Pictures of MovieZuko and Aang Up

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

Link,
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/05/21/first-look-m-night-shyamalans-the-last-airbender/#more-28963

*Cue fanboy puzzlement* Where is MovieZuko's scar? What is that on MovieAang's face? Is that meant to be the arrow? He looks like a reference to Colin Farrell's version of Bullseye.

For Legality, How Mai and Zuko got back together after the second season finale.

Context: Spoilers for season two/three

After Zuko helped his sister Azula overthrow the city of Bai Sing Se, betraying his uncle in the process, Zuko has decided that he doesn't want to go back home to the Fire Nation, and would rather stay where he is.

Azula needs Zuko to come along though, as she had told their father that Zuko had killed the Avatar, and if he doesn't come along she can't keep a hold over him via blackmail. So her solution is to try and matchmake Zuko with her friend Mia, with whom Zuko had a mutual crush when they were younger.

Here's what happened.



















And thus Mia and Zuko get together, much to the rage of Zutarans everywhere.

Comments

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

D'aww.

I always liked Jin though. Heck, I found all of Zuko's almost-girl-of-the-week amusing. Especially the one he stole the horsestriches from.

[moneyless_jew.insanejournal.com]

I am apparently the only one who simply does not care about the 'racefail' of Avatar: The Motion Picture. IMHO anime characters often skew Caucasian in their design, and Aang at least did, at least to my perspective. I agree it could've been handled much better, and there were other distinctly Asian characters who were not necessarily cast well.

That said, that picture of the kid is awkward as hell.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

I wish I could be excited about the movie, but I'm very bothered by the casting choices (see Racebending.com (http://racebending.com/) as to why).

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Avatar (from what I've seen; I never watched it; after my time) was something of an exception, though, definitely, the characters on Pokemon and Digimon never looked remotely Japanese to me.

On the casting issue, I tend toward giving M. Night Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt there (not that the movie won't probably suck, though, based on his track record).

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

This was so awesome. It took me a while to fin the magazine that told the story inbetween Book 2 and Book 3 of Avatar. And the art makes the Fire Nation kids look ...younger. More their age.

Much love to Ty Lee.
***
So what's this I hear about to link to pics from the Avatar movie? I saw no such thing.
Nope.
Nuh uh.

Just some wanna be fanboy stuff.

Where are the Avatar pics? Fer real.

[tavella.insanejournal.com]

Anime characters don't "skew white" unless you take the default to be white.

[tavella.insanejournal.com]

Why, how could someone be upset that a series that was based respectfully on the vast variety of Asian and Native American cultures was turned into evil yellow folk oppressing the noble whites?

I just don't understaaaaaaaand.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

Meh. I decided awhile ago that I'm not seeing the movie and ever since everything that's come out has only helped me be okay with that. Although I may have to start taking avatar comms off my flist on LJ because I'm sick of hearing about it. :\

Though, oddly, I will throw some defense in saying that the Zuko one could be pre-scarring which would also be why his head isn't bald.

Now to comment on the comic. Always awesome! Mai rules!

[oddpuppets.insanejournal.com]

Uh...huh. Sorry, but that's just ignorance. Anime characters are not skewed Caucasian in their design unless they are deliberately Caucasian. You have to have a very limited knowledge of Asian features to believe that squinty eyes are the norm. As in comics, animation depends on open facial expressions, especially for the hero. Round eyes and an open face give the hero emotional availability - the emotions are clearly expressed and also allows the viewer to put their own self onto that tabula rasa.

I would rage a bit more but instead I'll point you to a helpful source:
http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

You don't see alot of anime where the character actually look Asian..They usually just have Japanese names, live in Japan (or wherever) but usually appear to be white guys with blue hair. You gotta have blue hair.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Awww. I loved this comic. Nice to wash the whitewash taste out of my mouth from the picture. Yup, I am totally bothered by the racebending.

Also, as much as I like Dev Patel (who I assume will just be the villain here as we're far from the book of fire), he seems to have no scar.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

I think they're understood to be Asian and look Asian to a large segment of the audience.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

I don't want to complain because I'm reminded of how the X-Men movies changed their outfits and those were fine. But seeing these do not fill me with confidence.

[lencannon.insanejournal.com]

I try not to be too judgemental but this movie is probably going to blow a whole crop of dicks.

[tavella.insanejournal.com]

That's your own cultural programming and blindness speaking. I'm not trying to be mean; it's the assumptions I was taught too.

But anime eyes? Those big disks? Bear no more resemblance to an _actual_ caucasian eye than they do to an asian eye. It's simply that you have been programmed to think that the world is white, unless someone has the cartoon glyph of 30 to 45s degree slashed eyes -- which of course has no map to reality either.

Nor does mere paleness map to Caucasian. Purely unpigmented skin, as in black and white cartoons? It bears no more resemblance to Caucasian skin than it does to Asian skin. For that matter, you'll find a huge range of pigmentation -- none of it actually matching the crayon-yellow that is the mental image.

[filbypott.insanejournal.com]

They actually do look Asian to the target audience, because to them Asian is the "default" race.

And, y'know, a lot of Asians do have big eyes and pale skin. The unusual hair and eye colors are added for the sake of variety, but even in Japan, various shades of brown hair is common.

When a character in anime is specifically supposed to be Caucasian, they're often pretty obviously marked as such, with traits ranging from a big nose and square jaw to just blond hair and blue eyes.

[filbypott.insanejournal.com]

Even without the racefail, it's Shyamalan. His movies suck, period.

[tavella.insanejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a good link. I really wish I could find the one that used happy faces to brilliantly unpack the racial assumptions of the viewer.

[sir_razorback.insanejournal.com]

The way his face is in profile in that picture, you honestly can't tell if the actor for Zuko has makeup for the scar on or not. I think it's too distinctive a feature to be left out, might even watch the scar being born, so to speak.

I'm 35 yrs old and I probably enjoy this show way more than what's healthy for me. =p

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

But your perspective is not the only perspective!

Taking the time to specifically say you don't care seems a little.. mean.


OP: Despite having seen only the first.. two? episodes of Avatar, I still ship that. So thanks for the awh!

[seawolf10.insanejournal.com]

I see they're still going with a white kid for Aang rather than casting a pale-skinned Asian kid.

*cranks sarcasm to max*

Charming.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

Also, if they're American, cowboy hats.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, kind of awesome how, in response to accusations that the heroes of the story are all whitewashed, they... cast a brown kid as the bad guy and left the rest.

Though admittedly you'd never know Zuko wasn't the sole hero of the story from day one from some corners of the fanbase.

[sandoz_iscariot.insanejournal.com]

Discuss: What do you think of the first photos?

Haaaaaaaaaaate.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Mai putting an icicle through a fish on Zuko's head in front of his giggling ex.

FIRST DATES DO NOT GET COOLER THAN THAT.