Netflix’s live-action Avatar has its heart in the right place, but its pacing and uneven performances leave a lot to be desired.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    9 months ago

    Please let’s all remember that these are child actors, and they are no responsible for the poor writing or direction in the show. We can be sure they have worked extremely hard and poured their lives into this show, and the ones we should be disappointed with are the showrunners.

    • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      ·
      9 months ago

      If the acting is bad, we can be mad at the casting director as well. It doesn’t really matter if they’re child actors, that doesn’t make them immune from being called bad actors. They don’t deserve to get dunked on or solely blamed for the show, but let’s not pretend they don’t play a part in its quality. If they were amazing actors, I’d assume you’d have no issue giving them praise? Why is the opposite not true?

      • teft@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        39
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        The problem is people tend to go way the hell overboard when it comes to criticism and some child actors can’t handle it. Look at what happened with Jake Lloyd as an example. Best to just leave the children out of the criticism and make it about the adults who made the decisions.

        • CerealKiller01@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          9 months ago

          People tent to go way the hell overboard on a lot of things. Best to focus on constructive criticism, while keeping in mind the actors are children, rather than to blindly self-censor based on the subject.

        • El Barto@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Strawman argument.

          If a kid plays the piano in a shitty way, it’s okay to say “well, he sucks.”

          Edit: Fuck, man. I didn’t say to say it to his face! Let’s just say that it’s okay to think “well, he sucks.” You CANNOT tell me you don’t think this way if the kid says “I’ve been practicing for months” and you see him just smashing the keyboard. Stop being emotional. If the kid asks for my opinion, I’d probably say “good job! Good effort, keep practicing!” But for sure, I’ll be thinking “welp, he sucks.”

          • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            19
            ·
            9 months ago

            actually no. That’s called being an asshole. You can say that he has room to improve, or that he’s still learning, or literally anything but “wow they just suck” like some asshole.

          • Lmaydev@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            No strawman. One is positive and one is negative. That’s why they are different lol

            And no it’s not really okay. You should encourage children.

            • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              Being uncomfortable with criticism does not mean immunity from criticism. This isn’t a middle school play FFS, it’s a licensed series for something that already has a large, established fan base. Millions of dollars went into this. People’s careers depended on this. Using “they’re just kids!” to deflect legitimate criticism toward their acting abilities is not only nonsensical, it’s cowardly.

            • El Barto@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              Maybe I misread the original comment. Where is the false equivalency? I don’t see OP saying “good and bad are the same.”

              I of course encourage children. I’m not a psycho. I’m referring to the fact that you can tell when a kid is brilliant, and when a kid simply sucks. But yeah, if you tell the kid “kid, stop, you suck,” then that’s a WTF moment.

    • blargerer@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      9 months ago

      I’ve only watched the first 2 episodes, and yeah some of the performances come off quite bad, but I think the editing is at least partially to blame. They hold on characters too long and at odd moments completely destroying any sense of natural tempo in conversations.

      • Microw@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        yeah there was at least one scene where I was like “what the hell, the actors are awkwardly looking at something that isn’t there, you clearly could have cut away from that take!”

        Btw we have some discussions for the first few episodes on !avatar@lemmy.world if you want to weigh in there

      • nachtigall@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        I think it was fine overall. But this is one of the few shows where I actually prefer the dub of my native language because the voice acting was rather underwhelming. To be fair the German voice cast is the same as the original show so they have more than 20 years of experience and nostalgia might play a role too 😁