User:Eseymour12/Dante Basco

Cultural Impact
Basco's impact on Asian-American culture through his roles in Hollywood and involvement with the community has inspired many young Asian-American people. As one of the only Asian-American faces in Hollywood throughout the 90s, Basco quickly became a leading figure in the Asian-American movement. In one of his earliest films, Hook, Basco was able to show his talent as an actor and gained interest from people throughout Hollywood. This was the start of the Asian-American movement. In 1998, Dante Basco along with Shihan Van Clief, Devin “Poetri” Smith, and Gimel Hooper created the Da Poetry Club. It is a place where people could come together and share their family history or origins through poetry. The club continues to run till this day. However, in the early 2000s there was still little representation of mixed American or foreign people. This is also true in one of Dante Basco’s most popular works, Avatar the Last Airbender. The setting of Avatar the Last Airbender is based on Asian culture as it contains many martial arts and spiritual beliefs commonly seen throughout Asia. While, Avatar the Last Airbender is critically acclaimed as one of the best animated shows of all time, many people have problems with the predominately white cast. For a show that was based so heavily on Asian culture, fans were disappointed to see the lack of representation in the cast. However, the exception was Dante Basco. The character Zuko in Avatar the Last Airbender was quickly beloved by all and the voice behind him gained interest as well. In a world where white people dominated the industry, Basco showed that there is talent outside of the mostly white scene of Hollywood.

Countering Racism Through Avatar
In 2021, Basco co-hosted a podcast with Janet Varney, the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra, called Avatar: Braving the Elements. This podcast was created in works with Nickelodeon when Avatar the Last Airbender was released on Netflix. In this podcast, Basco and Varney would talk the story of Avatar the Last Airbender and go into further detail about the plot, characters, and world building. They would bring on some of the other voice actors or production members and explore the creation process of Avatar the Last Airbender and join in about the in depth discussion about the various aspects of the series. In an interview Basco and Varney did, Basco talked about how vital the Asian culture is in the story of Avatar the Last Airbender. Basco goes on about the big problems that we have in a modern society and one of the most prevalent problems being racism. He explains that one of the biggest plot points in Avatar the Last Airbender is that the protagonist need to brink balance into the world so that the four nations can live in harmony. His goal through that podcast is bring to light a lot of the racism seen in today's society. Basco hopes that by comparing the two worlds of Avatar the Last Airbender and our world he could help others realize the terrible impacts of racism and show people how they can help combat this problem. Avatar: Braving the Elements recently had its third season air in January of 2024.