...ugh.

[misora]

Dear god. The wanking over The Last Airbender movie in katara_zuko and everywhere else on LJ today (o hai random comms suddenly paying attention to this fandom, wtf) is driving me nuts. How many posts are we going to have about "racefail" (which there WAS, yes, we've known for quite a while already) and "Ebert says it sucks" and "don't go see this, or else you're stupid".

Be aware now, if any of you tell me not to see it, simply because of what you've heard or you've seen it yourself and disliked it, I will remove you from my friendslist. I do not feel as though you are doing me a "favor" by telling me to believe something without having seen it with my own eyes first. Do me the courtesy of viewing it like those of you that have seen it have done, and I'll reserve my judgment of the film once I've managed to take it in for myself, not by second-hand info.

Apologies if this sounds harsh, but I have had just about enough of the self-righteousness of LJ, today.

Comments

[misora.livejournal.com]

Look, everyone can feel the way they want to about this movie. I understand the anger over the racial miscasting, and it's something that I will never really forgive Shyamalan for - he could have tapped into so many potential young Asian actors/actresses, and given them a shot at becoming big Hollywood stars, but he blew it. That to me is unforgivable.

But I still want to see this movie, regardless. I have been a fan of this show since its inception in 2005, and for me it's not as much about the ethnicity of the show's origins. It's a great story, for one thing, and particularly in Zuko/Katara's case a wonderful development of two characters that started out the series as mortal enemies. I want to see this movie, for that reason, because even despite the miscasting and the fact that Shyamalan has to condense 20 episodes into one two hour period, I know the basic structure of the story will be intact. And I want to see it on the big screen.

I don't begrudge anybody their varying opinions on this movie, or even boycotting it. But I do begrudge people insisting that others boycott it. Because that's totalitarian, at its basest form. Telling me what I can and can't see, because of their moral compass, and insisting it's so bad that I wouldn't want to see it anyway? Please. It's insulting that anyone would even make that assumption.

Hollywood is an old, old old institution, and people can't expect it to change right away. This miscasting issue has been going on a long time, in other franchises and fandoms. This isn't the first time it's happened. I think change is needed, and I'm in favor of protesting for that change (I was one of the first people to post a "dream cast" after I'd heard who Shyamalan was hiring), but everyone has to realize that everyone protests in their own way. I personally do not believe that boycotting this movie will bring about any change to what Hollywood execs do or think.

I'm not going to tell people to censor themselves as to what they think or feel about this movie. I was simply annoyed by the sheer volume of posts in certain comms that was someone posting about how awful the movie was, every fucking five minutes. That's overkill, and people just posting to see their words on the screen is what I was referring to as self-righteous; not the racebending movement. Everyone has the right to say what they want about it. However, I hope people will extend others the same courtesy who want to see the movie for themselves, and not attach derogatory labels such as 'racist' to them. (Which has happened, I've heard.) Because the reason *I* want to see this movie has nothing to do with race, and that's just all kinds of fucked up.

I know for you in particular, that these past few months have been extremely hard, and that this probably brings up a whole slew of feelings that I couldn't possibly identify with. But Racebending has made its mark - there's been a ton of attention devoted to it, from all sides, and that's extremely positive. So you should be proud of that.

Your opinions on the miscasting aren't going to piss me off. But if you told me you would think I'm a racist for wanting to see it - that would piss me off, and I hope you can understand why.

[jbramx2.livejournal.com]

Oh lord no. I wouldn't think you're racist. A racist is someone who holds one race superior to others or...one race inferior to the others. Clearly that's not you.

No, in my case, I write about it mostly to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the movie and Hollywood in general for those that don't know (you clearly are aware of it) and to appeal to those who would be interested in it (You've had your fill of it so you wouldn't even be on my radar). So no, and I would not label people who have a different opinion than me. It's the easiest thing for humanity to do, but it's never that simple, so I refrain from even attempting it.

I don't expect everyone to understand my feelings or know my experiences...that's unfair. I'll write to share them with folks, but I don't expect complete acknowledgment or even understanding. AND Like I told my friend, somedays I feel like I'm Don Quixote charging at windmills and getting weird looks for it, because I know my ideals and moral compass are on a different plane than others (not superior or inferior...just different). If I come off as self righteous, totally not my intention. I understand that ultimately, the only person I'm in control of is ME. No one else. And this is what ME is thinking and doing with regards to that movie and things in general.

But yeah, it sucks that you've been violently bombarded by it all like that. Sad to say, I'm not surprised. I don't follow any of the avatar fandom communities (except Racebending) because long ago, I've found that fandom to be the most unwelcome one of all the fandoms I've joined and I've joined a lot.. (Even American comic book fandoms whose creators are sometimes assholes, are not that bad). *shudders* I LOVE the series (hate the kataang), but I was shocked by how hostile the fandom could be LONG before there was even talk of a movie. I drew a few fanarts, but lord, some of the reactions I got...wow. You know, I like crack pairings, have done a lot of fanart for various series...and in none of those did I face so much hostility as I did in the avatar fandom. I was very disappointed and had no patience for dealing with that on a daily basis. I came very close to deleting my pictures. So I stopped drawing Avatar stuff instead. I still read fanfics (zutara yay) and still watch the series.. Anime fandoms may be crazy and immature, but they're pretty open to everything. I did not find that so in the Avatar fandom. Which is a shame, but I too do not like people telling me what I should do (draw) or not.

[azileath.livejournal.com]

=P Wasn't there an episode where some acting troupe managed to summarize (slightly inaccurately, haha) more than half the show in less than 20 minutes? I'm sure it can be done in two hours if you leave 1.5 hours for ensuring accuracy and 10 minutes for the rest of the episodes!