Or Why I am Boycotting The Last Airbender

I watch anime. This is known. I tend to watch Japanese anime most of the time, but hell, any GOOD anime is good with me. I've not come across anything that I wanted to watch that was restricted in my country but, should I ever, I know that I can make use of one of the best streaming vpn options out there to help me bypass the restrictions and watch what I want to. Anime is such a huge part of my life, as it is for so many others too. If you're an anime fanatic, you might want to think about getting something like an anime body pillow to show how dedicated you are.

I also have a baby cousin who's 7 years old. This is also known. Ibrahim, like any self-respecting seven-year-old kid watches cartoons. As two only children we share a special bond which includes late night rendezvous well past his bedtime. We watch Ben 10, Megas XLR, and more importantly, Avatar: The Last Air Bender, along with many more cool things on international websites where we can (watch anime online) without facing much hassle.

I gripe a lot about racism on this blog, and I most often talk about racism against Black people and specifically racism against Nigerians. I even complain about Asian racism against Nigerians, but here's a clear cut case of racism working against Asians, and it makes me mad as hell.

You would have to be a Brainless Idiot with Mental Faculties made of Nonsense and Ingredient to not notice within the first thirty seconds of any episode of The Last Air Bender that the world is Asian, the people are Asian, EVERY DAMN THING IN THE ENTIRE CARTOON IS ASIAN!!!!!!!

Yet, when this beloved cartoon is taken to the big screen, Hollywood decides that Only White People Can Save The World, and it has to be All About White People so they take a group of OBVIOUSLY ASIAN characters and hire WHITE ACTORS to play them. And then when fans like me and Ibrahim complain, they say it's no big deal.

Of course it's no big deal. Everyone knows that White people are better at being you than you are at being yourself.

I have long ago realised that there is one generic narrative out there in most Hollywood films, and it is this:

Of all the people that live in [insert continent, country, place, etc] it is only the one Random-as-Fuck White Man (or Woman) that can be the Greatest [warrior, chief, leader, survivor, etc], defeat all the enemies, and SAVE THE WORLD, while marrying the Chief's daughter to boot. [ or if the "actor" is a White woman, then marrying the ONE SINGLE WHITE MAN THAT LIVES THERE to boot - because there has never been any film where the White female lead ended up with anything less than a White man]

Helloo? Tarzan? All the "Cleopatra's"? The Last Samurai? Avatar??? And so many others.

Yay!! The White Man saves the day!!

Well guess what? Maybe the REST OF THE WORLD is sick of it. I would like to see a fucking Chinese Prince Zuko and an Inuit Sokka and Katara, and a Chinese Aang, and an Indian Guru!

And can people stop using the excuse of Blue Eyes to claim that the character must be White?

Oh yeah, because some random person with blue eyes lives in an Asian country, writes in Chinese characters, practises Buddhism, believes East Asian philosophy, eats the food and dresses in that culture, then all that should be discounted and they can be White because they have fucking blue eyes?

I mean, yeah, I find the blue eyes problematic but still only a MUMU would not know that everyone in Avatar the last air bender is MEANT TO BE ASIAN.

I shall be boycotting this film. I am Nigerian, and it is not my business. I shouldn't give a shit because I'm not Asian but I'll be damned if I stand by and let White Supremacy score another blow against another group of non-White people.

I don't care how good the film is and I don't care how much I love Avatar. Hollywood is going to be deprived of my $10 movie ticket and the one I would have bought for Ibrahim.

So there.

And for the record, Ibrahim thinks they're mumus too. Thank you for ruining what would have been a great movie for my baby cousin. You monsters. You kill the dreams of seven year olds.