Sunday Roundup – 7/4/10
Q&A time! This past week, thanks to another gracious tweet by Roger Ebert (and even more surprisingly from Felicia Day – thanks Ms. Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog!) I received an incredible amount of feedback and responses to “FacePainting.” So now, for those of you wondering if I was going to respond to questions, here they are.
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But before all of the madness, I need to state one major clarification:
What many proponents for Paramount and Shyamalan fail to understand is that this film, at its very core, reinforces an institutionalized racism inherent to Hollywood’s marketing assumptions – that Caucasian actors are more marketable by default than minority/ethnic actors. This is the racism I speak of.
Films are a reflection of society, directly or indirectly so. A narrative that’s a box-office hit at one point may crash and burn at another point in time; if this weren’t the case, Spaghetti Westerns would still be one of the most popular film franchises today. So if “The Last Airbender” is financially successful, it highlights a very sad characteristic of our society – that despite decades of social movements and policy, we are still not at the point where we can truly consider ourselves “colorblind” and above racism.
If we are to progress above racism – an issue that still affects minorities worldwide from policy to social structures, and by “progress above” I mean address head-on and not simply ignore it as a “mental” thing – then employing and endorsing in such racist, market-driven assumptions is the wrong way to go. Paramount’s claim to diversity in lieu of their casting is no better than someone justifying their racism by claiming their best friend is Black; and Shyamalan’s adaptation of the beloved series is insulting, milking money from Eastern roots by dressing it up in blatant Yellowface despite being an ethnic minority in Hollywood himself. For these reasons I bluntly refuse to support this movie and had hoped to clarify and illuminate such in my article.
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All right, enough that – onwards to the real meat!
Subject: As an Asian American, I find offence to your postings
I personally think that this article is a angry ethnic feeling entitlement over a culture/demographic that they have little or no understanding in. The writer makes these bold statements about “facepainting” and how U.S. cinema is profiling races without consideration about the business, marketing, and other aspects in play.
Excerpt*
“Both “Prince of Persia” and “The Last Airbender” are great offenses that demonstrate a longstanding Hollywood tradition of racist undertones: both cast White actors to portray ethnic characters over respective ethnic actors.
“ Honestly, this is the U.S. selling to a proportionately European demographic (Disney). The fact that they put Jake G as the character, is just a poor choice of casting/screenwriting/ brand marketing. This article/statement implies that only actors of a certain race can play their own ethnic roles, which IS IN TURN RACIST. If it was other countries (i.e. hong kong). They would portrayal of American culture, particularly Caucasians are totally off (see rumble in the bronx). What bothers me is not necessarily the writer’s observations, but how loosely they coin industries being racist (as it is a sensitive subject) without consideration the repercussions involved towards the industry themselves.
Would you, as the writer care to provide an objective view on how the U.S. fares in it’s portrayal of various races, compared to other countries? (Caucasian portrayed in manga or anime in japan, etc), and reaffirm that your statements about this being a Domestic problem rather than a global issue? Or are you just an socially awkward individual looking to scapegoat your insecurities?
food for thought*
– Simon Chan
Jake Gyllenhaal – regardless of how one may critique his acting prowess – is a very well known actor. His name is essentially a brand like all other famous celebrities, which in turn help bring up box office numbers for movies they are attached to. As I said before, I do not condone the casting of “Prince of Persia” but at least understood where Disney was coming from a marketing standpoint. The movie itself is just another silly attempt to utilize grandeur special effects.
Racism is a global issue. However, this article was specifically about Hollywood as an industry and how Paramount Pictures demonstrates another example of Yellowface. This is not to say other movie industries in the world do not indulge in racist depictions (as you have pointed out) but the fact remains that Hollywood is an iconic symbol of movie making worldwide. It makes the biggest presence every year, from glamorous explosions to action-packed popcorn to dramatic pieces – the world knows Hollywood is making another big splash.
More pressingly is that America – which prides itself as a forefront of progressivism – houses this industry that has continued to indulge in incredibly non-progressive practices such as a whitewashed cast in a Asian-based story. Also consider that America arguably has the most diverse population with the best immigration policy worldwide, and that Asian Americans make up a significant percentage of the overall population (not to say that Chinese largely made up the workforce that originally built the railroads nearly a century ago). So to have a history so rich in terribly racist Asian caricatures such as Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, and Mr. Yunioshi from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), Hollywood (specifically Paramount Pictures) is nothing short of backwards relative to progressivism spearheaded by many critical Americans.
You cannot deny the fact that whitewashing any cast of ethnic characters is racist because it stems from the assumption that white actors are more marketable by default. This assumption is what drives the marketing standpoint of any big Hollywood studio. Yes it is about money, but I’m not talking about economics – I’m talking about the ethics attached to such marketing reasons, and that the assumptions that drove Paramount to their decisions are inherently wrong.
As an Asian American, I will not support this movie because it is offensive. This is not about “entitlement” issues. This is about a studio that has the audacity to call themselves “diverse” and “true” to Asian culture when they’ve blatantly preferred Caucasian actors over Asian actors regardless of capability simply because they are driven by marketing assumptions that are inherently racist regardless of the economics. This is racism.
P.S. The scapegoats, while a shy species that dwell primarily in mountainous terrain and generally ingest bits of grass and poop, take great offence that you would view them as a reincarnation of my insecurities. They have always taken pride in their predecessors who constantly blamed anyone and everyone for anything possible without warranty – velociraptors.
Also, if by socially awkward you are referring to Buster Bluth, then yes you’re right – I have a hook for a left hand. This resulted from a misfortunate expectation of fully paying homage to Captain Hook during a drunken Disneyland excursion in which flying monkeys chased me through “It’s a Small World” demanding I return a pair of ruby red shoes I’d stolen from the trash can after mistaking them for copies of “Twilight.”
Subject: yellowface
Good article. Just wanted to point out, however, that it would be unwise to help someone “find their lost puppy” in any neighborhood, not just “in the projects”.
– Brooke Bovard
True. I was hoping to create a euphemism but my creative juices were low at that point in writing. I trust readers will extend the metaphor/analogy to more imaginative meanings.
Subject: none
I liked your Airbender post, and agreed with it almost 100%.
One small thing: casting Pat Morita (who was great) as an Okinawan is another problem with the Karate Kid. It’s not exactly casting a white guy to play an American Indian, but it’s not too far off, since mainland Japan colonized ethnically-distinct Okinawa not too long ago. Anyway, keep up the good work.
– Jeff
My memory of the original “Karate Kid” failed to recall this detail, and you’re right. Still, they were at least on the right track. I suspect to this day not too many people know specifically about Japan’s history with Okinawa.
Subject: none
Hi. I being caucasian, am not offended with the casting of the avatar movie - but I do certainly feel you have a valid point. I am/was a fan of the cartoon - it was one of the few that the kids would watch that even grown-up that didn’t watch cartoons could enjoy… I do like cartoons but that’s not the point. Most of the characters were in fact distinctly Asian - especially Aang, despite how light skinned and white looking his character was. The reason I feel the need to chime in here is simply that though most of the characters did give a strong Asian presence the water tribe did not. I always assumed they were Inuit. So perhaps you could put in a word for able bodied and talented Inuit actors as well.
– Dani
I wrote under the assumption that Inuits are genetically related to Asians. With some additional research, it turns out I’m not too far off: Eskimos and Native Americans migrated from Eurasia, so in turn Inuits would be considered Mongoloid by anthropological standards.
So to restate – “The Last Airbender” would be tenfold more interesting if they’d recruited Inuit/Eskimo actors to play members from the Water Tribe respectively.
Subject: The Last Airbender
I just started reading your critique and had to stop in order to ask you to make a correction to one of your statements. “American” does NOT equal “white.” Americans include people of all races and a multitude of ethnicities. The sooner we acknowledge that truth, the sooner we’ll recognize each other more inclusively. I will now resume reading…
– Annette Ballester
Presumably, decades before the majority of Americans were Caucasian (specifically White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), and hoped this had been implied when I wrote about the historical perspective about racism in American theatrics/film. Obviously this definition no longer applies by current standards – the United States is one of the most diverse nations in the world, if not the most, and more than likely Latinos will become the eventual majority in number – but regarding 19th and (arguably about) half the 20th century “American” was analogous to the White majority.
Subject: Facepainting
Thank you for writing such an informative and well-written essay. The examples you provided were excellent, and every argument you made was backed up with good supportive statements.
I think the big lesson I learned from your essay is that within the context of the story, we as an audience know what actors should be playing the roles of the starring characters. Even if it works in a pseudo-hollywood “feel good movie” way, we still notice that it’s wrong, and therefore it IS racist, especially if you choose to ignore the racism on its face (as the Last Airbender does).
If you took the Prince of Persia story (haven’t seen that film either) as an example: if you said, here is this guy’s roots, this guy’s background, and none of it pertains to him being of Persian descent, then there would be nothing wrong.
However, if you chose to cast a Caucasian actor, well-known or not, in a role we all know should be of Persian descent, we know it, even if we try to ignore it.
Though I haven’t seen The Last Airbender, it’s disconcerting to know that it uses the same contextual backgrounds that the characters have in the cartoon series while blatantly ignoring the fact that they are in conflict with the actors playing the roles.
– Matt Malone
Close: what I meant was that in Hollywood, Caucasian actors are generally preferred over other respective ethnic actors for ethnic roles based off of a inherently racist marketing assumption. “Prince of Persia,” whitewashed and inherently racist as it is, at least made some deranged marketing sense because it casted well-known actor Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead, who would invariably pull in audience members because of his celebrity status.
“The Last Airbender,” however, did not cast well-known actors, which adds insult to injury since basically, the producers felt more inclined to cast a newcomer Caucasian actor than a newcomer Asian actor for the starring role. Paramount could have really started a new trend of casting ethnic actors for respective ethnic roles, but they chose not and indulged in traditionally racist marketing assumptions.
Subject: airbender racist casting
i disagree with your assumptions/article about the racist “yellowface” casting in the upcoming airbender movie. (dont know if this matters but i am an american born white male).
in the animated series each characters race is never outright said, only derived from cultural clues. in that case i would call them:
-aang, indian
-katara and sokka inuit (this is debatable, more later)
-zuko, chinese
zuko
during the series zuko flipflops between good and bad, yet you criticize the casting saying “of course they choose a darkie to play an evil character, THEY’RE a RACIST”. at this point im just unhappy a non chinese actor was chosen.
katara and sokka
the water benders didnt always live on the polar icecaps. the retreated there after the fire nation attacked everyone. that being said, i dont know if you could call them inuit. granted they did “lots of eskimo things”; seal hunting, igloos, heavy animal furs, but i think if you lived in a village on ice you might live in a similar fashion. that being said other than that i wouldn’t know what race you could call them. i will give you that they appear darker skinned in the animated series and it would have been nice if they stuck closer to the original idea (ill give you a 50% on the racistness of this casting).
aang
the ONLY reason i could think of i thought of him being indian were because of the religious stuff surrounding him. his upbringing of being a vegetarian, non violence/not killing, and other things which made me think of Hinduism->indian (possibly racist assumption on my part, but oh well, its what i thought). however once again they never mention any religion/race or anything, its all left for us to fill in those blanks. all in all though aang looks pretty white, and i wouldn’t call him Chinese (like zuko, not the same eyes).
the only way i would agree with you on this claim of “racist casting” is if the characters clearly, CLEARLY look like they are trying to portray those previously mentioned stereotypes.
– Andros
Actually, I mentioned “heroic” and “villainous” descriptions of the character because based off the commercials, it’s how the movie’s premise is being marketed. I’ve watched the series and know that Zuko goes through multiple character developments; however, it’s offensive that Paramount purposely markets “villainous” character that happens to be portrayed by a dark-skinned actor.
Regarding the implied ethnicities of the characters: the creators have explicitly stated where they drew their influences from, and whom the characters were purportedly derived from – Buddhism, Taoism, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Native Americans, Inuit, etc. Assuming multiple generations have lived in the ice cap regions, it’s possible that Katara and Sokka’s tribe has distinctly Inuit/Eskimo-like characteristics – physical, cultural, social, political, and aesthetically speaking.
The racism I speak of is not so much that the character’s don’t “look” like the original characters from the series (I concede that the actor for Aang looks close to his original drawn incarnation) but of the marketing assumption that led to Paramount’s decision – that Caucasian actors are more marketable than Asian actors, and that they are possibly more “capable” to act out distinctly Eastern roles. It’s the same marketing assumption that led to Disney casting Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan in “Prince of Persia” (in addition to the fact that he, an A-list actor, would help box office numbers rise).
Subject: none
Dear Q. Le,
I can’t express how much I enjoyed your post on racist casting. For many years, I’ve been very unhappy with Hollywood movies to the point that I can only enjoy animated features. As a Vietnamese-American, I wholeheartedly agree with you on every point you’ve mentioned in your post especially about the three types of racisms. I suffer from personally-mediated racism quite often. Thanks for articulating the problem that we still face today so eloquently.
– Trinh
I’m glad you liked the article. I remember some years ago when my teacher adviser commented that Vietnamese “seem to be less successful than other Asians like Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.” My mother left annoyed and irritated, and I left with further determination to prove that I was capable regardless of how people perceived of my Vietnamese heritage.
Strange though – I’ve got a craving for phở just now.
Subject: the last airbender
I read this article and thought to myself for a minute. If this is just a problem in hollywood and “white” america why do all foriegn films still cast mostly stars from there heritage. Its called ACTING, isn’t that supposed to be the point.
– Sterling Thompson
Not quite. It’s about how a American studio chose to cast Caucasian actors over Asian actors for distinctly Asian roles despite Asian Americans comprising a large subset of the American population. The actors’ ability to act is separate from the institutionalized racism in Hollywood that Paramount and Shyamalan have reinforced, though assuming that Caucasians are more capable at acting than Asians is itself racist as well.
Subject: The Last Airbender
Since Noah Ringer IS actually Asian, your argument that the film is racist by using all white actors in the hero parts is null and void. You should have researched more before making such a quick judgment. Noah Ringer is definitely Asian, possibly only half, but that is more than enough to throw out your argument.
– Richie
Should I conveniently ignore the casting of Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone as well? And why does the internet fail to provide me with the evidence of Ringer’s ethnicity you’ve confidently presented to me? From what I’ve seen it looks like Paramount and his agent aren’t releasing any details regarding this subject matter.
Subject: Avatar/racism
I completely agree with you on how heros are generally portrayed as white and villains are generally ethnic and there is reasoning behind this. I wont get into it a lot, but if you’re interested in the subject read the book “Make-believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment” by Michael Parenti. Basically he explains that it is a ploy used endlessly by entertainment companies to control peoples opinions on other countries subliminally. It’s a great read and he is one of my favorite authors.
Here’s a link about the book.
http://www.michaelparenti.org/MakeBelieveMedia.html
-Nick
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll definitely need to check it out – looks like a great read. And by all means I recommend anyone reading this Q&A to check out the book as well!
Subject: American=white?
Hello,
I thoroughly enjoyed your piece on “The Last Airbender” (http://splinterend.tumblr.com/post/749364670/facepainting). Thanks for offering a thoughtful and thorough examination of the racially biased casting of this movie!
Although the post was great overall, I had a very negative, visceral reaction to this line when I read it, so I wanted to bring it to your attention:
“Americans have a long standing history of playing other ethnic minorities, starting as far as 1829 with the play ‘Metamora.’”
This statement makes it sound like American=white, doesn’t it? Don’t you mean white Americans have a history of playing ethnic minority characters?
Thanks for reading, and thanks for posting a great argument against this crappy movie! If you have time, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
Best,
Q.
Annette Ballester presented a similar question above, and hopefully my answer to her will suffice as well. If my previous answer doesn’t quite answer your question I can offer you a fluffy kitten to ease your qualms.
Subject: Regarding The Last Airbender article
I agree that they majorly fucked up the casting of the movie. However, the idea that you need ethnic actors to properly portray an ethnically-based story is racist in itself. Yes, the mythology of the story was Eastern/Asian-inspired, but that doesn’t mean that only Asians existed in the story’s universe. You constantly slaps together “Race” and “Culture” into the same boat, but a white kid born and raised in Japan will adopt a Japanese culture. I especially dislike your point about self-mediated racism, because all of that is mental and if the “Mexican Lawyer,” or the “Black Doctor” simply shrugged off these ignorant reactions to their race, they wouldn’t have these health problems, assuming I believe that crap. I’m not saying that there isn’t racism in Hollywood, there’s racism everywhere. But as much as the racists fuck things up with their racist agendas, her attempting to convince us that there should have only been Asian actors in this m ovie is just as detrimental and perpetuates the problem. Making the assumption that Asians need an Asian hero is just as racist as well. The best solution, contrary to what you said, is to be colorblind. If theres a kid who looks like Aang, sounds like Aang, and can act like Aang, then I’m going to cast him as Aang. Whether or not he is Asian is irrelevant. End of story.
– Xian
As I’ve said before, the racism is inherent to the marketing assumption – that Hollywood traditionally casts Caucasian actors over ethnic actors driven by a strong belief in their marketability.
I’m not going to try and convince you of the data, but I will ask you this: if you’ve ever been in a position where someone looks at you – without knowing your occupation, your income, your education, your abilities, your philosophies, your personal quirks – and instantly treats you in a particular manner just because of the way you look, just because of the way you sound, just because of the way they may believe you to be who you are – then you’ve experienced self-mediated racism.
It’s a sore, a poison, a disease. It builds up in your system and whether you like it or not disregarding them as pure ignorance is only half the fight. It is there, and it will always be there because no matter how intelligent or capable you are ignorance is pervasive and it will invariably cause others to treat you a certain way. Tell them to screw off – they come back tenfold, and worse.
I never said Asian actors should only have been casted. I stated that the motivations behind such a decision and the defense of such a decision overshadowed a greatly racist assumption.
So I’ll ask this again: have you ever been in the situation where someone instantly bars you away opportunity without reason beyond what they perceive your race, your flesh, your shell of a body? Have you ever been told you are incapable or inferior simply because other people are ignorant about you really, truly are beneath set perceptions unfounded?
Because if you have, that’s self-mediated racism. If you haven’t, you’re the blessed few fortunate enough to be in a community of likewise or enlightened individuals or are blessedly in the majority dominating class of citizens – in socioeconomic status, in race and ethnicity, in occupation and position, in income, in household, and in any other variant of the social hierarchy inherent to any society.
Judgement is a natural tendency we humans tend to indulge in, a precautious attempt to protect ourselves from associations we may (sub)consciously believe in regardless if they are actually true – and it’s just the sort of thing you’ve demonstrated so eloquently in writing.
P.S. How do you know if I’m actually a “her” or a “him” ? I could just as easily be a Timelord.
Subject: comment on Facepainting post
“Shyamalan – Sold-out, Oblivious, or both?”
Another possibility is that he has the same syndrome/mentality that affected the choice of half-Asian, part-Black, part-native American Tiger Woods for partners - all of them are white blonds.
– Allan Estrella
I suspect Tiger Woods had more personal problems than we give him credit for. As for Shyamalan, I suspect he’s purposely ignoring the social implications at hand just to make himself more (in)famous and pad his bank a bit. But I might be overprojecting – the man may really be that oblivious.
Subject: Fullmetal Alchemist
I tried watching the 2003-2004 Fullmetal Alchemist but I only reached EP 17 because I got bored by the series. I could have stopped by Ep 10 but I tried a few more episodes to give the series a chance thinking that the series might pick up in the succeeding episodes. However, I still get the feeling that the series was overhyped/overated. The running joke/humor of Edward being small is overused and sometimes it is inserted suddenly from nowhere. Also, there’s the Armstrong character. I don’t know if I just got tired of watching long adventure series since I also put off watching Nadia after the first episode. But I love Avatar which is a long adventure series. Even it’s humor is refreshing. Reading your post regarding Avatar and its comparison to FMA (with FMA being a Japanese production about Western culture), I suddenly felt the urge to give FMA a second chance. I just want to ask what are your thoughts about the series to give me the push I need to dive again to the series. Or should I just instead watch Brotherhood and skip the first season?
– Allan Estrella
Honestly, I recommend the original manga above all else. The first anime indulged in melodramatic clichés and the second production has one of the most inconsistent production teams possible – interesting enough, both are done by the same studio (Bones). If you’re willing to put up with bad writing and story but stellar production, stick with the first series; if you’re willing to put excellent writing and story but inconsistent (to mediocre) production, try out the second anime which is a adaptation of the manga story (if you do happen to opt for Brotherhood, you may want to skip episodes until the point where the storyline is drastically different which starts at episode 15).
Subject: none
In your article “Anime – the Medium”, you make a strange statement about Tintin (just under the “Tintin au Congo” cover): “… is arguably racist by modern standards because of how ethnic minorities were presented…”.
“Ethnic minorities”? That’s a strange way tu put it. You do realise that Africans are not a minority in Africa, right? I know you do of course, I just found this expression a little strange. Racism (historical, institutionnal racism) is not directed at minorities, it’s directed at people who were subject to colonization, a very specific and modern form of domination. I don’t want to nitpick, it’s just an interesting discussion… – Alex Drahon
Whoops! My bad. You’re absolutely right on this point – I should’ve realized it while writing. I suppose I wrote under the assumption that originally, Hergé’s intended readership was primarily Caucasian (specifically a European audience). I forgot that “Tintin” has been translated in over 50 languages to date, and that the current audience is worldwide. The current term would be “non-European/Caucasian ethnicities” which I’ll fix right now. Thanks for the catch!
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Please note: if I don’t include your feedback in Sunday Roundup edition, it’s probably because I found it more appropriate to personally reply via email. If I didn’t do that either, greatest apologies!
