Sometimes certain movies don’t translate well when they’re sold overseas.
For example, this summer’s film, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” which according to a British newspaper is being seen as humorous by certain audiences.
Why you ask?
Because the word “airbender” is a British slang for homosexuality.
Here’s a report from the UK’s Guardian review:
At the cinema showing I attended, the British crowd reacted derisively at key dialogue moments. One wise old lady says solemnly to a young man: “I could tell at once that you were a bender, and that you would realise your destiny.” One character tells another wonderingly: “There are some really powerful benders in the Northern Water Zone.”… And so on, for almost two hours. Each time, the response from the auditorium was deafeningly immature, and brought many of us to a state of nervous collapse.
But wait, there’s more. Actor Dev Patel is British but didn’t tell director M. Night Shyamalan about the double meaning of the term. Patel tells Digital Spy that the word was “too integral to the movie” to make the director aware of it.
You know what I don’t get? This movie wasn’t that bad at all yet it was vilified by the so-called fans of F&SF. When did we get so snobbish that we can’t watch a movie or show and enjoy it for it’s own sake? No, the movie wasn’t as good as the series. So what? It wasn’t a terrible movie at all so why are we trying to crush F&SF fair?
It’s only ‘bender’ that’s slang, not ‘airbender’.
But honestly, I doubt even unintentional humour can make this watchable.
“Because the word “airbender” is a British slang for homosexuality.”
Em… no. ‘Bender’ is.
Joe, did you even see that peace of crap. Shamalamadingdong should be shot. He ruined that movie. It should be crushed because it was the worst movie ever made!
I thought that was obvious. its been used in good humor for years.
Why do you think the robot on Futurama is called Bender? I was a big fan of the original cartoon and would crack up every now and then but still could get wrapped up in the plot.
Why is it the “Worst movie ever made”?
I loved the show, and thought the movie was, meh. But they’re taking 6:40 of animation and boiling it down to under 2 hours. It’s going to loose a lot…
But, what makes it, to you, the WORST MOVIE EVER? (Worse than The Happening or Signs… Signs, an alien invasion movie where aliens are invading a planet that covered in water, and water is lethal to them!)
I don’t care what anyone says, my vote for worst movie ever still belongs to Battlefield Earth.
Do you realize how much *work* it would take to make a worse film than that? I mean actual, directed, intentional effort focused on the most supreme suck ever conceived by mortals?
It’s going to be a long time before that one is surpassed. At least, one can hope that’d be true.
The British laughed at Free Willy, too. Can you guess why? Heh.