What is he? (Noah Ringer)

[Mindbender]

Sounds more like he's 1/9th black, 1/3rd brown, 5/9ths white. I don't think Jews, Syrian and Lebanese count as black.

The only way to be 1/9 something is is your had three genetic parents, at least one of which also had three genetic parents.

You are joking? Cause it is possible to be 1/9th something with just two parents. This just means that your parents and your grandparents and so forth are also multiracial.

It is not possible to be one ninth anything in a system where all babies genetically 1/2 of each of two parents. This is simple math. One generation up, you have two parents (each providing 1/2 of their genetic material). Two generations up you have four grandparents (each providing 1/4 of their genetic material). Three generations, eight great-grandparents, 1/8 each. The number of contributors to your genome is derived by the # of sexual genetic providers to the power of however many generations up you go. If you always have 2 parents, the only denominators you can have follow the pattern of 2^x where x is a positive integer. You can be any number of halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, sixty-fourths, one-hundred-twenty-eighths...etc, so long as the numerator is not greater than the denominator. You cannot be one ninth something, or two thirteenths something.

In certain plant and insect and fish species, you can get viable polyploidy offspring, where one parent provides a double (or more) dose of a set of chromosomes. Instead of two sets of chromosomes, they can have three or four or even more. This could allow non-2^x denominators, but in humans, basically all cases of polyploidy are unviable; most lead to miscarriage, and few die shortly after birth. In the rare case of mixoploidy, you don't even have a single genome to identify.

[facepalm]

Ah, you're being exacting.

I just followed the Wikipedia quote:

Miller is of multiracial origins; his father is of Jamaican, English, German and Jewish descent, and his mother is of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese ancestry.

I counted nine and just assigned a portion to each. Not trying to be exact. Just pointed (above) out because someone said he was half-black.

Just want to point out that Eurasian means mixed-race, hapa, hafu, mestizo, etc. Saying so because many Eurasians or mixed-race people have to pick just one race, which in my honest opinion, is pretty sad and really not accurate nor fair - because it tends to give credit to just one race rather than to two or more races.

I think that is a bit of a generalisation. I'm mixed race, or eurasian and i wouldn't say i particularly felt the need to lean one way or the other. Proud of both. Sure genetically you might lean towards a particular side slightly more than the other, but i think that it's mainly to do with nurture rather than nature.

I'm not sure to which statement you are referring to that I am generalizing. I'm just aware that many biracial or multiracial people in the USA felt pressured to pick just one race. Also in Asia before. Though mixed-race people are popular nowadays, they were treated badly before and also felt pressured to hide their multi-racial heritage.

Ah... I forgot to mention that even though mixed-race people are quite popular in Asia these days - it's not always the case. Sometime ago, there was an uproar over a Chinese-Black girl who received a lot of hate from Chinese viewers who refused to see her as Chinese, even though she'd lived in China her whole life.

[Keola]

I'm not sure to which statement you are referring to that I am generalizing. I'm just aware that many biracial or multiracial people in the USA felt pressured to pick just one race. Also in Asia before. Though mixed-race people are popular nowadays, they were treated badly before and also felt pressured to hide their multi-racial heritage.

How anyone can just pick one is beyond me. I, being mixed myself, could not even attempt to pick just one. I have at least 7 different Ethnicities (2 parts Polynesian, 3 parts white, 1 part Asian, and 1 part Native American) and if I dig deeper into my past I might have more.

Ah... I forgot to mention that even though mixed-race people are quite popular in Asia these days - it's not always the case. Sometime ago, there was an uproar over a Chinese-Black girl who received a lot of hate from Chinese viewers who refused to see her as Chinese, even though she'd lived in China her whole life.

Really? poor girl.

[facepalm]

Most of the time, it's less about individual freedom and more to do with outside pressure when a person of mixed heritage decides on one race. The article below highlights this societal pressure very well.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cen ... race_N.htm

I felt I had been branded something I wasn't.

Those who were children in 2000 and were identified as one race by their parents may respond differently as adults today and select more than one.

Only 2.3% of the population — about 7 million — identify themselves as being of more than one race, according to recent Census surveys. That figure has remained constant since 2000. But mixed-race marriages have jumped 20% since 2000 to 4.5 million, or 8% of the total.

The number reporting more than one race may seem small, Frey says, because for generations, there had not been wide social acceptance of mixed-race individuals.

"I would sit there for about a minute and get a little miffed and I would end up picking white. … Isn't that reverse discrimination? I could no more say I'm just white than I could say I'm just Japanese."

About the half Black half Chinese girl, her name is Lou Jing. 50% Chinese, born and raised in China. Was educated in China. Speaks Chinese like a native. Is a Chinese citizen and so on and on. But all that's not enough for some people who refuse to see her as Chinese simply because her skin tone is dark.

[Screemo]

I personally don't think that Noah is THAT white either but it's not as important to me anymore because his being 100% white racially or culturally wouldn't really ruin it for me. maybe I'd be bothered by it but I'd have to remember that the so-called racist casting process was probably alright and that the casting call was put in the wrong hands.

Something I noticed, though. BBM said earlier that he's part filipino and part hawaaiian if I'm not mistaken, and facepalm's from china, and Azeke's Kazakh. that's three dudes of asian ancestry, the latter 2 being 100% and from Asian, saying he looks Asian.
and I'm really not sure that Paramount would capitalize on his ancestry if he was mixed. Wouldn't that create more problems legally? Plus, some racebending people say they feel that it wouldn't fix the allegedly racist casting of the water tribes and Fire Nation or the "tokenism" concerning Suki and Zuko. However, BBM is right about one thing. If he's mixed and doesn't just say "I'm white", then they'll be at a loss. If he's mixed and calls himself white, it's no big deal and he's still less offensive as aang than Nicola & Jackson are for Sokka & katara because he's the right race at all, noticeably.

Then again, someone on another forum noticed a lady hovering by Noah in one of his interviews at the kid's choice awards with black hair and shades, wondering if that's his mom. She looks white as far as I can tell. *shrugs*

[Psypris]

I feel I should put a disclaimer before I post: I am European (1/4 Italian, Irish, English and German) and I am neutral on the whole Pro/Anti-casting. Pro in that, if they can ACT & are believable as the characters, then I'm fine & Anti because I do understand the broader problem with Minorities in Hollywood.

Personally, I am on the fence with Noah Ringer's ethnicity. He does have Asian features & I personally think he looks like many Eurasian people (I've searched for "Caucasian-Asian mixed children" on my own, but the pictures on page 1 were very lovely too ^_^) but as others have said, who really is "pure" in their ethnicity anymore? Everyone clumps Caucasians/Europeans into the "White" category, but that leaves much room for mixing the fair skinned races together to get something 'exotic' looking.

Here is the passage from M. Night Shyamalan's interview someone was looking for:

When we were casting, I was like, "I don't care who walks through my door, whoever is best for the part. I'm going to figure it out like a chessgame." Ideally we separate the nations ethnically — ideally....I was without an agenda, and just letting it come to the table. Noah is a photo double from the cartoon. He is spot on. I didn't know their backgrounds, and to me Noah had a slightly mixed quality to him. So I cast the Airbenders as all mixed-race. So when you see the monks, they are all mixed. And it kind of goes with the nomadic culture and the idea that over the years, all nationalities came together.

If Manoj thought he was mixed, then surely the "Biased Pro-Casters" can't be merely grasping at straws.


Someone also referred to cartoon characters as "smiley faces" that could be open to many as far as role models etc are concerned. I will use another quote from Manoj to reiterate this idea:

The great thing about anime is that it's ambiguous. The features of the characters are an intentional mix of all features. It's intended to be ambiguous. That is completely its point. So when we watch Katara, my oldest daughter is literally a photo double of Katara in the cartoon. So that means that Katara is Indian, correct? No that's just in our house. And her friends who watch it, they see themselves in it. And that's what's so beautiful about anime.

Quotes were taken from: http://io9.com/5504967/shyamalan-addresses-airbenders-race-controversy-and-answers-your-questions

[badly bruised muse]

This is a small, relatively, old article with Noah Ringer. With a quote from Noah Ringer
http://airbendergear.com/movie-cast/noah-ringer/

- It gives a short, but revealing, reason for why Noah Ringer was casted.

Though he is an accomplished fighter, Ringer has a gentle calm side to him. That, according to M Night Shyamalan, was one of the reasons that he was able to secure the role of the Avatar.

It also indicates that Noah Ringer is aware of the race issue.

To Ringer, it’s interesting that so many people are hung up on the race thing.

The article, like many others, identifies him as Caucasian. Still I'm not convinced, because he is not addressed as Caucasian in dialog; he is only addressed as Caucasian in the article.

^
I mean come on!?

...anyways just is just a little tidbit I found. What so you guys think?
Sorry if this old news to most... I just ran across it mid-search.

[word???]

This is a small, relatively, old article with Noah Ringer. With a quote from Noah Ringer
http://airbendergear.com/movie-cast/noah-ringer/

- It gives a short, but revealing, reason for why Noah Ringer was casted.

Though he is an accomplished fighter, Ringer has a gentle calm side to him. That, according to M Night Shyamalan, was one of the reasons that he was able to secure the role of the Avatar.

It also indicates that Noah Ringer is aware of the race issue.

To Ringer, it’s interesting that so many people are hung up on the race thing.

The article, like many others, identifies him as Caucasian. Still I'm not convinced, because he is not addressed as Caucasian in dialog; he is only addressed as Caucasian in the article.
I mean come on!?
[/center]
...anyways just is just a little tidbit I found. What so you guys think?
Sorry if this old news to most... I just ran across it mid-search.

That article is from a fan site, so don't believe it

[Honeybee]

Though he is an accomplished fighter, Ringer has a gentle calm side to him. That, according to M Night Shyamalan, was one of the reasons that he was able to secure the role of the Avatar.

Although this has been confirmed by M. Night.

And as far as I'm concerned, it renders any concerns about his race irrelevant. Aang's gentleness was the very core of his character. His race was never even mentioned, let alone being anywhere near as important as that.

[Screemo]

if that site that badly bruised muse posted is trustworthy, then I gotta say that I don't think Noah could be any more than 25% anything other than caucasian for the simple fact that he didn't say he was, that he wasn't like "hey i'm half such and such!" Then again, maybe he doesn't feel the need to explain crap to people as if he answers to everyone.