First of all, thanks for taking the time to write about this subject.

It's a tough nut to crack, since studio films are made with business-minded decisions; what will sell better? The issue of the lack of Asian Americans in film is, at its base, the same as the lack of any minority in film, be it African American, Asian, Latino, gay, or (let's face it) strong females.

I'm curious to know first where the Avatar casting decisions came from; execs? Shyamalan? One might assume that if Shyamalan had the power to do so, he might use his position to cast real Asians in his films...unless for some reason, he chooses otherwise. Let's ask him that at the next interview or junket and see how he answers for himself.

This is a tricky issue, because there are no great solutions. Some might call for affirmative action casting, or for studios to meet some sort of quota of minorities when filling ethnically non-specified roles. Whether or not those means might work, they still require somebody in a position of power to be conscious of it, and unafraid to do it. And it seems obvious that nobody in those positions are doing anything to balance things out.

But we're not talking about adding Asian characters just to be PC, we're talking about filmmakers making efforts to change Asian characters into white ones. WTF, M. Night?

Oh, and the thing I find most perversely funny about this whole thing (thank you Kim, for pointing it out in your article): the only actual Asian in the cast - Dev Patel - will be playing the villain. Sweet irony.

The thing is, despite having some underperforming films lately( I liked The Happening) Shymalan still has clout in the industry to do what he wants unless this is strictly a cash run, and everything I've read about the man suggests otherwise so I thnk the casting has to be placed at his feet. I mean,even if studio pressure put a white lead in the role I think he couldve put Asians inthe other roles.

Here's the rub - if ethnic roles are taken by anglo actors its always an either/or construct that's guaranteed to lock minorities out of the casting process. When they lose out to famous white stars, it's a money decision. You can't cast an Asian because there aren't any popular enough at the box office to recoup the investment, so the studio isn't being racist because its doing what's in its best financial interest.

But then, when unknown white actors are cast in a project like this, suddenly its all about being a meritocracy ("The best actors won the parts!"), and the filmmakers start blathering about how society needs to be more color blind in these matters, and this is all just make believe, and Johnny Dipstick director used to play in the backyard with his friends and pretend to be ninjas so what's the difference, and blah blah blah.

Of course, the irony in all of this is the fact that almost all of the animation that comes from Japan is rife with characters bearing nothing but anglo featured faces and skin tones.

I'm sick of hearing about this.

First off, Sokka and Katara aren't even meant to be Asian. People claiming that they should be clearly don't even watch the show. They should be Native American. Comments that Dev Patel should play Sokka make me facepalm. Do you really think he looks in the least bit Native American?

Second of all, while the cultures are mostly Asian inspired, they pull in elements from such a wide variety of sources that it's hard to lay the claim that any particular character should be Asian. Let me elaborate: The Water Tribes are clearly Inuit. Except that the names sound mostly Japanese. Tai Chi, which Waterbending is based on, is a Chinese martial art. Some of the designs in the Northern tribe bring to mind the Hopi instead of the Inuit. And they have a complicated canal system based roughly on Venice.

The Earth Kingdom is clearly China. Except that Toph, the most famous Earthbender on the show, has a name based on a Hebrew word. And some of the names and design elements of the Earth Kingdom are Korean. They have professional wrestling, hippies, and each area seems to have its own cultural norms, more similiar to America than the widely conformist China. That's not even to mention the clearly Japanese inspired island of Kyoshi.

The Fire Nation is clearly Japan. Or maybe China. Of course, there are Polynesian elements to their culture. The Sun Warriors seem to be Aztec. Or Hawaiian. And they call their Firebending duels Agni Kai (Agni is a Hindu god). And some of their soldiers and tactics seem to be Mongolian. And their drive for imperialism seems to be based on that of the British Empire.

The Air Nomads are obviously Tibetan. Except that Aang himself actually looks white. I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for saying that, but just look at him. His complexion, his eyes, his features. And don't ask me where Guru Pathik came from. He meets Aang at an Air Temple, but he looks Indian. No one else on the show looks like him. Yet there he is.

Thirdly, and this point is key; the rest of the cast announced so far have not been white. In fact, their seems to be a method to Shyamalan's madness. All of the Fire Nation characters are either Indian or brown-skinned, which, when you think about it, makes sense. Not because brown people are evil (and the Fire Nation isn't inherently evil, either. Just very ambitious) but because of the climate of the Fire Nation as it is presented in the show. I mean, it's a tropical island with lots of volcanic activity. How would you expect people from a place like that to look: dark and tanned like Dev Patel, or lily-white like Zuko and Azula? Also, in cold climates on Earth, in most places, with the Inuit being the key exception, the people are *gasp* white or light skinned. So, casting the Water Tribe characters as white actually makes sense? Inconceivable! As for the Earth Kingdom, the only casting I know about is a Latina as Suki and an Asian as some unspecified Earthbender. This leads me to believe that the Earth Kingdom is an ethnically diverse place with a wide variety of cultures under one loose leadership. Isn't that exactly how I described it above? No, that would make too much sense.

As for Aang, I don't know. There have been no official photos released of Noah Ringer. I saw one of him as a five-year-old, and he actually looked Asian. No one officially involved in the movie has said that Noah Ringer is white, have they? We've all assumed because of his last name, but Asian-Americans can have Western last names. My adopted cousin is Asian. Her name is Beth Leighton. Would you assume she was Caucasian before you met her?

Don't assume their's racism involved in this casting. It's clear that Shyamalan has put a lot of thought into this and is going for a more international feel than the Asians-only world of the show. Which I applaud him for; it's a great way to make the concept his own, which is the goal of anyone making an adaptation.

I've worked with Shyamalan on enough of his movies to observe him, his crew, & staff to form a very solid opinion. My opinion is Shyamalan is an anti-semitic homophobe. He also demonstrates a severe contempt for the Screen Actors Guild union. While shooting his new movie, THE LAST AIRBENDER, he got around hiring union actors in two ways: specifying actors be used only if they have blue or green eyes and screen testing SAG actors who have martial art skills, and then saying the non-union martial artists were better than the SAG martial artists, and then hiring only the non-union martial artists. He also wouldn't hire over weight actors for background work. He lost a lot of support from the actors of the Philadelphia Branch of SAG. Many have said they will never again attend a call for any of his future projects, or lend their support for his films during awards season. Background actors hired on his films have to sign a confidentiality form saying that they swear to not divulge the 'secret plot' of his films....What's the big secret? That his latest film will suck like all his other films? He hasn't made a decent picture since The Sixth Sense.

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