Here is a video that speaks for itself: http://www.youtube.com/wat
on the people of color in the cast:
yes they exist, but Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis, and Summer Bishil (our resident people of color) are all cast as Fire Nation characters = villains. packing the villain train full of brown people is nothing to celebrate. not to mention that the original zuko was white ( http://www.thepostgameshow
on the characters being 'race ambiguous' in the cartoon:
A) false. katara and sokka are entirely based on inuits. here's a pic: http://pics.livejournal.co
on top of that, while their names aren't inuit, they're not racially ambiguous-- in fact they're most likely inspired by japanese names. only that "sokka" seems like a whitened spelling of "saka."
B) false for aang as well. aang is a chinese name, although the spelling is also slightly whitened from "ang" (don't know why that had to be whitened, nobody seems to have trouble pronouncing "Ang Lee," the Taiwanese American director). aang's character as well as his trajectory throughout the entire series is based upon the shaolin monks. beginning young, and setting off on a spiritual buddhist journey that involves becoming well trained in chinese martial arts. on top of that, here's what a shaolin monk looks like: http://web.tiscali.it/giov
on other asian representations in the cartoon:
1) WRITING: only mandarin/chinese characters are used throughout the entire cartoon-- you can thank tattoo artists for making them look like exotic symbols, but yes, characters are written language as much as letters or words are in english. the series is headlined with chinese. and each episode begins with chinese characters (NOT japanese kanji) that spell out the four elements. every scroll, every document that is read throughout the series is spoken in english but written in chinese. which is kinda cool of the animators, rather than just scribbling! in fact, just for kicks haha, here is a website that tells you how to practice your chinese calligraphy just by watching avatar: http://hubpages.com/hub/Le
2) BUILDINGS: are all inspired by dinstinctly asian/inuit/pacific islander cultures. a blog i read summed it up well:
"There are no equivalents to African or European cultures in the Avatar world. There are no medieval French castles. There are no Egyptian temples. There are no Viking long houses. There are no Malian mosques." so really, the whole "avatar is all about global diversity" thing is out the window. the youtube video above does a good job of comparing the architecture specifically. not to mention that last city in the earth kingdom (ba sing se?) is entirely based on the forbidden city in beijing, china.
here is a picture of ba sing se in the cartoon: http://dkamayo.files.wordp
here is a picture of the forbidden city: http://home.pacbell.net/ee
here are pictures of the forbidden city watchtowers: http://www.vagabondjourney
even the walkways look almost entirely the same:
http://www.chinatravelcomp
ALSO, the 'lion turtle' that's a recurring theme in avatar (see here: http://images2.wikia.nocoo
....so yes, Avatar is heavily BASED (and not just inspired) on asian & inuit culture. regardless of what race the writers of the show were, or where the show was aired, avatar is still a representation of asian culture. it simply does not make sense to cast white actors in a movie representative of asian culture, especially since asian actors are already restricted to the few roles that they can play. jet li, jackie chan, chow yun fat, etc. are successful for a reason. not because they're asian and charismatic, but because they're asian and know very well how to market themselves to fit asian stereotypes (read: learn kunfu). this is not 'overanalyzing it'. this is contributing to a very, very long history of blackface/yellowface and in making people of color INVISIBLE even when they're most directly represented.
