Nearly a month later, Paramount responded. You can read their letter in its entirety here, but it says, in part:
Early casting includes an Indian actor, born in Mumbai and raised in the UK and the US; a Persian actor born in Tehran and raised in the UK, Switzerland and the US; a Maori actor born and raised in New Zealand; a Korean-American actor, born and raised in Chicago; an American actress of Italian, French and Mexican heritage; among several others of varied nationalities from around the world.
The four nations represented in the film reflect not one community, but the world’s citizens. These societies will be cast from a diversity of all races and cultures. In particular, the Earth Kingdom will be cast with Asian, East Asian and Africans.
We would like to take a moment, here, to speak briefly about the real world cultures represented within Avatar: The Last Airbender. The only written language represented is classical Chinese. The characters' journey through the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation reveals a wide variety of distinctive East Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, Japanese and Vietnamese. The Water Tribe draws from Inuit, Yupik and Pacific Islander cultures. This world features astonishing diversity from all across the Asian continent and all along the Pacific Rim, which is a part of what made it so unique.
There are no equivalents to African or European cultures in the Avatar world. There are no medieval French castles. There are no Egyptian temples. There are no Viking long houses. There are no Malian mosques. Including African American extras in the Earth Kingdom was a deliberate decision, intended to mask the whitewashing of the principle cast.
The MANAA found Paramount's letter as pandering and transparent as we did. They have written a response, which you can read here on their site, but certain sections seem particularly important to point out here:
Thank you for your letter. Because it raises important questions regarding your perceptions of diversity, we are again requesting a meeting to discuss the casting and depiction of cultures in the movie (and your future projects) so this film can truly be the success we all want. We are interested, for instance, in how your ideal of including people from “all corners of the globe” correlates with your casting policies. Specifically seeking out white actors and casting four white leads for what M. Night Shymalan admitted was an “Asian fantasy world” does not celebrate ethnic diversity. Re-casting the sole villainous lead with an actor of color is a concession that results in three heroic nations going to war against an evil nation of color.
After dealing with Hollywood studios for the past 17 years, we are more than familiar with the justifications used to cast white actors instead of actors of color. Other film productions have previously used the same pretexts, touting diversity through the casting of supporting roles--but only after first discriminating in casting the lead roles.
[...]
How can you, in good faith, say you are trying to honor the integrity of the television series by taking a story written with Asian themes, settings, characters, and populating it with white leads—especially when there are so few Asian roles available in Hollywood? You are continuing a generations-long practice of racial discrimination where the opportunity for actors of color to be heroes for a change is taken away (this time in the name of “diversity.”).
The MANAA intends to pursue this matter, but they would very much appreciate any support the Avatar fan community can provide. If you live in the Los Angeles area, their next general meeting will be on May 21st, and they would love to have more fans concerned with this issue attend and share their thoughts.
If you don't live close enough to join them in person, we would encourage you to take a moment to write them a note sharing your thoughts and your support. If you aren't of Asian descent yourself, they would appreciate being told as much -- it's encouraging to know that people of all races are standing by them!
Finally: as we mentioned earlier, producer Frank Marshall has an account on Twitter, which many fans have used to contact him directly regarding this issue. Unfortunately, some fans have chosen to behave in a rude, unhelpful manner, which casts a bad light on all of us and makes our concerns that much easier to dismiss. We would therefore encourage you to use this platform to send polite messages and questions about The Last Airbender and its cast -- perhaps we can drown out the unhelpful negativity and show the producers that we're serious enough about this issue to write about it respectfully.
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Comments
I'm definitely going to send a note to MANAA.
I have written to you once before expressing my support for your efforts regarding the extremely discriminatory casting of M. Night Shyamalan's Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. I recently read your reply to Paramount's letter and I wanted to again thank you for your support and let you know that there are so many of us here in central California who appreciate it. I am Caucasian but I live in an area with a very large Asian population. I know people who were imprisoned in concentration camps during world war II for being Japanese, and some of my best friends have two young Asian-American daughters who loved the show that this movie is based on and are devastated by the casting choices for the movie. My entire family has unanimously decided not only not to see the movie but to do everything we can to convince everyone we know not to see it as well. Several of my friends who had never heard of the show have actually joined in the cause because it is so obvious to them how discriminatory this casting was.
It's disheartening to see many people, however, who still do not understand why this casting is wrong. I have spoken to many people who believe that the characters in the show were Caucasian because they did not adhere to the typical stereotypes given to Asian characters in American animation. I think there needs to be some way to educate the public that white is not the default color on television, that we shouldn't have to exploit offensive stereotypes such as yellow skin or slanty eyes just to show that a character is Asian.
The most offensive thing about Paramount's most recent letter and some of the comments producer Frank Marshall has made is that the movie has been improved by "diversifying" the cast to include more races than the show did. This is upsetting to me on two counts. First of all, the show encompasses MANY cultures. I am disheartened that so many people seem to feel that "Asian" is only one culture, that all of the rich cultures and histories of Japan, China, Korea, the Phillipines, and many other countries are lumped into one category because "the people all look the same." That is highly offensive to me and the producers should know better. They only see culture in terms of skin tone, and they believe that by removing some cultures and replacing them with others it causes the movie to be more "multi-cultural," when in fact it is not more multi-cultural, they have just hired people with different skin tones because they believe that the only thing separating cultures is the color of one's skin. Second, a problem I have with these comments is the implication that this movie "needs" more races, that it is somehow racist for the movie only to have Asians in it. My question to Mr. Marshall is, why is it acceptable for the vast majority of movies in America to contain all-white and all-black casts, but the one time a movie has the possibility of containing an all-Asian cast it's deemed to be not diverse enough? Why is it OK to have a movie with Caucasian actors that is not diverse, but it is deemed racist to have a movie with an all-Asian cast? It seems to me that there is a very serious double-standard here, and sadly, so many people are buying into it because they don't know better.
Anyway, I just wanted to reexpress my firm support for this cause. Please do not give up, we need you and other organizations like you to fight for the rights of Asian-Americans. I stand by this issue 100% and am willing to do whatever it takes to give Asian actors a chance to live their dreams.
It's here, if you haven't seen it: What's Wrong With This Picture?
I wish I lived closer to LA to go to the next meeting. But I will certainly send another letter of support.
(Ah! When I made a Twitter account I swore I'd never actually update it, only use it to follow a few people. Oh well, this is important enough to change my mind. :P I'm going to get addicted now, aren't I?)
You know there are more people who would support this and the Asian community will always fight at inequality.
Not trying to start anything, just saying is all.
GOD! I have lost faith in ALL humanity. This is IT! I'm DONE with people!
My heart is broken over all of this BULLSHIT taking place.
I love the series, and for them to butcher it like this is completely BOLLOX.
All I can do is pray that the actors provide an accurate representation of the cartoon -- because after seeing the trailer in theaters? It looks like there's no going back.
I. Am so. Worried.
So here's my question...what would your rebuttle be for thsi video?
But then they got a bad leader. And that bad leader did bad things. Firelord Sozin groomed the nation to want to do this. He groomed his son Azulon to carry on in his steps. And by the time Ozai became Firelord. the nation had been whipped into a frenzy by it's leaders.
Saying the Fire Nation is evil is like saying Germans are evil. Hitler got in power, and he did bad things. But Hitler is gone now isn't he? The bad influence on the country is gone, and the country isn't like that anymore is it? The bad influence on the Fire Nation is gone now in the series, and without that bad influence, things will go back to normal.
And what about Chin the Conqueror? He was an Earth Kingdom General. He took over every square inch of the Earth Kingdom except for Kyoshi Peninsula and Ba Sing Se. If he is mentioned in the movie, does that mean that Paramount is racist because chances are, any actor who played him would be Asian?
Anyone seen the episode "The Avatar and the Firelord"? Remember the end? Toph said "It's like these people are just born bad." But Aang disagreed. He said the Fire Nation wasn't evil, but just that anyone is capable of great good and great evil.
What about Avatar Roku? In reality he is the same person as Aang, and he was from the fire nation. Like Aang said, Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was. He was the same nationality and the same race as the person who started the war.
What I'm trying to say is, it's not racist to choose Indian actors for the Fire Nation. They're not "The Bad guys", they're the antagonists.