The name of his tumblr blog refers to two characters he’s played. The first being Rufio in Hook (1991). The second beingthe voice of  Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation in Nickelodeon’s cartoon series Avatar: the Last Airbender. Being someone who invested a few months of time in watching the series once it came out on Netflix, I was excited about this connection and decided to do some link-to-link clicking and see what kind of connections I could make with the series and the Asian American community.

One of the first connections I found was within the theatre company the East West Players (EWP). From their mission statement on their website: “As the nation’s premier Asian American theatre organization, East West Players produces artistic works and educational programs that foster dialogue exploring Asian Pacific experiences.” Dante Basco is apart of this company along with many other voice actors from A:TLA. In fact, one of the founders and artistic directors of EWP also played Basco’s charcater’s wise Uncle Iroh in the first season– the late Makoto Iwamatsu.

Other connections led me to an old internet favorite of mine… LiveJournal. While LiveJournal has lost some of its popularity, it was once a head blogging site and place for people to form blog communities based on their interests (or disinterest). This was the place I entered my very first fandom and where my internet presence truly began. And as a current computer tech I have to honor the my first internet obsession. So I bring to you:

1. Specific posts from an older LiveJournal that criticized Paramount Pictures’ casting choices in the Avatar: the Last Airbender motion picture adaptation (2010):

This one has to do with the EWP and the white-washing within the film.
This one is a “visual essay” on the influence of the Inuit culture in the television series and the inappropriate choices of actors to represent that culture.

2.  A post on the influence of the four elements used to represent the four nations in the A:TLA universe.

From these posts I was influenced to keep searching and found a new blog post that really beautifully illustrates the problematic aspect of whitewashing in media from a first hand experience. Here’s the beginning excerpt:

“When I first saw Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) on Nickelodeon, the first thing I thought was, “whoa…”
That was because the main character, Aang, had a skin colour that is similar to mine. Aang was not a stereotypical Asian. He doesn’t wear glasses or have tiny eyes. He has big eyes, like mine. That “whoa…” was one of amazement — because for once there was a character and a whole cartoon series that represents people of my skin colour and those darker than mine! Not only did the cartoon have representation I could identify with, but it is also a great series where the characters are not based on stereotypes.”

The rest of that entry can be found here.

I thought these posts and this subject really tied into this last week’s reading (post for that can be found here) because it involves Asian Americans (like Dante Basco) and the kind of work they are involved in currently which illustrates how appropriate representation (such as The Debut or EWP) and misrepresentations (such as the film adaptation A:TLA) have evolved.

And just for fun– Asian History Tumblr’s resource page.