mrsolivaw's avatar

mrsolivaw

Angela Howard
7 Watchers8 Deviations
4.4K
Pageviews
So does my journal entry title have to be meaningful? ^_^  I like that word.  Pronounced "wuhg", like the "oo" from book.  O_____o

Anywho.  I've never bothered doing this before.  The only reason I'm bothering now is to show my support for a movie that recently came out.

This movie has been labeled racist by a group of special, interesting, um...frankly nuts people.  I think maybe they were afraid anyone would get a live action movie version wrong, and would bad mouth anything.  Or they don't like Shyamalan as a director.  Or who knows.  But I'd like to think that, with all the evidence to the contrary- honestly, with the sheer silliness of clinging to the "racism" bandwagon, that they secretly or subconsciously have some other reason they are so dead set against this film.  Fear, I think, of something they love being changed in any way- or, as they would see it, being screwed up.

Me?  I loved the movie. I've seen it twice.  I left the theater on cloud nine both times.  I'm extremely tempted to go see it again.  Am I frequent movie goer?  Heck no!  There have been a few years of my life in which I saw maybe...two films?  I'm actually rather picky.  On that note, I could sit down and write out every tiny thing that could be considered wrong with this movie.  However, the overall effect was so overwhelmingly positive for me as a moviegoer that the criticism just doesn't matter.  It's like...throwing a bucket of water into the ocean.  (Which, incidentally, brings to mind one of my favorite scenes from the movie.)

I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy the movie.  I can see why it would be hard for some people to take.  The name pronunciations alone could throw fans who chant "Sokka" inside their heads daily, I suppose.  (And no, I'm not bashing you if you do that- I've got a few fandoms I've written extensively for, and when you do that, you think names in your head a lot, quite naturally so.)

So.  Maybe you hate the movie.  That's fine.  But don't play the race card.  Because this movie isn't racist.  And frankly, if you do hate the movie, at least give a thought as to why- and how justified your complete distaste for it is.  And if you leave a review, say, on Rotten Tomatoes, don't just score it.  Say why.  (And if you haven't seen it, don't leave a freaking review, period!  That's just mean spirited.)  Feel free to check out this video on the subject:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDRTHr… commentary on the "racebending")

And this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPk3S8… review.  Warning: has some bad language.)

And this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6wTzt… video about anime, and races.)

And this, just because I find it hilarious:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hQGO…

Aand last but not least (if completely random), this (a Zutara video, I admit):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9prCmW…

This last person loves the movie, and has said they'll do video for these two when the footage comes out.  YAY!


So.  Yeah.  I'd also like to address the movie's 8% (or thereabouts) rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Professional movie critics are people who make a living by critiquing films.  If they offend the audience, they could lose their job.  (For example, a critic hired by a newspaper could be fired by said newspaper if enough complaints come in about them- particularly if they're being accused of saying something racist or bigoted, etc.)  So what do these guys naturally do?  They shy away from controversial things.

And The Last Airbender, whether the fans like it or not, has been MADE controversial by a small, creepy group of people calling themselves "racebenders."  They influenced main stream critics- just read the reviews.  They KNOW about the accusations of racism- Ebert mentions it, and, to top it off, assumes that the accusation is accurate (the jerk).  Other mainstreadm critics have done the same.  I actually wrote to one about it- what amazed me was that he actually wrote back, and stated that he had been ill informed.

In any case, these major critics have distanced themselves from this movie in the easiest, clearest way available to them: they gave it abysmal ratings.  Thank you, PC world.  You suck.

So!  I just need to put that out there- it helps explain, in part, the chasm between the critics average rating on RT versus the average user rating, for one.  (Honestly- a 36 point gap is pretty extreme, even for RT.)  In my opinion, the user rating has been influenced to show a false temperature, if you will, by those who leave 0% (I mean, come on.  0%?  There are very, very few movies out there that truly deserve that kind of rating.) and go on their merry way- sometimes even noting in their reviews that they haven't seen the movie!  So yeah..if those special people weren't getting on there, then maybe the rating would be just a little higher, methinks.

Anywho...I guess this journal entry turned into a semi-rant.  ^_^;  I encourage people who did enjoy the film to go leave positive comments, reviews, etc any place you can.  Just sit down for an hour one day and do it. :)

And join the club here:

last-airbender-movie.deviantar…

They're awesome because they support the movie, and they're also very well organized.  (You can search by your favorite ship and everything. :P)

Alrightly then.  Signing off. :)
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Featured

Woog. And The Last Airbender. Which I liked. by mrsolivaw, journal