• So... Japanese remake = Japanese actors. Makes sense. American remake = /White/ actors? You lost me.

• does anyone know anything about auditions for the last air bender book 2 earth cause if you do tell someone!!!

• Brian posted that statement on his Myspace page (which is for his music) because the Racebenders were harassing him over it and it had gotten to the point where he was willing to say anything to shut them up for a while. He did not issue the statement because he secretly hates the cast, he issued it because he got so fed up with all the people who were whining at him.

• The US, unlike Japan, is a multiethnic nation made COMPLETELY of immigrants. Whereas in Tokyo, you basically see practically all "yellow" faces, you go to Los Angeles and you see every color of the rainbow. I think there's a huge difference. It seems the argument of this article is that it's money, not racism for the white cast. I would contend that it doesn't require one to actually hate a person because of their race, to do something that constitutes racism. It may not be "I hate you" racism, but it's still institutional racism. This is an even more dangerous form of racism because it hurts minorities but can be self-rationalized.

• So let's say this movie was set in an fantasy land based on Africa, with African ecology, housing, clothing, writing, food, etc. Would it then be alright for the three main characters to be white while the main bad person (in this movie) was African? You also forget that Japan is stuck in the American equvalent of the 1960's. There's still blatent foreigner discrimination in Japan, especially in regards to housing.

• Oh, so most of America is white, and we should just stop complaining that Asian-inspired characters are getting played by white people because HOW DARE WE ASK FOR ACTORS THAT LOOK LIKE US. GOD WE'RE SO RACIST TO WHITE PEOPLE FOR EVEN DARING TO COMPLAIN. Fantastic. Great to know that. Just letting you know that a lot of comic illustrators/animators out there disapprove of this as well. Gene Yang's not amused. Derek Kim's not amused. Alex Ross' not amused. Great job, Paramount! You've successfully turned off a whole legion of potential fans and made the comic book industry dislike you as well. Awesome. Fuck this movie, I'm going to go watch All Riders and the Space Battleship Yamato film, since it has heroes I can actually relate to. Might as well watch Harold and Kumar again, since that's probably the only recent movie series that actually stars Asian-Americans and Indian-Americans. Whoohoo. Someone call me when America releases a film that doesn't have Asian-Americans stuck in the "martial arts person/nerdy sidekick/foreign loser" role. In the meantime, it's back to foreign films.

• Ok, here's the problem I see with this, If you will indulge me as another black nerd, if you remade a live action Boondocks with white children for the sake of Hollywood catering to their audience, would it change the gist of the show? Undeniably yes. I've been following avatar since its first airing on Nick and I was blown away with the culture richness of the cartoon. How often do brown kids find themselves in such a masterful cartoon, only to find that Hollywood doesn't find them acceptable in live action. Its 2010 and this sort of thing is really rather disappointing. I won't be seeing the movie simply because Shaymalan is an awful director, but also because I'd like to see this done right for goodness sake. How hard could it have been for Shaymalan to insist on casting some ethnic children. Eventually this kind of stuff becomes unacceptable and is the reason racism will never go away until people pipe up and let them know that this is not cool. True enough anime characters do not translate into real people and the characters on the typical manga toon are pretty stereotypical, but Aang and the gang were not. That is what made them wonderful and the failure to bring their real gems ( their diversity) to the silver screen a travesty.

• M. Night Shaymalan isn't Middle Eastern. He's of South Asian descent.

• So i can understand why people are getting all up in arms over the race thing, but it seems to me that no one has touched upon the one thing that I think that this movie lacks.... hair-loopies!! Mostly I just wanted to say that when I think about Katara, the first thing that comes to mind is not Inuit or Eskimo, it's hair-loopies. Just putting that out there....

• K... have u ever seen an inuit person? they're some of the ugliest peeps on the planet. Katara is beautiful in the series. inuits are not.

• The creators have stated numerous times that the Water Tribe was based on the Inuits. Nevertheless, Derp's comments show a total callousness for the situation.

• I think the point was that their eye colour wasn't based on "race" but element, why does skin have to be consistent?

• I didn't know there were any Inuits in Avatar... Just the North and South Water tribe. I never once heard the word Inuit. Being based on Inuits isn't enough to get a brain hemmorage over.

• Edit: If this is a double post, apology. As for you tvtastegood, if talking about race makes you uncomfortable, then that says more about you and the issue than anything else.

• If you talk about race, you're being racist? Are you for real? If it makes you uncomfortable to talk about race in a country where racism and discrimination still exists, then that says more about you than the actual issue.

• Amen!

• One thing I've always noticed is that most of the defenders seem to have never heard of Asian Americans. We're like Bigfoot. We hear about them (model minority yay! one minority who don't blame whites right?) but somehow never see them!

• It's nice to know you never met a person in your entire life who's stuck to their principles or wasn't as stupid as you Mister Gone.

• God, I want the show on DVD SO BAD right now! The movie looks pretty cool, but where's the lemur? Also, I hope they keep the scene where Sokka and Momo get high off the cactus juice... one of my favorite scenes!

• woah, sorry for the spellcheck fail.

• not to brign up a whole different can fo worms but...was anyone else upset that they made all fo the male characters into action figures and never made a single female figure? they never made Katar and Toph who are main characters but they made multiple Aangs and Zukos and even multiple fire nation guys. I am just sayin...

• Dev Patel is doing well for himself. He started off in little-known British comedy/drama Skins, then starred in the insanely successful Slumdog Millionare, and now he's playing the bad guy in this? I'm just saying, it's weird how far he's come so quickly.

• We know that the casting prioritized whites over other minorities. They wouldn't have included "Caucasian or any other ethnicity" if they didn't plan to do so. We're not saying the current actors got chosen strictly because they're white- more like emphasizing the fact that actors of color didn't get a fair chance to be chosen because they're not.

• Fifth!

• oh finally someone mentions the tibetan aspect, thats exactly how i viewed it too,I've taken asian studies courses and I absolutely love their original culture, you can tell avatar was heavily influenced by them,especially with the fire nation taking over, it reminds me of the chinese trying to conquer the world. And truthfully rob, the REAL TRUE REASON people are upset over this, and you need to REALIZE this is the REAL reason: the movie was a big chance, for finally ONCE in american society (A mixing pot of race might i add , and of course you don't see that in the movie either)there was going to be a hollywood movie showing off another true culture other then our own,the main cast with other minorities then white,everyone got excited getting the additude of 'finally you've come along, the way i feel about you it just can't be wrong' a good epic storyline, epic cast, and a huge budget to boot, only problem was: the director, to me it almost seems like the creators got all excited at the idea and signed on without really reading the contract, having a innocent mindset towards it, and to find out that they used twilight actors and FAMOUS Indian ones of the same ethnicity of the director. who DOSN'T that piss off? not only this, but they took all the comedy that made avatar, in the show, all the cuteness and the amazingly strong fat quirky uncle, skinny, (hollywood of course~~) who was MAJORLY asian, even the voice actor who died was. I'm more pissed that the creators sold themselves out on this one, its obvious they signed a contract without really thinking.And actually, the cultural advisors to the show , had shown deep dissapointment in M knight's casting and are against the release of the movie, since it seems to have turned into some type of kungfu action flick more then a cultural movie with a deep meaningful message, just to appeal to a wider audience because the fan base wasn't enough for him. (oh and by the way, the creators themselves stated that the show is not supposed to be all about action at all, the characters are supposed to go through a deep emotional journey and you, the audience is supposed to feel that) its clear Night wanted to make money because his last movie flopped, M night also claimed in a interview he wanted to use a whole cast of 'unknown kids' for the cast, and i don't know about you but i only see one in there. I also would like to say this: If you had a strong message sent out to the world, that you really wanted to say, then all of a sudden someone comes along saying 'you know what? I like your message, here, i'll even give you the microphone' and just as your about to say something in it the other person goes 'you know what...do you mind if i edit out a few parts, here and there?' and your fine with it as long as they keep the message with the same meaning, and just as your about to speak up once more, the guy rips the microphone out of your hands and talks into it himself, stealing your idea entirely to get all the glory, but with a much more 'society approved' tone. I'm not going to bother reading a reply to this, because I realize a bunch of people are going to jump at me for it, and honestly i don't feel like feeding into a waste of their karma. But to those of you who agree remember this: the fans can always remake the movie at some point or another in their life, and when they do, we'll make it right, or even mayabe a tv series instead.

• But it's a fantasy culture based on *Asian* culture. So why would White leads be chosen over Asian-American actors? It's not logical.

• Au contraire. You should check out the boycotting petition. (On a side note, I don't think anyone from Racebending stratifies the issue as "Real Fans" vs. everyone else.) Still, enjoy your apathy.

• Here's another comparison: Aang, as drawn by Avatar Co-creator Bryan Konietzko, [note this picture came out *after* the casting controversy*] http://www.racebending.com/v3/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/aangsdccposter.jpg He doesn't translate as a Ringer lookalike to me. But the issue really isn't about comparing mugshots; the original show is steeped in Asian culture (it's set in a Pan-Asian world) where concepts like fashion, calligraphy, cuisine, weaponry, customs, and names are taken from a host of different Asian cultures, to the point where the IP Bible states that A:tLA is "…an ancient, fantastical Asian environment, primarily Chinese." Essentially, the controversy boils down to taking a show based on Asian cultures, and casting Caucasian actors as the best "real world" representation. Whitewashing, or it you prefer "Racebending."

• Your all utterlÝ insane!!!! Your so friggin focused on your own thoughts that you refuse to hear reason!!!!!! Who cares in the end!!!!! Point one: if the studio flat out said only white kids in the lead roles say no to all others and there was REAL RELIABLE evidence of this they would be SUED!!!!!!!!!! Point two: I know if I say I'm not racist I will be labeled a racisit but I'm reall not. What I see on this thread is people flying off the handle about the casting of an american made cartoon that has EASTERN (asia is a continent not a culture) influences that turned into a movie directed by a man of middle EASTERN decent that has a cast of white people. How does this mess with the story? If it was a big enough deal M Night could have vetoed it or does some obviously RACIST website claim that he did and whitey wouldn't let him!? Point three: an IP bible is used within a studio or production company in order to maintain continuity there is not one that encompasses all television and movies, unless some douchecock online made one up. In summary TALK ABOUT THE PLOT OR THE ACTION SCENES OR HOW AWESOME THE SET PIECES ARE DON'T FOCUS ON RACE OR YOU ARE IN FACT BEING RACIST Thank you and good night (People wonder why Rob drinks aside from his genetic defect)

• Well, I must admit, the bit of him in the background I saw in the first trailer did make me nerd out a bit. Yip yip.

• My son's, a fan of the cartoon, biggest concern was if Appa was going to be believable.

• LOL, Marissa, I think you are responding to the wrong person. I was defending you. My comment was directed to juststop.

• The "bad" characters are still portrayed by "earth ethnicities" as minorities, where as the "good" characters are Caucasians. While Avatar takes place in fantasy land, if they were to be portrayed by earthlings, they'd likely be multi-cultural. I think it's straight racism, not just discriminatory, if that's what the debate really is about. I think it's evolved into more about the dangers of dismissive attitudes towards racism.

• This. Plus I've said my piece and there's nothing else I can possibly say that hasn't been said by others.

• I've been lurking for a while usually I love the site and articles, but I think I have to say something on this thread... Whitewashing is still a standard media practice in a country that PRIDES ITSELF on racial diversity and tolerance, and to me that's unacceptable. To tell people that they shouldn't get worked up over this is the worst form of apathy and is indicative of what's wrong with this country right now. Just because something is the status quo, doesn't mean it has to remain so, especially if it's a HORRIBLE status quo.

• All I hear is "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa wuh wuh wuh whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." I am a huge fan of the original show. Never once did I imagine it would make it's way to the big screen. This racebending BS is getting really old. The fact of the matter is all these "Real Fans" bitching about the casting will be right there in line with me and all the other folks who don't give a crap.

• Hmm...I saw so many comments controversy and I have never seen the cartoon, so i did some research.... This is cartoon aang... http://www.nicknz.co.nz/content/3774/Aang.png This is movie aang... http://www.angryzenmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/movieaang.jpg They actually look pretty close. Whats the controverery about again?

• I am black and I have a more unique perspective than most nerds have when it comes to racism in nerdery. Ideally it would have been nice to have Asians cast in the roles for this movie,but it dosen't bother me too much. I agree with Rob movie studios cater to thier audience and America is mostly white. I have watched a lot of anime and yes you do get the character that has features that don't exist in Japan like Naruto and every other blond character or Icigo and his red hair,but for the most part they act Japanese. I haven't too many blacks or latinos or any other ethnicity in anime that wasn't a horrile stereotype.

• ok Rz and K >>> M. Night Shyamalan's daughter dressed as Katara for Halloween. This is why he decided to even do the TLA movie. Why do you think she dressed as Katara? Could it be that she saw a dark skinned superheroine on television, and could identify with her? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ adding to what you both said , a heroine could be anything , actress , singer, model just look up Naomi ,Tyra, Vivica Fox, Gabrielle union,Kajol, alexa vega, Oprah, Aishwarya Rai‎ . and you will be hit with women who are amazing as actresses and BRANCHED OUT. all the women of color you cant look on a covergirl ad and see Aishwarya's name pop up but you damn sure recognize the face . and if what i read about the PRODUCERs' duties being true that alone is pure money-influenced BULLSHIT >__> and unfortunatley this sad fact is one we all should try and change (READ AS : directors and everyone in school for arts *writers,artists* as a future)

• Not quite sure how you're seperating the casting from "the goddamn movie" since they go hand in hand... (Perhaps you mean the writing/characterization/etc. Either way, the brunt of this article /was/ focused on racism.) Either way, as the movie isn't out yet for me to judge, and this trailer is, I think I'll focus on addressing the injustice as I see it and go from there. Better yet, let's allow those who have a sense of long-term awareness -and understand that while the casting for this singular movie won't change, perhaps a greater change can be made- discuss the issue in forums created for such dialogue. Shall we?

• I don't think it's evil and malicious. I think it's /dumb/. Katara and Sokka aren't just white. They're white/bread/. It does bug me that they couldn't even find a more exotic caucasian to play them. That being said, Aang doesn't look too bad, but Katara just looks awful and mopey. What's more, Avatar was made by NICKELODEON. Not Japan, not Italy, NICKELODEON. And they still had a whole cast of not-white-people. One thing I'll say about Race in The Last Airbender is that Cliff Curtis is playing Firelord Ozai. This is hilarious, given that he has played virtually every ethnicity under the sun, and has now turned to the made-up ones.

• I really don't see how, in the event that the creators do support the casting of this movie (when did they say that?), that changes much of anything other than who stands where in the argument. It doesn't change that Hollywood faces racial issues when it comes to the casting minorities in lead roles of any kind, or the portrayal of such characters. Even if they support the casting, this assumes that they intended the characters on the show to be white. Even if they intended the characters to be white---well that just opens up a whole new area to discuss the issues we've been talking about since all of this began.

• Movies are a reflection of our society. Society makes them and integrates them. That's why it matters to so many people, because what happened with the casting of this movie is telling about the kind of issues our society is facing (and possibly not acknowledging) today, and it is contributing to them. Furthermore, nobody is saying Bollywood, or any other entertainment industry, does not face racial issues either. To assume that just because we have focused our attention to one industry, to one nation's issues, that we completely disregard or refuse to acknowledge the issues of another is ridiculous. We are talking about Hollywood because many people involved in the protest of this movie are American, and as such these issues hit closer to home, effect us more directly, and are ones which we can better talk about simply because we understand more of their complexities.

• You could say that about every movie where the producers didn't come out and tell you they chose the cast based on white racial preference. This movie is precisely a problem for two reasons: 1. It's contributing to a larger pattern of social imagery that facilitates the nature of racism in today's society, and, 2. When considering the fact that casting practices of this nature (and sometimes more blatant) have existed since before this movie was made, and that this movie is still continuing them, this movie is not only a contributor to racial issues, but also, quite likely, a product and a symptom of them.

• I find it interesting that the offended is the asshole and not the offender.

• If the voice acting industry gives preference to white voice actors over others, (I really don't know enough about it either way, but I wouldn't be surprised), that's an issue I will recognize. But there's a difference between voices and visuals, and this movement is largely about the visibility and portrayal of Asian-Americans (and minorities in general) in Hollywood. I would say that most of us place more emphasis on the visual mediums because I believe those have a much larger and longer-lasting impact on audiences and social perceptions.

• Could we talk about, I don't know, maybe the goddamn movie? This racism bullshit is not the point anyway. The movie is cast, what's done is done, so why don't we focus on the actual film and what it's underlying themes are (or ,rather, could be), shall we?

• "That's just how it works, at least for now. Is it right? Probably not, but it's also not as evil and malicious as you think." Intrinsic, institutionalized racism is just as harmful as malicious, "evil," blatant racism. You stance also seems to imply that American = White as default. There *are* Asian-American actors. Marketing to an American audience shouldn't automatically exclude casting actors that aren't White.

• Sanskrit is actually South Asian, although it has been used in South East Asia as well.

• While I find it refreshing that this article lacks any denial of Hollywood's white-preference marketing, I am nonetheless incredibly appalled that it proceeds to trivialize the issues of those people who have a problem with the way Hollywood operates. When my little girl comes running home to me one day and tells me she's being bullied on the playground (whether that means she's been physically attacked or verbally), and I supposed to simply tell her "That's life, get over it"? "Don't lose sleep about it honey!" even though tomorrow she has to worry about going back to school and facing the exact same problems. It doesn't just have to be my little girl. It can be my friend, it can be an acquaintance, it can be someone I've never met. When somebody tells me that they're suffering in a social system that discriminates against them because they're not pretty enough, normal enough, able-bodied, etc., what kind of person am I if I say, "I'm sure your heart is in the right place, but this isn't worth losing sleep over." What makes you think that people losing sleep over this issues lose sleep because they want to? People feel the social ramifications of racism, of white-preference, of racial stereotypes, of sexism, of able-ism, every day whether they want to or not. And for the people who don't feel these things, for the people that don't lose sleep on a regular basis because maybe none of these issues touch us in quite a way that makes us suffer--what kind of people are we to simply dismiss the complaints of others because we don't feel them ourselves? More and more, I've become convinced that the reason these issues still exist and have progressed in their various forms is less because people are purposefully trying to perpetuate them, and more precisely because not enough people take them seriously, not enough people listen when someone is suffering, and because too many people say, "That's life." When you tell somebody "That's life" over something like this, I can't help but see a self-fulfilling prophecy. It enables these issues to continue in the face of little opposition.

• I'd go to bed but it's early here and I'm not tired yet. If I'm tiring you, Rob is advising people not to lose sleep over this, so get some rest.

• <blockquote>I'm implying that there surely weren't enough innuit actors to fill the roles, and there is a chance that none of them were good enough to play leads. Only you would be dumb enough to extrapolate that into me saying that no innuits are good enough.</blockquote> They couldln't find two young people out of millions of people of Inuit descent to play the lead. TWO. Okay, so you didn't say no Inuits were good enough, you just said that they couldn't even find two good enough.

• <blockquote> I'm sorry that white people are more comfortable with white leads. In Asia, they are more comfortable with Asian leads.</blockquote> But neither of these statements are necessarily true. Many people who are white are able to deal with people who aren't white as leads just fine. And in Asia, movies with non-Asians play well, too. And just because white people are more "comfortable" with someone who looks white doesn't mean that all movies should be cast with white actors. It certainly doesn't mean that all non-white lead characters should be cast with white actors, either although that's what's happened this year with Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender. Historically, if Americans hadn't pushed the boundaries of what white people were "comfortable" with, we would not be where we are today.

• Wow... loong thread. Race in film casting shouldn't be as simple as casting white people for white audiences, particularly when the role as a culture or ethnicity at its very heart... Makes me think of the long and unsuccessful struggles Ursula K LeGuin had with getting a dark-skinned actor to play Ged/Sparrowhawk in any of the Earthsea incarnations. There, as with Airbender, white audiences have been pandered to unsuccessfully and this kind of filmmaking by committee decision seems to hint that the powers that be are less than committed to the flavor of the original source material.

• But he is saying exactly the same thing as everyone else here.

• I just want to point out that this movie's costumes are historically inaccurate so -1000 points to m knight shalalman. I would provide a link to some lame website proving my point....but no.

• I think people are underestimating how much kids love this show. I'm of the opinion that white kids would see it if it had Asian stars (as it should). And if I'm wrong, we're not helping the situation by furthering institutionalized racism.

• ^^ that's me BTW

• Because that's actually only one part of what racism is. There is also institutional/systematic racism and internalized racism. Racism also takes a variety of forms.

• Except they actually used a language: CHINESE. So the culture, language, food, clothing and philosophy are all Asian. But the race of the people is white. ?

• *couldn't care less

• Talking about my real-life experience in film is suddenly asking you to appeal to my authority? I don't care if you agree with me or not on this issue. I will not, however, accept a write-off because I do, in fact, know what I'm talking about, and I actually have experience in this matter. I write this so that other people who stuble across this blog days from now might have a new perspective. Questioning you about YOUR assumption that certain shows only appeal to a certain audience is suddenly associating a bit too much? Intersting. Keep flipping throught that book, buddy. (this space left blank for another ad hominem)

• Yeah, using the actually definition of racism is so simplistic. Why don't you try making it broader so we can paint everyone with that brush. How else will we make white people feel bad?

• All of the main characters aren't white. Zuko is South East Asian. It is of my opinion that white children wouldn't freak out and not watch a show because it had brown children as the main characters. I'm pretty sure every kid is going to see The Karate Kid when it comes out. And the main characters are black and Asian. I know what casting is like. Many casting directors have outdated opinions and ideas of what their audience wants. That is, white kids aren't afraid of seeing non-white kids on screen...they would "prefer" to see white kids. (Which is untrue, in my opinion.) That's why it's not xenophobia. Casting directors could care less, because it's about $$$ to them, as you've mentioned before. It is racism, however, because non-white actors are being left in the dust because of their race. It's not "We hate Asians racism" it's "Asians can't make us money, and therefore aren't good enough" racism, i.e. institutionalized/systemic racism.

• Opens with a thinly veiled ad hominem. No, the association fallacy was pointing towards your statement about The Bernie Mac (constantly derided for being an Uncle Tom) Show and how, since it's doing ok, it somehow becomes illogical to assume that other shows, driven by mainly black actors should also be capable of doing well. The appeal to authority was the bit about your family yaddayaddayadd. Do keep up.

• As a Native actress, I was just really excited to see actual indian up-and-comers in major roles. There's more of us than you'd think, we are a culture based on storytelling. Oh well. I guess if roles tailor-made for us based off of an american cartoon isn't enough to get us at least a couple of parts, then...

• I think people here have tried to explain why it's racism, but people have this idea that racism automatically means "I hate Asians". That's not all that racism is, and that's not nerely all of how it operates. Everyone here keeps talking about "xenophobia" without researching into concepts like systematic and institutional racism. I highly doubt the casting director is racist OR xenophobic. The casting process in Hollywood (and in American cinema in general) is, unfortunately, racist.

• No, the main characters would be white, as they are. I know you were talking about the casting practices in Hollywood and not the people watching the movie. I was merely stating that the movie was catered to their xenophobic tendencies. Hollywood makes movies for white folks because they spend the most on entertainment.

• a fundamental disrespect of an integral part of source material. or 'har har dumb!amerikanz'. I think they went so far off course that at that point they just didn't care anymore.

• I didn't mean to say the person I responded to was defending it. (Plus it's hard to tell which comments are made by the same person.) I meant that debating whether the term "racism" or "xenophobia" fits best isn't as important as agreeing there's something stupid and bad about it, no matter what you call it.

• They are from the Fire Nation, they aren't an earth ethnicity. Also, the debate is whether it's racist or just discriminatory.

• *sigh*

• I'm not talking about the people watching the movie, I'm talking about the casting directors. If the casting directors were simply xenophobic, the entire production would have only white, American actors. That is not the case here. The casting director herself is not a racist. The system of casting in Hollywood, unfortunately, is. It's fully of ignorance, stereotyping and people who I think are sometimes willfully obtuse. They have an outdated idea of what audiences want and are not motivated by fear or distrust, but $$$.

• I'm implying that there surely weren't enough innuit actors to fill the roles, and there is a chance that none of them were good enough to play leads. Only you would be dumb enough to extrapolate that into me saying that no innuits are good enough.

• I am under the impression that you've never heard of institutional and/or systemic racism. :/

• So in other words, since you couldn't come up with an answer, you decided to open up your Intro to Logic book and start randomly pointing at words and phrases in a desperate attempt to at least look like you knew what you were talking about. Being an active participant in film and television, and seeing this happen time and time again during casting sessions is not "association". That's called "experience". Showing statstics from the organization that actually did the study is not "appealing to authority". It's called "research". Pointing out that there is a difference between "all roles" and "lead roles" is not a red herring. It's called "common sense".

• Again, I'm not sure you do.

• It was merely talking about where they borrowed the setting from and nothing else, and you know it. Nothing about the people inhabiting the setting. Therefor, not proof. However, David below does make a far more convincing argument, by using actual proof.

• Avatar: TLA is actually an allusion to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. Taking the written language, which is actually an important part of their philosophy and culture (specifically Buddhism and in some ways, Taoism) and changing into NOTHING is in fact, erasing a large part of what makes Avatar what it is. Turning an established written language that is important to understanding concepts in Buddhism and reading texts into nothing is ridiculous. Imagine if when they made the LOTR movies, they turned the Elvish languages that Tolkien worked so hard to perfect (and that he based on real-life languages like Welsh and Old Norse) into "gooble gobbly google gaggle google gobble." That would be completely atrocious and fans would have laughed them out the door. Why, exactly, are they changing the Chinese into "scribbles" anyway? Has anyone given a reason for that?

• Now that's a citation worth reading. The ipbible and racebending nonsense didn't prove anything, but that's pretty definitive.

• You're joking, right? So seriously; saying characters from an "Asian [...] primarily Chinese" world should probably be Asian, or maybe even Chinese is your definition of grasping at straws? I do not think that means what you think it means.

• Red herring, plea to authority, associative fallacy. You've got it all right there.

• Because it doesn't take place in Asian? A culture is not entirely defined by the color of the people that belong to it. They emulated the culture, they didn't thrust it into the story.

• So because he doesn't have slanted eyes, yellow skin or an accent, he's somehow NOT Asian?

• The reason why Katara and Sokka have blue eyes is because their element corresponds to "water"...not because they are white. Water = blue = blue eyes Air = gray = gray eyes Fire = gold = gold eyes Earth = green = green eyes (As a side note: many Asians have blue and green eyes. In fact, it's quite common in some areas of Mongolia, Western China and many places of India (where nearly 100% of the people in some areas have green, hazel or blue eyes).

• No, the argument is that changing the Chinese characters to indiscernible squiggles, that the kids can't read, nor distinguish from actual Chinese is effectively not changing anything. It doesn't matter. If they changed the nature of the cultures or the characters then I would agree. But slight skin tone variations and unreadable text do not indicate a deep seeded flaw in the film. In society, maybe, but that's a different conversation.

• I haven't seen such a shitstorm over a movie since the Deadpool mutilation debacle. Hell, I've always thought Aang was a weird name for a white kid.....look at him!! He is a white kid and to top it off he sounds white. Apart from his name he bares no resemblance to an Asian kid. So I've got no problem with the casting of him Other characters....yes there are ethnic traits in the cartoons. And from appearance the movie has ignores some obvious elements, but I'll hold judgement till I see the completed movie.

• No, he's not. He's not even half Asian. That was a rumor. If he was, then Paramount would have paraded that out to silence opposition to the film like when they took Dev Patel.

• A lot of these comments are coming across as "What About Whitey?" when that (probably?) wasn't Rob's intent. Many of you have your white-supremacy showing, take it to 4chan kk? When a movie based on a multi-cultural source material is made and the "good" characters are mainly Caucasian, and the "bad" characters are mainly non-Caucasian, that's a problem. Also, I think you meant "Dragonball Evolution" there Rob, not DBZ. Goku's also an alien BTW, he's not any earth ethnicity :p.

• Oh really? WHERE did they claim to be supporting the casting? Because from what's been heard so far, all they've said is that they had NOTHING TO DO with the casting. They have not come out for or against it. In fact, they haven't said much about the movie. This alone is telling.

• I always wonder how many people who make this argument realize just how unreal the proportions are of anime characters to real people (white or otherwise). I lived and went to school in Japan. I know anime and manga. I've read it in Japanese and in English. If you actually tried to make an anime person look real, their eyes would take up most of their face, their noses would be almost nonexistent and their mouths would range from being a thin line to a gaping hole. Furthermore, anime and manga characters actually depict non-Japanese characters (including other Asians, like Chinese) in a specific manner. So, for instance, you can tell if someone is black or white or Chinese. As a final note: Katara and Sokka have dark skin. This is not even debatable. They have dark skin. The actors who portray them are not dark skinned in the least. It's not "the race card" to notice that two dark-skinned characters have suddenly morphed into two light-skinned characters.

• Common sense would dictate that, because the backdrop and surroundings are Asian, then the characters themselves must be Asian. How can they be anything BUT Asian?

• Dude, you're missing the point, it's BASED off of asian concepts and culture--it's not an analog of them. The creators of the series have already gone on the record that they support the casting choices. It's over.

• I think I see a couple of instances where he says that it is a pretty shitty situation, so I'm not sure how you get that he is defending it. I, personally, think it's pretty important to understand why something is going on instead of just shouting racism, stamping our feet and missing the opportunity to learn entirely.

• So your argument is that because the average American kid didn't know the writing was Chinese (and how you figured this out, I'm not sure) we shouldn't care that it actually IS Chinese? The characters were modeled after actual Asian and Inuit people (as in, they looked at the faces of Asian and Inuit people in their own families and of actors and historical figures.) Have you seen the concept drawings that were made to go with the movie? Have you seen some of the photos from casting sessions, where Jason Rathbone is surrounded by young Inuit actors who are supposed to be from his nation? This entire thing is just ridiculous.

• Agreed. The cartoon comes off as "anime inspired" at best and since most anime characters have light skin and round eyes, it's grabbing at straws to call it out on a case of the race card.

• You tire me, Marissa. You've made your point <i>repeatedly</i>. We've heard you. We get it. Now run along and go to bed.

• http://www.racebending.com/v3/background/statement-from-dao-le-animatic-editor/

• Did you see the part where the anti-hero white guy went into one of those blue bodies? Were you even paying attention to the cliche, fish out of water, noble white man saves savage (but more compassionate) race storyline at all?

• This fallacy is also what lies at the very core of this issue. Caucasians being seen as the default only results in non-Caucasians being categorized as something other than the norm. And if non-whites are something other than normal, then they can never be seen as equals. Now, take a second and think of as many protagonists from movies as you can off the top of your head. Be honest, how many of those characters weren't white...? Are you starting to see the point?

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