NO KILL I ([info]glockgal) wrote,
@ 2009-01-29 23:13:00
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Entry tags:avatar, avatar: the last airbender, the last airbender

A HISTORY ON YELLOWFACE

Yellow (and brown)-face: A History in Pictures by [info]vejiicakes.
- This is interesting and educational! Film buffs, history nerds and social Americana geeks - ENJOY. I certainly did. Our memories are selective, I understand. And now, here's a great at way to answer the question 'What's the big deal? It's just one movie'.

Yellowface by Gene Yang.
- Seriously, just go look at the blog if only to see that drawing of Aang in yellowface. It is. It. I just. It so perfectly sums up all my frustrations and horror when people think skin colour is just about getting a tan. WIN ALL ROUND!
------------------------------

Also, the people involved in the making of The Last Airbender are consistently proving themselves to be so moronic, (see also Jesse McCartney and Jackson Rathbone) I feel like I don't even need to argue anymore. They're showing their regard/interest in cultural respect quite well --

"It doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage if you didn't come in a big African thing. But guys, even if you came with a scarf today, put it over your head so you'll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever."
*LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY*
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Thanks to everyone who's purchased stuff at the Aang-Aint-White store! Remember, you can always print the stuff out to use on your own and for FREE.

(38 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]qurinas
2009-01-30 07:34 am UTC (link)
So, I have been following this with interest since you started posting about it. I find that I agree with you on nearly all counts.

However, I have a question (a sincere one)...

In regard to casting of extras, if they wanted to make it look culturally diverse, what is offensive about people wearing clothes that are ethnic in origin?

Or was that not offensive and just the fact that the casting director was (seemingly blissfully) ignorant of names or types of clothing by region?

ETA: I meant to add "historical" in there too along with ethnic in regard to clothing, since the show seems to have clothing that is not modern.

Edited at 2009-01-30 07:35 am UTC

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[info]yeloson
2009-01-30 07:36 am UTC (link)
It's the fact that on one hand, we have them saying that "Race doesn't matter/Avatar isn't asian" for the casting, and then turning around looking specifically for ethnic extras. The inability to properly identify ethnic clothing is just extra lolsprinkles on the sundae of fail.

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[info]qurinas
2009-01-30 07:38 am UTC (link)
Oh, yeah. That is pretty offensive. That is total ass, in fact.

Thanks for pointing that out. :) (I guess I am slow hehe)

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 07:57 pm UTC (link)
Yes yes! Exactly what [info]yeloson said. I love it when eloquent people explain things jumbled in my own head. XD

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[info]qurinas
2009-01-31 03:07 am UTC (link)
Yeah, that does make a ton of sense. I mean, I can see wanting people to come in ethnic garb, etc if you are casting that way. But, if you do, then cast the whole movie that way.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. This is really a vile practice.

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[info]yeloson
2009-01-30 07:35 am UTC (link)
I'd like to hope that hella people start showing up at these casting calls in these shirts.

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 07:58 pm UTC (link)
It would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it? XD Man, I loved so many of your slogan ideas.

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[info]reishin
2009-01-30 08:14 am UTC (link)
oh, snap, some of your links take me back. I loved Yul Brenner in King and I, and it didn't even register to me that he wasn't Asian till a few years back. Growing up, I don't think I identified as 'Asian' at all. Not until middle school, when we moved to a mostly white neighborhood and people expected me to 'identify' myself and shit. Then, the only go-to Asians on screen were ... the extras from M.A.S.H. -HAH- and the typical Asian nerds who all bowed and loved tall American ladies~~ from the 80s flicks.

That's a terrible thing to do to Asian kids growing up.

*HUGS*

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[info]jedifreac
2009-01-30 09:21 am UTC (link)
When I was little I thought Yul Bryner was an Asian man who got plastic surgery to try to be white (I had heard about this guy named Michael Jackson...)

And so I always pitied poor Yul Bryner--I thought he had some sort of complex It never entered my mind the possibility that maybe they had cast a white person as an asian person. I mean, why would they do THAT?

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:03 pm UTC (link)
I know! I still love Yul Brenner in The King and I, I mean. I know that show is completely awful not just in the yellowface, but really the overall message, but. Yeah. It's childhood nostalgia for me, eheh. Just like Enid Blyton and her scores of 'evil Gollywog' stories. *wince* It's such a strange feeling, innit? Because I relate these things to my childhood - which was a relatively happy childhood - but it kind of hurts to realize why I grew up thinking white was the default, and why it's been so difficult to break out of that mindset.


*MAJOR HUGS*

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[info]vejiicakes
2009-01-30 08:39 pm UTC (link)
IT'S HIS ABS. WE WERE BLINDED BY THE ABS T___T

(That and there was like, this look he gave Deborah Kerr after she had to stop dancing from exertion that was just predatory and unnnnf.)

And suddenly I'm reminded that Rita Moreno as Tuptim belongs on that list as well. Which I kinda feel bad about, because the lady couldn't even get away with being her OWN ethnicity without Hollywood interference. (Oh, Moreno is full Puerto Rican! Well, she doesn't look the way we want Puerto Ricans to look, so here, put on this brown makeup. We don't want audiences mixing you up with the virginal Puerto Rican girl character, who's just going to be Anglo Natalie Wood in much lighter brownface to make her interracial romance with the white guy seem that much safer. Ho ho, it's SO funny that we're championing interracial romance THIS way!) And.. here, I LOVED West Side Story! D:

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[info]reishin
2009-01-31 05:19 pm UTC (link)
oh, gooood. I loved the King and I until high school? college? And then I just paused one minute to look at the white woman (great britain anyone??) and thinking about the huge history behind asian countries that just didn't *matter* because they weren't western or white or whatever.

Seriously, rage blackout.

Also: Jesse McCartney is a douche. That is all.

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[info]xinester
2009-01-30 08:17 am UTC (link)
Thanks for these Avatar updates! I always read everything you link even though I don't always comment. D:
I tried explaining this Avatar thing to some of my roommates and ughhh I was so saddened by the fact that they didn't really get it. It sucks that so many people think race in media can be so easily glossed over.

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:06 pm UTC (link)
Ooooh, I totally know you read the stuff - and sometimes there really isn't anything to comment (other than the usual "WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE" ahahah.

It sucks that so many people think race in media can be so easily glossed over.

Incredible, isn't it? IRL, I've found myself picking and choosing whom I want to talk to about the issue. I'm kinda saddened that I've already built up a (perhaps misguided) wariness of who'll understand and who'll be completely indifferent. Sometimes the indifference is worse to bear than the defensiveness, y'know?

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[info]la_fono
2009-01-30 12:22 pm UTC (link)
SO MUCH FAIL. "It doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage if you didn't come in a big African thing. But guys, even if you came with a scarf today, put it over your head so you'll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever."

She. Actually. Said. That?!

*boggle*

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:08 pm UTC (link)
And and and she didn't think there was ANYTHING WRONG with saying it publically!! Mind TOTALLY boggling, YES.

Given all the amazingly horrible stuff being spewed by people involved in this movie, it's given me such a new perspective on the 'liberal' nature of Hollywood. Yeah. So very liberal.

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[info]cluegirl
2009-01-30 03:14 pm UTC (link)
The longer this goes on, and the more stubbornly the directors resist it, the stupider they're starting to sound.

I mean really, really, duncecap and stool in the corner kind of stupid. Like it's kind of surprising they can actually breathe without assistance kind of stupid.

*Shakes head in despair.*

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:10 pm UTC (link)
the stupider they're starting to sound

I know, right? Even better, the LACK of response from Paramount/the producers is almost as despicable as what the actors/casting director are blathering.

Gyah. It kind of makes me ill.

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[info]ani_bester
2009-01-30 04:05 pm UTC (link)
. . . .

That casting director should loose her job. Or be publically ridiculed in some major newspaper.

African thing?? *head desk*

I didn't think she could get any worse than "Korean wear a Kimono" but SHE DID.

I stand in awe of that level of cultural ignorance. How can anyone that stupid cast a culturally diverse movie 0.o





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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:12 pm UTC (link)
I stand in awe of that level of cultural ignorance. How can anyone that stupid cast a culturally diverse movie.

They are making it crystal clear that, unlike the production of the animated series, integrity and respect have been completely eliminated from the production of the movie. I really pity the co-creators of the cartoon, who went so out of their way to create such a beautiful and diverse world, only to have it so ham-fistedly destroyed.

Yay, money.

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[info]biztheinsane
2009-01-30 07:30 pm UTC (link)
I'm really excited that this has kicked off magnificently.

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:13 pm UTC (link)
It is really amazing me as well, man. I didn't think we'd make it this far in the media, and I can only hope it goes farther! Thank GOD for Aang-Aint-White and Derek Kirk Kim!!

XD

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[info]caterfree10
2009-01-30 07:39 pm UTC (link)
THE MIND. IT BOGGLES AT THE SHEER AMOUNT OF IGNORANCE. *facepalm*

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-30 08:13 pm UTC (link)
YES. BUT YOUR ICON IS SO AWESOME. XD

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[info]caterfree10
2009-01-30 08:33 pm UTC (link)
WHY THANK YOU MUCHLY! I HAD ENTIRELY TOO MUCH FUN MESSING AROUND IN GIMP. XD

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[info]notrafficlights
2009-01-30 11:22 pm UTC (link)
God these morons keep making me hate Hollywood more and more.

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[info]glockgal
2009-01-31 01:45 am UTC (link)
I...I KNOW. It's really starting to burn right now. Ignorance really was bliss, once upon a time!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]lizamanynames
2009-01-30 11:31 pm UTC (link)
"It doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage if you didn't come in a big African thing. But guys, even if you came with a scarf today, put it over your head so you'll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever."

...I honestly don't know wheather to laugh or cry. I.. just...

Is this a put-on? Are they doing this for publicity?

(Reply to this)


[info]vejiicakes
2009-01-31 02:23 am UTC (link)
WTFEVEN IS A "BIG AFRICAN THING"? D:

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[info]waywardradish
2009-01-31 04:55 am UTC (link)
"It doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage if you didn't come in a big African thing. But guys, even if you came with a scarf today, put it over your head so you'll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever."

Took me a good 48 hours to fully take in the galactic dimensions of ignorance contained in that statement. I must be getting soft.

(Reply to this)


[info]tomscribble
2009-01-31 11:20 pm UTC (link)
"to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire. … If you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen." WTF?! but then: Alas, my Korean ancestors failed to leave me any kimonos - or saris for that matter - and my authentic Belgian lederhosen happened to be in the wash at the time. YESSSSS.

Lederhosen in the wash! LOL.

(Reply to this)


[info]tomscribble
2009-01-31 11:33 pm UTC (link)
ond OMG they tried to make PETER LORRE look Asian? and BORIS KARLOFF? I mean, yellowface, brownface, minstrelbullshit etc ALWAYS looks unbelievable but... guh. At that point it's obvious that studios think people prefer to see white actors made up to look plain stupid rather than actual Asian actors ... oh I forgot... the characters are mostly plain stupid anyway.

This is something I have never understood, I didn't as a child and I remember thinking as a young teen, "Why couldn't they have got an Asian actress/actor? Surely there must have been one somewhere." (Then I grew up and learned about money and racism and stuff. Now I still hate it but I'm no longer surprised or confused.)

*grumbles drown in mass-grumbling on this comment-board*

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[info]glockgal
2009-02-03 06:13 am UTC (link)
Then I grew up and learned about money and racism and stuff. Now I still hate it but I'm no longer surprised or confused.

I know right? Honestly, I grew up thinking that brown people couldn't speak proper English and therefore were never in Hollywood flicks. It really was only when I hit teenagerhood when it occurred to me that hey! I'm brown and I speak perfect English! There MUST be other brown people out there like me! Okay, I was a slow kid as well, ehhe.

I swear, it still gives me thrills to watch Kal Penn talk. ;D

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Replaced McCartney, and Suki Appears!
[info]bluegreenpen
2009-02-02 07:40 am UTC (link)
Hey, I just read an article regarding some casting changes. Apparently, Dev Patel will be acting instead of McCartney as Zuko, and Suki will be played by a girl called Jessica Andres. I thought you might want to know: http://agualimon.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/atlas-friky-diky-cast-replacing-jessemc-suki-appears/

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Replaced McCartney, and Suki Appears!
[info]glockgal
2009-02-03 06:14 am UTC (link)
Thanks for the head's up, bebe! Whatta thing to wake up to - complete WTFery.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Replaced McCartney, and Suki Appears!
[info]bluegreenpen
2009-02-03 07:47 am UTC (link)
I thought I was still asleep when I read it o-o; It just wouldn't compute. I kept thinking "they probably mean casting as Sokka..." because the whole thing wasn't making sense.... still doesn't make much sense...

I'm STILL not sure I'm not having a weird dream.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
HOMG LOOK
[info]bossymarmalade
2009-02-02 04:15 pm UTC (link)
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999413.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: HOMG LOOK
[info]glockgal
2009-02-03 06:14 am UTC (link)
ALL ASIANS LOOK THE SAME.

At least, this is what I gather?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(38 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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