“Night’s vision of ‘The Last Airbender’ includes a large and ethnically diverse cast that represents cultures from around the world,” Paramount said.
That doesn’t impress the movie’s critics, who claim most of that diversity is found among secondary characters and background extras.
They say “Airbender” casting is just the latest example of a long history in Hollywood of demeaning people of color — from having white actors in makeup portray minorities to sidelining them in second-tier roles to replacing them entirely, as they say is the case with “Airbender.”
They point to examples like the 2008 film “21,” which was based on a book inspired by the true-life story of a mostly Asian-American group of card players, yet was cast with mostly white actors in the main roles.
They also note this weekend’s release of “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” a live-action adaptation of a video game that stars white actor Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role instead of an actor with a Middle Eastern background…
“It becomes very clear that it’s part of the historical pattern of Hollywood and it’s not an isolated incident and it’s not because they happen to be fictional characters,” Le said.
There’s another post floating around out here about Angelina Jolie playing Cleopatra that is along the same lines. Because putting Angelina Jolie in a little bronzer is basically the same thing as a person of color, right?
It’s one thing when you use Angelina Jolie or Jake Gyllenhaal as a vehicle to sell a blockbuster. But it’s quite another when casting directors go out of their way to discover nameless young white actors to play obviously colored characters
