racebending faq

Do you have an argument to support the all-white hero leads? Your argument might already be answered in Racebending 101! Each and every one of these questions were arguments made by real, actual people who defended the casting. No, we did not make any of these arguments up; we didn’t need to.

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The show is set in a fantasy world, not Asia! (top)

The fantasy world is Asian-based and Asian-influenced. This is fact, stated by Nickelodeon and the creators and M. Night Shyamalan. All sources irrefutably state that The Last Airbender is set in an Asian-based fantasy world.

So white people can’t live in an Asian world? You’re being racist! (top)

Asian actors should have the same opportunities to play Asian characters as white actors have to play white characters. There are many, many other scripts and opportunities for white actors in Hollywood. In a world that looks so clearly Asian, shouldn’t Asian actors be allowed to live in it?

But all of the nations are fictional, therefore the characters can be any race. (top)

Yes, but the default physical appearance for all heroes in live-action fantasy worlds should not be Anglo-Saxon, western European facial features and coloring. Fantasy does not equal Caucasian people only.

The characters in The Last Airbender SHOULD be diverse, but they’re not. The casting calls have ensured that both the Water Tribe and the Air Nomads will be white.

But Aang has pale skin! Karata has blue eyes! Sokka does ‘the worm’ (a dance move)! These are all white characteristics, not Asian! (top)

1) Pale skin and large eyes are not features that are exclusively Caucasian.
2) The creators of the TV show gave the characters eye colors corresponding to their “elements.” This is a fantasy world. Even if white people had an exclusive monopoly on non-brown eyes (which they don’t) ONE potentially Caucasian trait does not invalidate all of Aang’s dozens of distinctly Asian traits.
3) Asian people can also do ‘the worm’. I really don’t know how else to argue this.

Well, they just don’t look Asian to me. (top)

He’s a cartoon character – ask yourself what exactly should an Asian animated character look link in order to ‘look Asian’?
Not all Asians have stereotypical, tiny, slanty eyes–in fact, the majority don’t.

Are all of those Asians also “white until proven otherwise”?
If everything else is Asian in the world, why can’t the heroes be Asian too?

Sure, the world maybe has one or two minor Asian-ish things. But it also has a Persian reference in one episode, a Finnish-looking mountain in another episode and this minor character wears something that looks Spanish in this other episode. This world is too zany to say it’s ‘Asian-based’.(top)

Therefore it’s okay for the heroes to be white? If everything is so zany, why not allow for racial diversity in the heroes? Two of the nations (one of which was clearly Inuit-based) are now all-white. They are also the heroes of the movie.

Well actually, the Water Tribe is Inuit-based. Why do you keep saying ‘Asian’? (top)

Let me make this statement clear: racebending.com supports diverse racial representation in the movie THE LAST AIRBENDER. We use the umbrella term ‘Asian’ to incorporate the Inuit/Yupik ethnicities.

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Didn’t they pick the best actors for the roles? (top)

No, they did not. By writing “Caucasian or any other ethnicity” on the casting sides, the production made their preference for Caucasian actors clear form the beginning.
Normally when ethnicity is left open-ended, casting sides read “Any Ethnicity.”
THE LAST AIRBENDER labeled non-Caucasian kids as ‘Others.’
One of the casting side for extras reads “All Ethnicities”. See the difference?

Hollywood has a history of reserving lead protagonists roles for white actors. According to the research done by the Geena Davis Institute: 85.5% of the characters in G-rated films are white, 4.8% are black, and 9.7% are from “other” ethnicities. No differences emerged by character gender.

This is a powerful statistic that shows just how much Hollywood has insured that children grow up believe Caucasian is the norm, while other races fall into the sidekick, extras or villain categories. The Last Airbender is proving to be no different.

There aren’t enough Asian or Inuit actors in America! (top)

Yes there are. However, Hollywood uses coded language in their casting sheets to ensure that these actors don’t get the roles (see answer above).

Um, you obviously don’t know that M Night Shyamalan is Indian. If he’s directing it, then it can’t be racist. (top)

Yes, it can. One Indian director does not make all of the decisions of the movie. Movies are controlled by producers and marketing, not by a director who’s previous movies have been box office failures.

But most children audiences don’t want to see non-white actors, so that’s why white heroes were cast! (top)

Contrary to popular belief, kids aren’t stupid. They can process and accept ideas given to them by the people they look up to – their parents, their teachers and of course, their cartoon characters on TV. If kids express a preference for white actors, they weren’t born with that preference, it was learned. Why not allow kids to accept actors of colours as heroes? Dora the Explorer created that venue and I’m pretty sure it’s a wildly popular show with children. Pretty sure.

But if you cast Asian actors, they’ll all have Asian accents! The show is American, with American kids! (top)

Asians have been living in America for generations. Asians are Americans. Therefore, Asians have American accents.

So what do you expect? To just take the roles away from these poor actors and give them to someone else? You’re so mean! (top)

No, we want Paramount Pictures to acknowledge that their casting was a mistake and will ruin the potential success of this movie franchise. Ideally, we would like the Water Tribe and the Air Nomads to be recast – Aang can stay Asian and still save the world!

Why are you attacking these child actors? It’s unfair to deprive them of an acting opportunity because they’re white! (top)

We’re not.
We’re criticizing the producers, who did not think children of color were suitable to play in a movie based on their own cultures.
It’s not those kids’ faults that they’re brown, either – but they’re being taught that they aren’t good enough to play heroes, only villains and extras.

Well, who do you think they should get for the roles? (top)

We have no specific pet favourite actors, we have no alternate agenda. All we want is diversity in the roles of the heroes.
They’ve already changed their casting for the villainous Fire Nation and the indecisive Earth Nation – why not change the heroic and righteous Water and Air nations?

Oh you silly little people. I Know Things about Hollywood. They just want to make money – they don’t care about you. (top)

So…you’re saying it wasn’t ideologically-driven discrimination, just financially-driven discrimination.
It’s still discrimination.
That makes it acceptable, how?

You’re wasting your time, this is all useless. Why bother? (top)

This discriminatory casting will be presented to children of all ethnicities as something acceptable, normal, and not a big deal at all. It’s also a microcosm of how deeply ingrained these discriminative attitudes are in society, especially when many people are so casually dismissive of these hiring practices.

The Last Airbender was supposed to be an opportunity for children of color. It would have given them a chance to see actors who look like them star as heroes instead of villains, sidekicks or extras who are saved by white heroes.

This is not a waste of time.

Many of the voice actors weren’t Asian or Inuit. If that wasn’t wrong, why is casting white actors in the live-action such a big deal? (top)

You underestimate the power of visual cues. Visually, a cartoon is very different from a live-action movie – the former is less tangible than the latter. A grown woman can be the voice actor for Bart Simpson, because no one sees her. But if The Simpsons was ever made into a live-action movie, they wouldn’t cast the voice actor, they would cast a boy.

See the difference?

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Aren’t you all just a bunch of pasty white whiney fans who like to make a fuss about anything? I heard no Asians gives a damn about this. (top)

No, we are not. The people protesting are a diverse amount of people from all over the world. We also have support professionals, crew from the animation Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and the East West Players.

Aren’t you all just a bunch of whiny Asians who only care about being politically correct? I heard no one else gives a damn about this. (top)

No we are not. The people protesting are a diverse amount of people from all over the world. The major organizers of the campaign in and of themselves are diverse! We also have the support of people in the art industry, as well as many major newspapers.

Why not just wait and see the movie when it comes out before making all these judgments? You’re a bad fan. (top)

THE LAST AIRBENDER provides a rare chance to make a change from an adaptation’s inception, so that fans have a say in what is used from the source material,not just Paramount’s Marketing department. And when that change is as important as racial representation and discrimination, this chance is even more important.

So no, we are very good fans and we’re also anti-racist.

It’s just a movie, calm down. You should fight for something that is meaningful and real, not a movie. (top)

How is racism not meaningful and real? Movies like this one help shape people’s attitudes of what’s normal and acceptable, particularly the kids and young teenagers who are its target audience.

But M. Night Shyamalan sucks! That’s the worst part of this! (top)

Maybe so, but it wasn’t both doomed AND riddled with discriminative casting practices until recently.

Who cares if the Fire Nation will be all brown people and the Water Tribe and Air Nomads are all white people? What’s the big deal? (top)

The big deal is that the Fire Nation is the genocidal, oppressive villains and the Water Tribe and Air Nomads are the peaceful, heroic protagonists. This means that all of the villains will be dark-skinned and all of the heroes will be Caucasian.

The irony being? In the original animated series, the Water Tribe were the darkest-skinned characters in the show, and they were the heroes. Now, in this movie, they’ve been white-washed and the evil Nation are the darkest-skinned.

Casting ‘white = good’ and ‘dark = bad’ is not exclusive to this movie, keep in mind. Hollywood has a running trend of making the hero white and making the villains, sidekicks and extras as people of colour. Recent examples include the Dragonball movie, Push, Forbidden Kingdom, The Last Samurai and of course Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea.

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Why do you hate white people? (top)

We don’t. Why are you so adamant to prevent rare lead role opportunities for actors of colour?

You’re over-reacting and/or oversensitive. I’m objective and rational, so listen to me when I tell you to calm down. (top)

No. There is no such thing as being objective when it comes to racism. There’s only the difference between people who understand that racism exists and people who have the privilege to ignore it.

I hate political correctness! (top)

If the term ‘pc’ has such a knee-jerk negative reaction for you, then try being aware. Awareness means you listen and respect people’s opinions, even if they’re different from yours. This way you can still be proud of being ‘non-pc’, but you don’t have to be offensive.

Well I hate being aware, too! I hate that I have to be aware of other people. Being aware means being boring. Why should I have to be forced to think about what I say? I shouldn’t be held accountable for my actions! That’s your problem, not mine. Therefore everything about this is stupid. (top)

You might be feeling guilty and self-hating? I’d talk to someone about that.

Well I’m colourblind, I don’t care if people are white, black or green with purple polka dots. I don’t see colour! (top)

This is a privilege that people of colour don’t have. They can’t choose not to see the colour of their own skin and all the discrimination that comes with it.

Why are you complaining? My life was so hard and full of pains and tribulations of sorrow. I repressed it; so should you. (top)

Hollywood has a long history of marginalizing minority actors and whitewashing properties like Avatar — they’ll only stop if we speak up and tell them that it’s not okay, and that we won’t stand for it.

Look, Barack Obama is the President of America. We live in a post-racist world where everyone has equal rights, so shut up and stop voicing your opinion! (top)

President Obama isn’t the definitive end of anything – he’s a major step in progress and, in light of that, we intend to keep an open dialogue about racism, particularly in Hollywood.

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