Feminist
Pro-Queer
Anti-Racist
Gaming

I'm assuming since many of you play video games, you have a healthy imagination. And I'll go so far as to infer that many of you are, like me, nerds who also enjoy fantasy/sci-fi cartoons/books/movies, etc. Maybe even a little anime once in a while.

And as different as those mediums can be, there is one element that they all have in common. The very element that allows all of those things to be successful: suspension of disbelief. And as far as that goes, I think that as gamers/nerds/whatever, our imagination is probably very developed. If our imagination could be toned, it would probably look like one of those unnaturally large bodybuilders. And if we can't suspend our disbelief for something, then it probably really sucks.

Follow up:

One thing I have never ever been able to suspend my disbelief in is the complete racial homogenization in most, if not all, of the aforementioned mediums. Seriously? You have a band of adventurers going around the entire world or galaxy and there are like no (or maybe two) people of color. Really? A 4 year old could point out all the problems and ridiculousness of such a world existing.

So imagine my surprise (is that the word I'm looking for?) when I took a look at the cast for the live action movie of one of my favorite series. That's right, I am an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. I freely admit it. I was sick one day and flipped on Nickelodeon and watched a few episodes when the series was still pretty new and I was hooked.

I'm sure I don't have to complain to any of you about the lack of inclusive series, animated or not, that have depth, character development and even gender equality. I know, radical ideas, right? You'd think there would be more, especially for kids. I'm fairly sure it is already a well established fact that kids perform better at basically everything when they have role models and highly visible characters they can identify with. And I know it is a fact that race, gender, and sexuality are not all uniform. And to anyone who can deny these things, I suppose I must applaud such dedication (definitely not the word I'm looking for) and staunch ignorance.

I am obviously not the first person to cry foul on this Avatar fiasco. The web abounds with bitter tirades and irritated arguments against Paramount's soooo very clearly racist casting. They should just title the film 'The Last White Power Flick'. And despite my passion for equality, I am not the sort of person to go around pointing the finger and screaming 'sexist', 'racist', 'homophobe', etc without even stopping or thinking. I like to at least attempt to understand where someone is coming from, especially since I wouldn't call my early environment particularly progressive. At all. So I understand never meeting someone, or even seeing them on TV or in a book, from a different race or religion during your formative years. And I really do understand a shock to one's world view.

But it really blows my mind that Paramount, and other studios, think this kind of stuff can still fly unquestioned in 2009. Although the world is nowhere close to being in a state of equality or understanding, they still need to stop and take a minute to really think about what it says if a cinematic world of high fantasy, especially one based on such a culturally rich world, is one where there are only anglo, or angloesque, races.

How one even tries to pretend that there isn't something wrong with that is beyond me. Like I said, I understand being oblivious, but there is no room for those types of excuses anymore. Everyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality engages in these mediums. Not as much as they should have the opportunity to, but there is more visibility than ever. Which sadly still isn't very much. It's not just solely white, straight men anymore. It's everyone. And in a world of higher visibility, you have to be a pretty big bigot or incredibly stupid to exclude everyone who isn't white.

And it's not a quota thing. People are not all white. People are not all straight. And people are not all middle class with a nuclear family. Those are completely inarguable facts. Coming to terms with other people existing isn't just liberalism (whatever that means) and it isn't catering to anyone. It is common sense that excluding people is catering. For example, you exclude people from a party or hanging out to cater to someone else.

I highly doubt I am the only one sick of the same of tripe being shoved at me that is made strictly for white, heterosexual men. Even white, heterosexual men want variety! They aren't all sexist, racist jerks with the IQ of a fourth grader. Come on, who doesn't like variety and depth? Who really sits down and says, "Yes, give me the same crap and make it as boring and shallow as you can"?

And that sort of recycled crap is definitely not what Avatar is about. Anyone who has seen the show knows that it has a considerable amount of depth and features strong themes of friendship, teamwork, international support, understanding, and taking responsibility for and control of one's own actions, life, and destiny. Not something deeply explored in standard Hollywood garbage. And if these themes do make appearances, they are not explored with any real sincerity.

The era of unquestioned privilege is, slowly, passing. Paramount just doesn't want to realize it. Even five years ago, this type of obvious bigotry in Hollywood would have hardly been noticed. But this time, they choose a very successful series that is progressive and inclusive. And that was their mistake. I am amazed that (assuming they even watched the series) they thought they could pull this type of shit and no fans would say anything. Many Avatar fans are people of color. And the series is even closer to their hearts because this is one of the very few series that can offer them anything at all.

So thanks to Paramount for tossing in one Indian actor to add a little color to the film. Because casting an Indian actor in the role of an Asian character definitely makes up for the bigotry of an almost completely racially homogeneous cast. That has a heavy Asian base. ...Right.

Sorry, but Dev Patel does not equal inclusion or adherence to source material. Oh, wait, I forgot, an all white cast is totally cool because M Night Shyamalan is directing it. Obviously.