Comments on: Hollywood Discomfort with Asian Lead Characters

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:29:47 +0000

There is not a lot of selections of Asians Actors in Hollywood because they are not given the opportunity to get work like every other race and so when the need to call for an Asian role, the directors use the excuse they couldn’t find anyone. Um, you can hold an open audition and lets just see how many people will show up? Plus there are sooooo many roles out there that an asian can play, it does not have to be an Asian role! Geez we live in the present time and people still are racist?!

By: Ike

Ike — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:57:41 +0000

The kid who voiced the boy from Up would make a great Aang. He’s just about the right age and can pull off the silly boyishness mixed with a bit of seriousness.

By: Alyson Sagala

Alyson Sagala — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:08:28 +0000

“I think people are a little *too* concerned about race here. Are there lots of great Asian actors and actresses? Of course there are. Do they physically look like the characters as they appear in the show? Not really. *shrug*”

Uh yeah – they do. I don’t know what pictures you’re looking at, but the the actors that they’ve casted to play Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko look nothing like the original characters.

Matching in skin color and other facial characteristics (like nose, eyes, mouth, etc.) have to do with looking physically similar.

This has nothing to do whether we are *too* concerned with race or the fact that maybe these white actors can play the character just as well as an Asian actor (albeit lacking the matching physical characteristics); it has to do with the fact that they’re changing the very origin of the characters – their ethnicity – to meet their own agenda of attempting to appeal to a wider audience, which apparently is white.

By: Alyson Sagala

Alyson Sagala — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:03:52 +0000

Well even if Zuko’s appearance is slightly different (i.e. more slanted eyes, etc.) it has nothing to do with whether he is “evil” or not, because ultimately he is a good character in the end who redeems himself by helping Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

There are also many other Fire Nation characters shown to be good, who aid the heroes in securing peace.

By: Unblogged Bits for Monday, 30 November 2009 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Unblogged Bits for Monday, 30 November 2009 | ***Dave Does the Blog — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:01:55 +0000

[...] Hollywood Discomfort with Asian Lead Characters » Sociological Images – sigh [...]

By: Alyson Sagala

Alyson Sagala — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:01:53 +0000

Uh, the reason there is no focus on colonialism in Latin American in UP is because the region in which the movie takes place is not populated by ANYONE, Latin American, colonials, indigenous peoples, etc.

I can understand your discomfort with movies like Tarzan for ignoring the issue al-together, but your accusation towards Pixar for being politically incorrect by not portraying colonialism in UP is off-base because it had nothing to do with the region in which the movie took places.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepui

By: Guest Post: Can Ming the Merciless Be Redeemed? » Sociological Images

Guest Post: Can Ming the Merciless Be Redeemed? » Sociological Images — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:24:39 +0000

[...] scandals about the casting for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (see here and a follow up here), we thought you’d enjoy this thoughtful discussion of the Flash Gordon character, Ming the [...]

By: Casting White Actors In Asian Roles: 1957 to Today » Sociological Images

Casting White Actors In Asian Roles: 1957 to Today » Sociological Images — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:35:17 +0000

[...] film version of The Last Airbender, a show filled with Asian characters, and the producers’ sketchy decision to re-cast one evil character as Asian in response to the protests, inspired Claire at Hyphen to put together a trajectory of the [...]

By: Margo

Margo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:06:44 +0000

I would like to make a note to those who insist that the heroes of the cartoon look more “Caucasian” due to the rounded faces and wide eyes. I would argue the exact opposite; most of the villains have a facial structure that is remarkably more caucasian.

This video illustrates a lot of counter-arguments to the general assumption that anime styled characters look more white than asian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTvFhRbBt8

By: Lucia

Lucia — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:09:01 +0000

The truth is that the character in Up and the characters in Avatar don’t look Asian. I was upset when I found out the characters for Avatar would be mostly white, but I wasn’t surprised. Hollywood has pulled this one more than once. Dragonball was utterly mutilated.

By: Melissa Cavanaugh

Melissa Cavanaugh — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:27:34 +0000

Holy crap. That is dead on!!! Maybe someone will get wise and change his role. That would be great!

Thanks for that link!

Cheers!
Melissa

By: karinova

karinova — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:31:01 +0000

Whoa.
Dev Patel IS that Sokka character.

By: Melissa Cavanaugh

Melissa Cavanaugh — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:52:23 +0000

Honestly, I had the impression they were looking for people who match the facial characteristics of the characters as they appear in the cartoon. Depending on the angle and pic, the first three are actually a really good match. For facial structure, Aaron Carter was actually an amazing match for Zuko’s facial structure. The picture used here isn’t Zuko looking Asian. It’s Zuko looking angry. :p

While most of the influence of the show was Asian, I would really love for someone to tell me what Asian culture uses the phrase “What can I do you for?” among other forms of American slang used in the show.

I think people are a little *too* concerned about race here. Are there lots of great Asian actors and actresses? Of course there are. Do they physically look like the characters as they appear in the show? Not really. *shrug*

By: Race and Gender in “The Princess and the Frog” » Sociological Images

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:36:08 +0000

[...] also this post that includes a discussion of concerns that the movie “Up” wouldn’t be popular [...]

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:30:58 +0000

For those that need visual reference of why anime characters aren’t necessarily white, there’s a good youtube video that explains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTvFhRbBt8&feature=channel_page

I went to a high school that was around 30% asian. The person with the smallest, squintiest eyes relative to face size I know? My older brother, of english/german/slovak ancestry.