Not a Post Racism Society, Entertainment Division by Kevin

Justine Larbalister points out that a wildly popular Nickelodeon show based on Asian mythology and built around Asian characters is going to be made into a live action movie. Sounds good, right? Except that they have turned the heroes white and left the bad guys Asian:

Avatar has been hugely popular among kids of all races. There was no backlash against an all-Asian show. Much as those who watch anime don’t freak out at the paucity of white characters. Yet, somehow the Hollywood producers think the live action version has to be white washed. Except for the villians, of course, it’s okay for them to be brown. I think they’re wrong.

There is no reason for this change. The source material is already popular on American TV among the target audience and it is not credible to believe that there aren’t enough competent Asian actors in this country to cast the show. Nor is the idea that “names” are needed to sell the movie. The source material is the draw, not the cast. They made Harry Potter with actors who were unknown, after all, and that has worked out pretty well.

No, the only explanation for this terrible whitewash is that a group of Hollywood executives were too racists to conceive of a world were white kids would flock to watch Asian actors in a summer movie despite the fact that those self-same kids helped turn the TV show the movie is based on into a smash hit.

This is, incidentially, a strong argumewnt for affirmative action. A show consisting entirely of Asian characters is a hit on American television — it has, in other words, done as well as a TV show can possibly be expected to do — and yet that success is still not enough to prevent the movie form being filled with white actors. How can anyone see that kind of success dismissed and discounted and believe that being as good as whites is going to get you anything other than nothing?