Apparently we're all ninjas, because you can't see us

[yeloson]

Reading up on the first reviews on some roughs of Avatar the Last Airbender movie, and aside from the not too great reviews of the acting, this stood out to me:

The action scenes work pretty well, but only one really stood out for me at this time, which takes place in an ancient airbender temple and had some nice set pieces. Plus it was fun to watch Noah Ringer’s double (a woman with a shaved head) performing the fight scenes – they hadn’t gotten around to doing a face replacement yet.

I do remember when they first started talking about casting, they were talking about how much training they were giving the actors, and how impressive their movement had gotten.

But I'm sure it's all because it's SO IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ASIAN ACTORS WHO DO MARTIAL ARTS:

(skip to 6:30 for the beatdown)

Seriously, when I'm stupid rich, I'm going to make a movie about hockey filled with anyone but white people, because it's so fucking hard to find white actors. (Huh, a Thai hockey movie with Tony Jaa would be kinda awesome. Though skate blades and Muay Thai kicks would make it really, really bloody...)

(ETA: Also, they screened it at Arizona? Really?)

Comments

[willow]

Looked at it. All I can think is if they ended up using stunt doubles - it must be because the kid who was supposedly so great at the exact style of martial arts needed, never got any better than the horrible teaser.

Sokka's also more than comic relief. He's 1/2 of the team's HEART while being 'The Plans Guy'. Rathbone's a teen throb, not a comic with good timing, yes? Being goofy but smart would totally go against the point of having him there to take off his shirt and bring in the hypersexualized tweens and teens. So 'broad acting' is vague indeed.

But I do end up thinking that people who miss the point go to the movies to shut off their brains and do the same when they watch tv; thus not understanding critical viewing with appreciation for all the cultural nods and references.

I saw a comment with a title claiming it was nothing but a Naruto ripoff. Daily I am reintroduced to how much certain people just. don't. know. And refuse to learn. An Asian fantasy with a focus on the power of the elements as part of martial arts training is a Naruto ripoff?

Seriously?

That's meant to be an original thought?

[yeloson]

That's pretty much my thought as well- what started out as "promising" because he could sloppily do a form or two, quickly turned out to be insufficient to meet the choreography - much less hold grace or form when blown up on the big screen.

And yeah... Naruto and Harry Potter have more in common (Kids go to special school/training to learn uber powers, teen drama ensues, and adult politics fuck up their lives), but eh, sounds more like someone who's just hating shit for being popular.

[willow]

It seemed more like someone too clueless to recognize that Asian Martial Arts already refer to the elements and nature and that's been played up in every Hong Kong and Kung Fu flick I've ever seen.

Silver Hawk beats HER bad guy by remembering HER water style. And that's a straight up superhero flick.

It's seriously getting annoying to me, that areas in which I think of myself as less knowledgeable than a newbie (perhaps dedicated newbie) end up being areas where I'm a fricking Librarian compared to those who don't bother to know anything outside their own experience.

Quinton Terrantino cannot be the only American to sit down and watch Shaw Brothers movies on a Sat afternoon, can he?

[yeloson]

Or Wu-Tang Clan, you know?

I think part of the problem has been the co-option in the mainstream media- martial arts are The Matrix and the American Power Rangers, MMA fighters, etc. not Jet Li or Tony Jaa.

They like to build little worlds where only they can live, and then proclaim if anyone else was any good, they, too, would already be part of it.

[willow]

Look, I adore me some Tommy Oliver and I liked Power Rangers In Space - > Lost Galaxy (- Bulk & Skull). But not once did I ever think of them as uniquely American. They were American versions of a Japanese Phenomenon.

But, you're not wrong. Nothing's real unless it is being focused through the lens of White Male Westerness; usually American. People keep wondering why the US keeps remaking European & Hong Kong movies. But the people wondering, are individuals who are able to recognize that the remakes are remakes.

Everyone else will NOT be wondering why Akira is called Akira, while being set in the States, with Leo DiCaprio and no doubt a nod to Islamphobia for relevance.

I honestly didn't recognize it all as co-option, and yet things have changed from the Japanphobia of the 80's (I include the sudden love of sushi into the phobia, attraction can sprout from fear) into an absence of acknowledgement that Asia exists at all outside of sweatshops and manga.

Toshiba, SONY and Panosonic are American Brands now.

And suddenly DC and Marvel's ventures into manga-nizing & anime-izing some of their properties takes on some shades of imperialism and colonialism that I totally missed.

Re: Jet Li and Tony Jaa - It explains why I felt so alone in thinking The Forbidden Kingdom being in English and having a white kid knocking about was absolutely the wrong place for Jet Li and Jackie Chan to meet on screen. I want to see those I consider Bruce Lee's cinematic Heirs to meet in a Hong Kong flick.

[yeloson]

The US -manga-biting has been going on since the early 90's.

Enough of the artists saw that manga was doing great stuff with layouts, etc. but no one took the time to actually learn the craft- that's why the modern US superhero comic is full of posing, really close close-ups, and speed lines (Jim Lee, I'm looking at you).

The more recent wave of artists have a better grasp of it all, but that's because they cut their teeth elsewhere- whether we're talking independant comics or online galleries- so we get stuff like Runaways, Mary Jane, etc. with better art.

What the US comics -haven't- figured out, is that a continuous storyline, by the same author, is consistently stronger than jump-ship story arcs by multiple writers. That's why mediocre stuff (Bleach) can still whomp US comics regularly.