Poll Updates On Toph Candidate:

*Erin Kong - 11%
*Megan Lewallen - 50%
*Meg Barron - 25%
*Heather Dowling - 0%
*Casey Lee - 8%
*Emilirose - 6%
_____
Megan Lewallen, once again, is in the lead and she is followed by Meg Barron. Megan Lewallen has hit half of the votes and Meg Barron (who was really hanging in there for a second) has a quarter of votes. Heather Dowling REMAINS at zero percent.

***NOTICE - THIS POLL HAS ENDED

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Welcome/Toph Candidate Debate 1

Dear Readers,
I've been tracking posts on The Last Airbender 2 (TLA2) Wiki for quite some time now and have finally decided to have my first blog post! Upon reading this post I will discuss some of TLA2's Toph candidates and some of the comments and concerns on them.
  • Casey Lee - Casey Lee is a 14 year old found on Youtube. She is of Singaporean and Taiwanese (generally Chinese) descent. It is unknown if she has an agent but her informal auditions have taken Youtube by storm. Although I admire Casey's obvious love for acting I don't see her playing Toph. She can't deliver lines well enough and seems too sweet to play Toph.  
  • Meg Barron - Meg Barron (often confused with Megan Lewallen) is 12 and is praised for her voice resemblance to Jessica Flowers (the original Toph). She is of Mexican and Italian descent. As a user from the Wiki pointed out, his/her name will not be revealed, I agree that people are just focused on her voice resemblance and not really her acting skills. Meg Barron is defiantly someone to consider, though. Many people praise her but most people just praise her VOICE resemblance. 
  • Megan Lewallen - Megan Lewallen  (often confused with Meg Barron) is 13 and known for her flawless deliverance of her lines, as some wiki contributors say. She is Caucasian (it is unknown what she descends from) and many like her determination for the role. She's posted the more videos than the other Toph candidates on Youtube of her doing informal auditions (a total of 7) and she says that there will be more. She is praised for delivering her lines and being 'a natural in front of the camera' but some reviews say they don't see her as Toph but they support her as an actress. She has received many negative reviews. 
  • Heather Dowling - Heather Dowling is 14 and Caucasian (it is unknown of what she descends from). Most people don't consider her as a true candidate because she doesn't seem dedicated. 
  • Erin Kong - Erin Kong is the most recent of the Wiki candidates and not much is known about her. 
  • Emilirose - Emilirose is 14 and not much is known of her.
  • Karen Vo - Karen Vo is 17 and of Asian decedent but she does NOT have an audition posted. 

A recent poll shows that 58% of fans would chose Megan Lewallen to play Toph. 
  • 58% - Megan Lewallen
  • 14% - Meg Barron
  • 14% - Karen Vo 
  • 9% - Casey Lee
  • 0% - Heather Dowling
  • 5% - Emilirose 
(ERIN KONG WAS NOT LISTED AS A CANDIDATE AT THE TIME THE POLL WAS CREATED BUT IT IS ASSUMED SHE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD OVER 8% OF VOTES)
 
The candidates are all, in some ways, good and, in some ways, bad. Most of the audition tapes we find are titled as 'informal'. Meg Barron, while a leading candidate, has yet to beat Megan Lewallen in voting but more people, as I have noticed, comment on her talent and voice rebalanced and I think that most people are just impressed with the sound of her voice but not focusing on her acting talent. Megan Lewallen has been given negative reviews but this is to be expected because she is, obviously, not Asian or very foreign for the casting. Karen Vo, tied with Meg Barron in voting, has been reported to have had an unsuccessful audition tape posted but took it off the internet due to negative reviews. It is highly unlikely Karen Vo would be cast because of her acting skills, which we've seen in other Youtube movies (such as I.M. Me), as well as her age. 




Another recent poll shows that 65% would NOT have Toph Bei Fong played by an Asian. 
Q: "Would you rather have Toph played by an Asian? Why?"
  • 65% -No, because it doesn't matter what race you are. It matter's how well you can act.
  • 3% - No, because I see Toph as a Caucasian.
  • 6% - Yes, because I believe that Shyamalan is portraying raciest casting.
  • 28% - Yes, because I see Toph as an Asain.
What does THIS poll tell you? Not even a quarter of voters say that M. Night Shyamalan is portraying raciest castings. 28% say that they want Toph to be Asian because that's how they envisioned her. My opinion goes with the 65% that said 'No, because it doesn't matter what race you are. It matter's how well you can act'. Shyamalan is NOT portraying raciest casting. I believe that the idea of raciest casting was formed by someone who thought TLA was a terrible movie and they just wanted to complain more about it. The debate, however, will be contentious despite the fact that its obvious that Shyamalan isn't raciest.

*** FUN FACT: SHYAMALAN IS ASIAN


Thank You,
Jessica F. (Blogger)


7 comments:

  1. There shouldn't even be a sequel. And Toph is East Asian, Shyamalan is not. And just because he comes from the continent of Asia does not excuse the racist casting. You don't have to be white to be racist.

    Also, you might want to do a little more research when posting about possible Toph actresses. Speculation of a few people on Avatar Wiki is NOT enough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @michaelb11 - The point of this blog was that I WAS monitoring the most popular site/resource were people gave their honest opinions. It was a kind of experiment and I DID say that I was monitoring THOSE posts on The Last Airbender 2 (TLA2) Wiki for quite some time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's far from the most popular site. There can't be more than 20 commenters on TLA2 page.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think that you should conduct even more research about the candidates for Toph, Asian or not, coz there's obviously a lot more other capable actresses/candidates than those that you have copied from that website.

    For all you know, there might be someone who is perfect/very capable/suitable to play Toph but maybe she has not gathered enough fans yet. I suggest that you should research more thoroughly.

    P.S. - I am interested to play Toph too but I have not put up any video on the internet. I'm 13, and I'm Singaporean(ASIAN). I used to take Karate too. And if my video's coming up soon, I'll inform/contact you. Thanks. (:

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, way to be unbiased in that last paragraph. What's the point in making a poll like that if you're just gonna say "It doesn't matter, I'm right." And the racist (that's without an E) casting was brought up a year before the movie came out, not made up by some random person.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ok this is irratating bcuz shymalan is NOT racist! he made the movie so the people of different parts of the world were different races

    ReplyDelete
  7. He made the movie to make $$$$! And like most of Hollywood, he didn't think Asian actors would be very marketable so he whitewashed the cast. Just because he's Indian doesn't mean he can't discriminate. Try reading up on Hollywood's racist practices and how they HAVEN'T changed. Try this video for starters:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgcksOQwjDk

    ReplyDelete