SmearglePaints
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2009
- Messages
- 314
- Reaction score
- 0
Well, the premiere is coming soon, on the first of next month. Things seem to have reached an apex of sorts as coverage for the film has brought up the casting controversy with most condemning it. You know that this is a little more than some fans' sniff when Roger fucking Ebert calls out the casting.
Likewise, Shyamalan seems to be really feeling the heat and has delivered a lot of new interviews on the subject, though he continually parrots the same old excuses of anime being "ambiguous" and that he's making the world of Avatar "more diverse". His most recent interview, as seen here (posted today), is simply hilarious in how personal he's taken the whole thing. Example, first question:
Q: There's been a lot of controversy regarding the casting and how all the heroes are being portrayed by Caucasian actors, while all the villains are all being portrayed by non-Caucasians. How do you respond to those who are saying that The Last Airbender is racist?
A: "Well, you caught me. I'm the face of racism. I'm always surprised at the level of misunderstanding, the sensitivities that exist. As an Asian-American, it bothers me when people take all of their passion and rightful indignation about the subject and then misplace it. Here's the reality: first of all, the Uncle Iroh character is the Yoda character in the movie, and it would be like saying that Yoda was a villain. So he's Persian."
Snippy from the get-go, Shyamalan goes on to call his race-casting of the imperialist Fire Nation from East Asian/Japanese to dark-skinned Indians "ironic" and calls anyone that suggests that this may have unfortunate implications are themselves "racist".
After trotting out the familiar spiel about anime being "ambiguous", Shyamalan explains his thought-process in casting every people other than the heroes as minorities, then explains that this logically allowed for the heroes to be white/European in the name of "diversity".
Finally, he finishes up with a little more defensive ranting, including "The irony of this statement enrages me to the point of ... not even the accusation, but the misplacement of it. You're coming at me, the one Asian filmmaker who has the right to cast anybody I want, and I'm casting this entire movie in this color blind way where everyone is represented. I even had one section of the Earth kingdom as African American, which obviously isn't in the show, but I wanted to represent them, too!", which seems to indicate that because he's an Asian (Indian) director he's immune to making unfortunate casting decisions.
While Shyamalan may seem to have every right to be defensive, he can't help but finish with this: "And again, this is what really frustrates me, when we get to the second movie (hopefully), since its based in the Earth Kingdom, suddenly the movie will seem entirely politically correct Asian, and the accusers will feel like they won. YOU DID NOT WIN! YOU DID NOT WIN! That's not what happened, you were wrong. As you can tell, it's a frustrating thing. Look at the movie poster with Dev Patel in it. I'm not understanding ... he's not politically correct?"
In the end, Shyamalan's anger seems to have gotten the better of him. Despite statements from casting director Frank Marshall that the "Caucasian or other ethnicities" casting call was a "third-party" mistake (which was later proven false from early dated in-production papers and the fact the official site used this phrasing), Shyamalan ruins the lie by saying "And here's the irony of it, this has nothing to do with the studio system. I had complete say in casting. So if you need to point the racist finger, point it at me, and if it doesn't stick, then be quiet." Combined with earlier statements where he wanted the white Nicola Peltz as Katara from the beginning, and that "no one else on the planet" could act as Aang other than Noah Ringer, it becomes obvious who the preference was under "Caucasian or any other ethnicity". Yes, Shyamalan, I think I'll point my finger at you.
Likewise, Shyamalan seems to be really feeling the heat and has delivered a lot of new interviews on the subject, though he continually parrots the same old excuses of anime being "ambiguous" and that he's making the world of Avatar "more diverse". His most recent interview, as seen here (posted today), is simply hilarious in how personal he's taken the whole thing. Example, first question:
Q: There's been a lot of controversy regarding the casting and how all the heroes are being portrayed by Caucasian actors, while all the villains are all being portrayed by non-Caucasians. How do you respond to those who are saying that The Last Airbender is racist?
A: "Well, you caught me. I'm the face of racism. I'm always surprised at the level of misunderstanding, the sensitivities that exist. As an Asian-American, it bothers me when people take all of their passion and rightful indignation about the subject and then misplace it. Here's the reality: first of all, the Uncle Iroh character is the Yoda character in the movie, and it would be like saying that Yoda was a villain. So he's Persian."
Snippy from the get-go, Shyamalan goes on to call his race-casting of the imperialist Fire Nation from East Asian/Japanese to dark-skinned Indians "ironic" and calls anyone that suggests that this may have unfortunate implications are themselves "racist".
After trotting out the familiar spiel about anime being "ambiguous", Shyamalan explains his thought-process in casting every people other than the heroes as minorities, then explains that this logically allowed for the heroes to be white/European in the name of "diversity".
Finally, he finishes up with a little more defensive ranting, including "The irony of this statement enrages me to the point of ... not even the accusation, but the misplacement of it. You're coming at me, the one Asian filmmaker who has the right to cast anybody I want, and I'm casting this entire movie in this color blind way where everyone is represented. I even had one section of the Earth kingdom as African American, which obviously isn't in the show, but I wanted to represent them, too!", which seems to indicate that because he's an Asian (Indian) director he's immune to making unfortunate casting decisions.
While Shyamalan may seem to have every right to be defensive, he can't help but finish with this: "And again, this is what really frustrates me, when we get to the second movie (hopefully), since its based in the Earth Kingdom, suddenly the movie will seem entirely politically correct Asian, and the accusers will feel like they won. YOU DID NOT WIN! YOU DID NOT WIN! That's not what happened, you were wrong. As you can tell, it's a frustrating thing. Look at the movie poster with Dev Patel in it. I'm not understanding ... he's not politically correct?"
In the end, Shyamalan's anger seems to have gotten the better of him. Despite statements from casting director Frank Marshall that the "Caucasian or other ethnicities" casting call was a "third-party" mistake (which was later proven false from early dated in-production papers and the fact the official site used this phrasing), Shyamalan ruins the lie by saying "And here's the irony of it, this has nothing to do with the studio system. I had complete say in casting. So if you need to point the racist finger, point it at me, and if it doesn't stick, then be quiet." Combined with earlier statements where he wanted the white Nicola Peltz as Katara from the beginning, and that "no one else on the planet" could act as Aang other than Noah Ringer, it becomes obvious who the preference was under "Caucasian or any other ethnicity". Yes, Shyamalan, I think I'll point my finger at you.
