Do you think it's possible for American to make anything not considered Americanized?

L

Lou K

New member
Look at Avatar. It's a great show, a lot of people enjoy it and yet some people out there consider it to be a rip-off of Anime. It even goes along with this and adds some Anime-looking moments in it's last season, whereas in the previous seasons some extorted facial features, etc. were probably just coincedence.
 
I don't know, I find Avatar to have been pretty Americanized in its own right in certain ways (like the standard American interpretation of Asian culture). If you mean 'Asian-esque' show, then there's a lot due to the anime craze of the early 2000s. American Dragon: Jake Long (though I supposed that'd be consider 'Americanized'), Xiaolin Showdown. The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Samurai Jack, there's been quite a few in that regard with everyone trying to jump on the bandwagon. There's more if you consider stuff like Teen Titans as well .
 
If it originates in America it can't, by definition, be Americanized. It's just American. The only things that can be called Americanized are direct remakes of foreign fare, like Dragon Ball Evolution.
 
Probably not. Or this said american has to live somewhere else for quite some time.

It's just that you guys have an distinctively specific way of looking and making things.

You mentioned ATLA as an example how american show can look not-american.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble but actual asians (like, say, me and a few chinese posters over at avatarspirit.net) constantly feel how all-american the show is, which feels especially jarring in contrast to the honest efforts of looking all-asian.

The way characters think, act, speak (of course putting the language factor aside), even think -- everything gives them away as americans.

Like, Katara calls Sokka "sexist" in the very first episode. Good luck with just trying to find the same word in any asian language.

Or Katara again, fighting with Pakku? Say what? Did she just laid her hands on senior respectable old man? Ever heard of "respecting your elders"?

Other instances of it are too numerous to mention. As i said -- it's everywhere.
 
That's not so much look as it is culture. I think fantasy worlds shouldn't be the same as real-life cultures that inspire them- although the hodgepodge of American cultural values in foreign/historical/total fantasy settings is all too common. I would classify the world of Avatar as having the appearance of Asia, much like the humanoids of Star Wars and Krypton and Eternia tend to have the appearance of Caucasians. I have to respect where they've gone with Avatar, because I've always found the white default pathetic- having grown up on a show with 4 green non-human leads. Avatar is basically shonen anime made from a Western perspective, as was Teen Titans.
 
Sorry, I really don't understand what you're asking here. You go from Americanisation to ripping off anime, two concepts that aren't really connected.

Any chance you could rephrase your question?
 
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