Avatar: The Last Airbender is a children’s cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon over three seasons. It’s the story of a fantasy world where certain people have an affinity for elemental magic. Those with the ability to manipulate one of the four elements–air, earth, water, fire–are known as benders. And one person in every generation, the Avatar, has the ability to bend all four elements and thus carries the heavy responsibility of maintaining balance in the world. In the show, the Avatar returns after disappearing for one hundred years, and the series follows his adventures as he tries to master his powers and prevent the Fire Nation from conquering all the others.

If you work with children, you are probably already familiar with the show’s premise. What you might not know is that Avatar has significant crossover appeal to older audiences. That includes yours truly. Avatar was my favorite US television over the last two years. The first season is decent; the second season is stronger; and the third season is pretty much awesome. I loved the clever storytelling, the mix of comedy and drama, and the incredibly kinetic action sequences (based on real martial arts and beautifully animated). And I also loved the show because it drew inspiration from a wide range of cultures, especially Chinese and Inuit, in a way that felt respectful rather than exploitative. All the major characters in the show were portrayed as characters of color. Given the general lack of diversity in a lot of children’s media, that was priceless.

The series finished its run over the summer, and since then, there’s been lots of talk of follow-up movies and even a live-action adaptation. Well, the cast for the live-action movie has just been announced, and it’s entirely white. What’s particularly disappointing is that the director, M. Night Shyamalan, is Asian American.

I’m pretty sure that I’m just one of many Avatar fans who has just decided not to watch this particular movie.

I encourage anyone who hasn’t watch the show to investigate it on dvd. (I checked out my copies way back when from my public library!) But give the movie a pass. With a cast like that, I very much doubt it will be able to justice to the original story.

ETA: Nojojojo has a much better post on this topic over at Alas, a blog.