These kids aren't watching Jackie Chan movies and thinking, 'Yikes! I wish he were a white guy!' "īut here's where the plot begins to snarl.
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To think that they won't come to a live-action version unless it's cast with white actors - that's really a shockingly ignorant viewpoint. "They're not only comfortable with Asian concepts, they're fascinated by them. "These are kids growing up with manga," Kim says. But for fans of "Avatar," this casting is an even greater affront, not least because the show's primary target audience is 6- to 11-year-olds - kids who may not know the specifics of its references but are undoubtedly aware of and attracted to its cultural origins. Last year saw an outcry over the "whitewashing" of "21," the film about blackjack prodigies whose real-life counterparts were a group of Asian American MIT undergrads. This is far from the first controversy regarding the casting of Asian roles with Caucasian actors.
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So when the core cast of the "Avatar" movie was revealed, hard-core fans recoiled - not because the actors are mostly unknowns, drawn from open auditions across the country, but because, well, they're white. The core ideas are drawn from Hindu, Taoist and Buddhist philosophy its character names - Aang, Katara, Toph Bei Fong - incorporate Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian phonemes and its visual identity is modeled on traditional Asian iconography. One reason Asian Americans such as Yang and Kim have been drawn into the show's orbit is that it has hit it big despite - many would say because of - its richly Asian-inspired setting. The whole controversy might be trivial if it weren't for the fact that "Avatar" is a genuine pop-culture sensation, acclaimed by critics, adored by fans and, yes, wildly profitable.
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Last month, with the unveiling of the film's principal cast, the fans' worst fears were realized, prompting self-proclaimed "Avatards" - chief among them 'toon titans Yang and Kim - to launch a protest that's generated torrents of both support and criticism.
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That's because the two happen to be passionate devotees of Nickelodeon's animated TV series "Avatar: The Last Airbender." The show completed its third and final season last year only to have the cable network green-light a live-action, big-screen adaptation, which was greeted with both anticipation and anxiety by the show's burgeoning fan base. When is an Asian cartoon not an Asian cartoon? The answer to this Zen dilemma is at the heart of the latest high-octane kerfuffle clogging the Intertubes - one that's pulled into its vortex two of the most celebrated Asian American creators in comics: Gene Yang, National Book Award finalist for his graphic novel, "American Born Chinese," and Derek Kirk Kim, whose work has won comics' most prestigious laurels, the Xeric, Ignatz, Eisner and Harvey awards. 'Avatar' an Asian thing- why isn't the cast? ()