whiteeewasheeddddd

Original post date was February 10, 2010. I was pretty pissed.

The Last Airbender Trailer
movie trailer

Um, it was a standard movie trailer. Dramatic introduction here, some standard CG there, quick visual introduction to the characters and a little bit of kung fu with some more CG. I'm gonna be honest- it is NOT hard at all to make a kick ass trailer. In fact, trailers tend to be more awesome than the actual movies since they contain the parts which catch the attentions of the viewer, essentially showing off the best of the best and running the chance of giving away the whole movie.

Honestly I never really watched the original cartoon- I've seen a few episodes here and there and ended up watching the movie finale. I do applaud it for being an extremely successful American cartoon while essentially using a entirely different format from most cartoons that come out from around here (non-episodic, continuing story arches, character building, etc.). Basically it just kinda yanked the anime format, which was smart since that's been rising in popularity for a while.

ANYWAY. This article pretty much sums up my thoughts. I really hope this movie fails for this reason alone because I'm shallow like that. Kinda like how Golden Compass was supposed to be this trilogy but died. I want this to happen to this movie as well- WHAT A TWIST! I can only hope this director will fuck up as badly as he did for The Happening. And any other movie after Sixth Sense.

It was a pretty WTF moment when every single protagonist turned up white for a movie which is supposed to be steeped in Asian culture. Not quite surprising though, to be honest. I've had a lot of conversations about why Asian Americans are so under represented- for girls, they're stuck as some secondary character- not the actual best friend of the main character, but as the best friend of the main character's opponent. Or something. Maybe just as a hot chick with a few lines. (one of the cheerleaders from Bring it on, that other movie about cars.. what was it... The Fast and the Furious; I could be wrong, but I had always thought import cars were inherently a more aZn thing to begin with). And the Asian guys- unless you're lucky like the guy who played Rufio and still managed to play a teenager years later (he's totally 30 something) in that Antonio Banderas dancing movie- you're shit out of luck. Maybe you get to be the nerdy guy with glasses walking by or the home ec partner like in Superbad for about 2 min. (OH MAN- Just found out, the Rufio guy actually did the voice of Zuko in the cartoon of this very movie trailer. Possibly one of the more well known Asian American actors and I still don't know his name haha). Kinda sad in a way, because even when they are getting asian people, they'd look overseas first (For Speedracer they got Rain (huge Korean pop star) What, they couldn't find a guy who was Asian and could speak English? Exception goes for that guy from Lost).

I came to the conclusion about why there would never be an exclusively Asian show, much like the black shows like Tyler Perry's stuff or Fresh Prince or whatever: Asian people have their own media. Granted, it's actually from Asia, but I know so many Asian Americans who just watch Asian dramas. I mean, that's alright, but it sorta bothers me in the fact that I'm too American to truly appreciate those shows (not that I don't watch any...) and not Asian enough to really 'get it.' Is it sad that the movie closest to my reality is Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle? No, I'm serious- I totally spent half an hour looking for a White Caslte the other day... while riding a cheetah.