The Prince Diary 王子日記

「最後的氣宗」「The Last Airbender」電影在美國從6月30號午夜場首映開始，評價一直很差，而且不只是影評人討厭，粉斯討厭，連對於具有種族歧視選角爭議並不了解的一般民眾，也很討厭。目前這部電影在『爛番茄』『Rotten Tomatoes』上的評價是8%（甚至低於去年被罵到死的「Dragonball：Evolution」「龍珠：全新進化」，13% 的評價），在雅虎電影上的評價則是「D」。而且評論的人，許多都是完全沒有提到種族爭議的，而是單純從看完電影之後的失望程度，徹徹底底的認為這是部大爛片！而且它的3D是後制的，效果非常的差，許多看過的人也對那『假3D』罵不絕口！

暫且不管這部電影對亞裔的種族歧視，光就電影本身而言就已經難看死了。在華爾街郵報（The Washington Post）的討論區上，甚至有人留言說：「原本我對於他沒有選亞裔演員擔任主角感到憤怒，但看了這部爛片之後，反而感到很慶幸他們選的都是白人，不然電影公司就會把電影爛、票房爛，歸罪在亞裔演員身上。」

看看粉絲們在6月30號晚上特地趕午夜場首映之後，大失所望的樣子：

7月1號白天，在洛杉磯電影院門口聚集了超過百名的抗議者，當中有亞裔、白人、黑人、拉丁裔等各族裔人士，一起呼籲抵制「最後的氣宗」。

ABC 電視台的報導：

FOX 2電視台的報導：

這是 Prince Zuko 的原型喔

而在原動畫系列當中，為 Prince Zuko（祖寇/蘇科/朱克王子）配音的菲律賓裔美國人 Dante Basco，也於電影上映的當天，7月1號，在自己的部落格上發表了「是否抵制最後的氣宗」「The Last Airbender：Boycott or Not？」一文，說明自己眼睜睜看著原本的經典動畫，慘遭奈沙馬蘭和帕拉蒙電影公司荼毒，從佳作一步步墮入笑柄的深淵，無限惋惜的心情。

Dante Basco 曾經演出過「Hook」「小飛俠」、「Take The Lead」「獨領風潮」等片。

「是否抵制最後的氣宗」「The Last Airbender：Boycott or Not？」

Today is the opening of the film “The Last Airbender”, a show based on Avatar, the animated series that I played the role of Prince Zuko, one of the lead characters. Now, with this event happening, I have been getting numerous emails and questions of how I feel on the casting of the film and ultimately does it warrant a boycott.

今天是「最後的氣宗」上映的日子，這電影是根據「降世神通」改編，我在當中扮演主角之一 Prince Zuko。現在，正當電影上映之際，我已經接到無數的Email以及問題，詢問我有關電影選角的問題，以及是否支持抵制這部電影。

Now some come from fans that would have like to see me play the role I originated for the series, they want to see me play Zuko on the big screen, and I must admit, I would have loved to do the role. I was told many of the producers were pushing to make that happen but M. Night Shymalan, the director of the film had another vision. Also him casting his country man Dev Patel, doesn’t bother me, he’s a fine young actor and I’m sure he’ll do a great job. For other’s the question of boycott comes from the casting of the other character, mainly, Ang, Katara and Sokka. For those that may not know the series, when you break it down to the bottomline, many feel that “white” kids were cast as roles that were supposed to be “asian” kids from the series.

有些粉絲想看我扮演我原本在影集當中扮演的角色，他們想看我在大銀幕上扮演Zuko，而我必須承認，我將樂於扮演那個角色。有幾位製作人告訴我，他們有這樣推動，但是這電影的導演奈沙馬蘭（M. Night Shymalan），有不同的看法。同時，我也不在乎他選擇自己國族（印度）的人 Dev Patel 來扮演這個角色，他是一個很好的年輕演員，而我確信他將能演的很好。而其他關於抵制這部電影的問題，主要是源於其他角色的選角，主要是「安昂」、「卡塔拉」以及「索卡」。對於那些不知道原動畫的人，從基本來說，就是許多人感覺到原作當中亞洲人的角色，卻選擇”白人”來飾演。

Now here is where the boycott question comes in, especially from the Asian American community and it’s weighed heavy on my mind in these last few months. And this film is not alone in this problem. Recently “Prince of Persia” had the same dilema with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the lead, and my fiance is Persian, so I was able to hear the point of view of that community.

而這就產生了抵制的問題，尤其在亞裔美國人社群當中，並起在過去幾個月當中佔據我的思緒。而這部電影並不是唯一有這樣問題的電影。最近「波斯王子」也有類似的兩難，因為Jake Gyllenhaal擔任主角（原主角設定為波斯人，Gyllenhaal則是猶太人），而我的未婚妻正是波斯人，所我能夠聽到那個社群的觀點。

Should Hollywood be able to cast “white” actors to play “ethnic” roles?

好萊塢應該能夠選擇”白人”演員，來扮演”非白人”角色嗎？

Believe me, as an actor, it’s no easy answer. My first gut feeling is, the best actor should be cast for the job no matter race… But maybe that’s just an ideal that is unreal when it comes to making a movie, and making a big budget movie at that. See, my whole career is based on playing roles that were not written race specific, matter fact, if I had to wait for Hollywood to come along with a script for a Filipino American, I would have no career at all.

相信我，身為一個演員，這不是個簡單的問題。我第一個直覺就是，無論種族，應該選擇最好的演員。但真的要開拍電影時，並且是大預算的電影時，這或許這是個不切實際的理想。我的整個演員生涯就是建立在扮演非特定族裔角色上頭，事實上，如果我等待好萊塢有個為菲律賓裔美國人寫的劇本，我根本就不會有演藝生涯。

The fact of the matter is, in Hollywood… it’s not fair. It’s not fair at all, the tables are tipped unfavorably for ethnic actors. The percentage of roles for ethnic actors to white actors is something to the effect of: in 100 roles, there may be 12 roles for black actors, maybe 7 for Latin actors and only maybe 2 for Asian actors. And with stats like this, its a little distressing that when actual roles for Asians come in a big budget film, they don’t get cast. Now I understand if you have to cast a big star like a Jake Gyllenhaal to warrant a budget in the hundreds of millions, but I think its different when you are casting unknown actors and children at that, with a franchise with an almost guaranteed. I think it’s a missed opportunity for the voice and the face of the Asian community, when will a project like this and of tis magnitude come along again? I don’t know the young actors they cast, I hope they do a great job, I myself was a child actor and I know the stress and joy booking a big film like this could be. but the crime is not giving the opportunity some Asian kids. See, we wonder why there are no real Asian stars in America, part of the reason is because of things that happen like this. Stars don’t just happen out of thin air, Hollywood helps make them. This was an opportunity to give the chance to some Asian kids to become stars for the future generation and we missed it. See, if you can get some Asian actors in the machine of Hollywood and they exist as a viable commodity, it can spark more projects that can support the voice and face of the Asian community and level the playing ground a little. But when we can’t even land roles that were so clearly created as Asian roles, its a bit disheartening.

關鍵事實是，在好萊塢… 是不公平的。是完全不公平的，對非白人演員而言是極端不利的。非白人演員與白人演員所得到角色的比率，是這樣的：在 100 個角色當中，可能有 12 個角色給黑人演員，7 個給拉丁裔演員，而只有 2 個給亞裔演員。在這樣的數據下，當在大成本的電影當中，真的有寫給亞裔的角色，而他們卻不選亞裔演員，實在叫人痛心。我可以理解如果你要選像 Jake Gyllenhaal 那樣的大明星來保證百萬大製作能回收，但我想當你選的卻是名不見經傳的演員跟小孩，這又是不同的，尤其原動畫已就已經是飽受歡迎的。我認為對於亞裔社群的聲音和演出機會而言，是錯失良機。何時才會再有像這樣的有亞裔主角的大製作？我不認識他們選擇的年輕演員（白人），我希望他們能作的好，我自己就是童星出身，我知道能夠在這樣大製作的電影裡面擔綱演出，有多大的壓力，又是多大的快樂。但錯就是錯在，亞裔的小演員們卻沒有機會感受到這些。我們總疑惑為什麼在美國沒有真正的亞裔巨星，部分原因就是因為像這樣的事情。巨星不是憑空來的，是好萊塢造出來的。這明明是個將一些亞裔小朋友造就成下個世代明星的良機，但我們卻錯過了。如果你讓一些亞裔演員進到好萊塢機器當中，並且讓他們持續有演出機會，這將能夠促成更多的製作計畫，來支持亞裔社群的聲音和演出機會，並且讓演藝圈平衡一點。但如果連明明就是寫給亞裔的角色，都不讓亞裔演員來接的話，那真是有點叫人痛心。

At least Dev Patel got cast, even though, I wanted to play the role, originally they had Jesse McCartney cast to play Prince Zuko.

至少 Dev Patel 被選上了，縱使原本我想要扮演這個角色，但原本他們是選擇 Jesse McCartney （白人）來扮演 Prince Zuko 的〉

So… to boycott or not? I still feel a loyalty to the whole project, I helped to make it popular and I hope the film does justice to a near perfect animated series. Boycott is a strong word, but I do know that I won’t go see it opening weekend. I’m sure I will see it sooner or later, but my money won’t be a part of the opening weekend tally. In this day and age, in America 2010… I just don’t think it is at all viable for white actors to play ethnic roles… at least until they let us play white roles.

所以，要不要抵制呢？我依舊感到對整個系列有忠誠感，我協助那動畫變的受歡迎，而我也希望電影版能夠給幾乎完美的動畫版一個公道。「抵制」，是個強烈的字眼，但我確實知道我不會在首映的那週去看這部電影。我確定我遲早會看，但我的錢將不會被算到首週票房當中。在當今這個時代，在2010年的美國… 我就是部認為讓白人演員來演非白人角色，是有道理的… 至少，在他們讓我們扮演非白人角色之前。

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最後附上在 IMBD 上，一名父親的評論，他只給了這部電影最低的一顆星評價。他10歲的小孩看完這部電影之後，因為夢想破碎，居然要哭！

各位父母，如果帶小孩去看這部片的話，恐怕會被告虐待兒童喲！

Thank you for ruining my children's summer M. Knight, 2 July 2010

Author: somareel11 from United States

Just like the street fighter movie of the 90's did to my childhood The lst Airbender did to my children. It just failed, and it ruined my children's innocence. I want to paint a picture as to how bad this movie was, My 10 year old got me to watch, DVR and purchase all of the Avatar Cartoon series, and I got into it with him. So in January over the Super Bowl the trailer came on for the movie, since then my Son has been waiting for this, and I mean the boy has been feening to see this movie. So he had a smile from ear to ear upon entering the movie. 94 min later my son came out a different person... He was border line crying because the movie was not close to the same as the cartoon. The worst part is that I am a 28 year old man, honestly upset at a children's cartoon movie. I want my money back and my child's smile. Did you even watch the cartoon M. Knight Shyamalan?

「感謝你毀了我小孩的暑假」

就像90年代的「快打炫風」電影毀了我的童年，「最後的氣宗」也毀了我小孩的童年。這電影大失敗，並且毀了我小孩的純真。這部片的爛真是千言萬語無法形容，恐怕要用畫的。因為我 10 歲的兒子，我開始看，並且購買了整套的「降世神通」，我們父子倆一起看。所以從1月份起，預告片在超級盃球賽當中出現之後，我兒子就一直在期待，他真的是萬分盼望電影上映。所以當他走進電影院的時候，他可是笑的非常開心。94分鐘之後，我兒子整個變了個人。他幾乎要哭出來，因為電影跟卡通都不一樣。最糟糕的是，我是個28歲的成年人，而我居然紮紮實實的被這部片給噁爛到了。我要退錢，也請退回我兒子的笑容。奈沙馬蘭，你根本有看過那部卡通嗎？

真 Sokka（左）怒揍假的白人 Sokka！

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