world, and left it up to the people who read it to decide if it was better than the show's storyline or not. But when it all boils down, there's nothing that any of us are gonna be able to say and do to change the movie, as they're the ones with the multi-million dollar budget to make something of that scale with, and the rest of us are just normal people.

hell, if that rant hadn't been so fun, I would have just summed it up with a few simple points.
--it's way too early to be making judgments on the movie
--having an all-Asian cast would pretty much be the same sense of "racism" that an all-white cast would.
--complaining will get you nowhere
--if you hate it so much, make a better one
--You can't please everyone, and neither can Shyamalan or Mike & Bryan.

so yeah, there's my morning rant for now *chugs some more water* feel like debating? I'm in. you'll probably beat me, 'coz I'm not really into this sort of debate. I just think most of the comments [not just here... it's everywhere, so don't anyone here take this as a personal attack] are just plain ridiculous.

so yeh, over and out.
~Tenoko~

So...it is unreasonable to expect a show that had a diverse main cast to have that same kind of diversity in a movie based on it? Is it unreasonable to expect that the casting director could show some basic level of cultural respect and knowledge of the material they're working on? With the ignorance that the casting director has shown, why would I go by the description she gives in the casting call for Aang? At this point I don't suspect she even knows who the characters are.

It is not reverse racism to want the culture of the show and main cast respected when it comes to the film. A show so deeply intertwined with Asian and Inuit culture doesn't work with the latest white 21 or 25 year old pop star without needing a massive rewrite of the entire world. Respecting the lore of the world isn't needed is it?

The again, as I've repeatedly said, I had no illusions the movie would be good once Shyamalan was attached to it. At his best he doesn't fit the tone of Avatar. At his worst...you get the Happening.

So, I'll do the only thing that I can do: hit them in their wallet. If they don't get the money, they'll stop making movies like this. No profit, no more movies. Just like Jay Sherman the Critic said: "If it's a movie about a show, just don't see it."

What I'm saying I guess is that it's unreasonable to have 'diversity' as a requirement. I'm saying it's unreasonable to assume that there is this quantified amount of 'diversity' that has to be included in a movie. But enough about that. I want to hear your amazing all-asian/part-asian dream cast for this movie. Personally I'm strongly feeling

For the character of Iroh, they will simply use old footage of Mako from Highlander III, dubbed over with voice clips from the series. Or Jackie Chan.

I honestly think Ellen Page could do a wicked Katara, and she's pretty babyfaced so they might be able to pass her off as 16. I also think Mila Kunis should kameo as her sexy mom.

Jackie Chan's kid should be Zuko. Enough said.

Despite previous pairings in Forbidden Kingdom they should have also rounded up Jet Li for this. I mean, would it be too much to get some real (Movie) Martial Arts actors for what should essentially be a Martial Arts movie.

Too be honest I don't really have extensive knowledge of big actors after the 90's. Basically I'm pretty satisfied as long as Zac Efron isn't in this movie. However with Jesse McCartney already on the docket I might be digging my own grave by saying that.

John Cho as Sokka. I don't care if he's like 30, he could do Sokka justice.

I can't really think of anyone for Aang, I'm not much of an attention payer to 12 year old boys.

So! Yesterday it was announced that apparently due to Jesse McCartney's "music" career he will be unable to play Zuko in the Avatar movie! So!!!!! He has been replaced by Dev Patel, the guy who just won all sorts of awards for being in Slumdog Millionaire. I have kind of mixed feelings. I am so glad the Jesse McCartney was replaced, and especially replaced by an actor that isn't white, but Dev has only been in one other movie so far and Zuko is a very different character from Jamal Malik.... who is kinda awkward and twitchy during a lot of the movie, and while Zuko has his awkward moments, he's not twitchy... so I just hope Dev can pull it off. Either way he's a much better choice than Jesse McCartney. Dev's also 18 to Jesse's 21, making Dev also a lot closer to Zuko's real age of 16 which is another plus.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0938283/news#ni0667514 <—--source

Really? I didn't see any news when I searched IMDb.com, so it must not be official yet. Do you have a link to a story confirming this?

In any case, I found that I'm getting less and less interested in the movie as time goes on, as I can apply the same principle to the LA movie as I did to the Star Wars universe; if one doesn't want to ruin one's perception of canon, don't see any of the extended universe stuff. In a way, EU is like fan fiction that's been capitalised on.

Anyway, if I feel that this movie wouldn't do A:tLA justice, I'm just not going to see it. It's even easier considering that Avatar is an animated series and one doesn't need to see a movie adaptation of it, so all of us who are worried that M. Night is ruining the movie should probably just not see it rather than getting up in arms about it. That's the beauty of a market economy with the added bonus of freedom of choice.

I'll probably wind up seeing it just because I have nothing better to waste my money on... It If I can deal with an awesome series like Avatar getting blown off by a bad final season [and an even worse finale], then I can easily watch some crappy movie, whatever be inside it. Surely it can't be as bad as the Mary Sue characters that some RP site admins make or the bad fanfiction I've read before... I fear nothing at this point anymore.

[anyone thinking that this post is directed at them is wrong. Concerns or questions regarding it can be taken up with Tenoko via PM]

so yeh. I plan to see it, just to see how it turns out. That was the only reason I watched the finale, 'coz I had already read that "Sozin's Comet" book that came out in May.
~Tenoko~

< Toph Edit: We do not discuss, nor condone, our members participating in illegal activities. We have no control over what you do outside of TARP, but if it's illegal, we don't want it discussed. Thank you. >

I'm not sure if this is official or even correct, but one of the articles I read stated that Jessica Andres would be cast as Suki. Here.

I for one am disgruntled by the casting so far. I know, it's possible to make a white actor look Asian or Inuit, but I'd much rather see an Asian or Inuit actor. The main thing for me though, is the age. I don't watch a lot of movies, and I know hardly anything about actors, but it seems hard for them to cast such old people for such young roles. Can they really make them look that young?