Join Racebending.com on Thursday July 1, as we protest the discriminatory casting practices in The Last Airbender! We’ll have protesters on the ground in Los Angeles and Seattle. Hope to see you out there! Check out the details below.

If you’re in Los Angeles…

Where:
Arclight in Hollywood, Corner of Sunset & Vine

When:
Thursday, July 1st at 5pm

Contact:
Mike (mike@racebending.com)

LA Event Page

If you’re in Seattle…

Where:
Regal Thornton Place & Imax in Northgate

When:
3:30 to 7pm

Contact:
Catherine (promote@racebending.com)

Seattle Event Page

With The Last Airbender set for release on July 1st, we want to ensure that film critics are aware of how the film discriminated against actors of color.

This is especially important since very few 2010 summer movies will star any actors of color. We’re asking you – our supporters – to write your local film critics, journalists, and newspapers. A short email with a few sentences can make all the difference.

Movie critics may not be aware of the cultural background of the characters in the animated series. They also may not be aware that their readers are upset seeing actors of color restricted to background and villainous roles. This is your chance to encourage people who will review the film to recognize that in the animated series, the characters were people of color, and that actors of color are continually discriminated against in Hollywood.

Support the cause in three easy steps!

Step One: Draft an Email

This shouldn’t be very long. You can do this in a matter of minutes! A few sentences will do.

Please respect the film critic’s time–short emails are more effective. Keep your email under 150 to 200 words.

Suggested formatting might be:

Salutation: Dear Mr./Ms. ______,

Sentence One: A sentence describing yourself, your relationship with the newspaper, and your background. My name is Jane Doe, I am an Asian American business woman and mother from northern California and a subscriber / reader of the San Francisco Times.)

Sentence Two: Explain why you’re writing the email as related to Airbender. I’m concerned about the film The Last Airbender and representation of people of color in Hollywood. Even though the characters in the original series were depicted as from an Asian background, the film cast white actors to play the heroes and only cast actors of color in background and bad guy roles.

Sentence Three: Explain why this upsets you and you are protesting. I can’t think of a single movie featuring an Asian American or Native American actor that has come out recently/this reminds me of yellowface // It sends the message to kids that only people who are white can be heroes and main characters // Paramount has a really bad diversity track record, etc.

Sentence Four: Your call to action for the person you are writing. Please consider mentioning the casting discrimination in your review of the movie // I wanted you to know about his before going into the movie // please encourage your readers to learn more about this issue, etc.

The letter should encourage the journalist to explore the issues surrounding the film. Most journalists and critics want to be balanced and inclusive of different viewpoints and sources in their reviews. Be friendly and share your opinion in a clear and helpful manner.

Step Two: Figure Out Who You Want to Write

We recommend that you visit the website of your local newspaper. If you don’t know your local newspapers, you can try this database. Read some of the entertainment and film review articles from the newspaper and determine the name of the person you would like to contact.

Racebending.com supporters have compiled a list of potential journalist contacts. (see below!)

Most websites for your newspaper will have a “contact us” form. Others will provide an email for each journalist. (eg: the format for the Los Angeles Times is firstname.lastname@latimes.com) If you can’t find the right person to contact or you have to submit through a generic form, you can always write a general letter to the editor or “ATTN: Entertainment Editor”

Step Three: Send the Email!

Fire off that email! That’s it!

If you’d like, you can BCC (blind-carbon-copy) mike@racebending.com. This is optional, but will help us track what critics are being contacted!

Thanks so much for writing journalists and critics, and be sure to update us if a film critic you wrote to gets in touch with you or talks about the issues surrounding the casting.

List of Critics

• National Public Radio, submit a story idea: http://www.npr.org/about/pitch/story.html
• TIME Magazine
• Submit a story idea: http://www.time.com/time/letters/email_letter.html
• Richard Corliss, Film Writer: richard_corliss@timeinc.com
• Southern California
• The Los Angeles Times:
  • Kenneth Turan: kenneth.turan@latimes.com
  • Calendar Editor: calendar@latimes.com
• Richard Roeper: http://www.richardroeper.com/service/contact.aspx
• LA Weekly: http://www.laweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?to=28272
• Brent Simon, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association: bsimon@anet.net
• Northern California
• Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee: Rbentley@fresnobee.com
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• Mick LaSalle, Senior Critic: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com
• Peter Hartlaub, Pop Culture Critic: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com
• Other West
• Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com
• Rick Chatenever, Maui News: scene@mauinews.com
• Midwest
• Tom Long, Detroit News: tlong@detnews.com
• Detroit Film Critics Society: http://detroitfilmcritics.com/Page_2.php
• Howie Movshovitz, Colorado Public Radio & Denver Post: hmovshovitz@cs.com
• Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: mjphillips@tribune.com
• Colin Convert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: ccovert@startribune.com
• East Coast
• The Washington Post
• Ann Hornaday: hornadaya@washpost.com
• Michael O’Sullivan: osullivanm@washpost.com
• Rachel Saslow: saslowr@washpost.com
• Jen Chaney: jen.chaney@wpost.com
• Sarah Kaufman: kaufmans@washpost.com
• Wall Street Journal
• Javier Espinoza, Wall Street Journal: javier.espinoza@wsj.com
• Joe Morgenstern: joe.morgenstern@wsj.com
• Boston Globe
• Ty Burr, Boston Globe: tburr@globe.com
• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: wmorris@globe.com
• Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: rmoore@orlandosentinel.com
• Mal Vincent, The Virginian Pilot: mal.vincent@pilotonline.com
• Jeanette Krebs, Pennsylvania Patriot News: jkrebs@patriot-news.com
• Harry Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News: harry@aintitcool.com

Let us know if you’d like us to add a critic to the list!

Everyone at Racebending is looking forward to this upcoming documentary. It follows a lot of The Last Airbender controversy and is a telling look at how people feel about the casting.

Watch the trailer and share it with your friends. It’s a powerful two minutes.

Well, Hollywood does it again, this time by casting Italian American Disney channel darling David Henrie to play–get this–an Asian American character named Tommy Zhou. Platinum Studios is making a film adaption of their comic book series The Weapon.
The filmmakers are emphasizing Henrie’s martial arts experience while de-emphasizing the fact that the character he plays is Asian American. This is again another example of Hollywood sending the message that white actors are more qualified to portray Asian characters than Asian American actors are.

The Weapon is written by comic book author Fred Van Lente, who is well known for helping popularize another Asian American comic book hero, Marvel’s Amadeus Cho. Amadeus, Jubilee, and Tommy Zhou are some of the very few Asian American comic book heroes in existence.

And the story of the The Weapon takes it a step further–at it’s heart it’s about an Asian American kid trying to reconcile his Chinese and American heritage. Throughout the story Tommy struggles with being American, yet Asian. At the end of the story Tommy recognizes that both the Asian and American parts of himself deserve respect, coming to the realization that he “must embrace the good in both parts.”

This is not an indictment against the acting skills of Mr. Henrie. Our concern is not that they have given Mr. Henrie a leading role, but that he has been chosen represent an Asian American while real-life Asian Americans are still systematically denied leading roles in films. Since the Asian American identity of Tommy Zhou is unambiguous, undeniable, and intrinsically part of his story this is one of the worst cases of whitewashed casting in recent memory.

Racebending.com wrote a letter to Platinum Studios Executive Producer Randy Greenberg on September 21st, but we have not received a response. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans has also sent a letter through certified mail and is waiting for a response. We are now calling upon members of the racebending.com community and general public to email, call, and write to Platinum Studios. Letters can be sent to the following emails and addresses. Racebending.com’s sample letter can be viewed below (feel free to borrow from it in your own letter.)

Randy.Greenberg@platinumstudios.com
info@platinumstudios.com
investors@platinumstudios.com

Platinum Studios, Inc.
11400 West Olympic Blvd, 14th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 807-8100

September 21st, 2009

Dear Mr. Greenberg;

We are a coalition of fans dedicated to monitoring culturally insensitive casting in Hollywood. I am writing to protest the culturally insensitive casting of your film adaptation, “The Weapon.” It is our hope that Platinum Studios reconsiders the casting of David Henrie to portray Tommy Zhou.

We would gladly publicize and support a film that both accurately depicts the character of Tommy Zhou and brings new minority talent to the forefront. If your studio is interested in making a film with Mr. Henrie, Platinum Studios can still do so—without using discriminatory casting practices that will draw public scrutiny. Cast him in a role that does not require him to participate in the modern-day equivalent of “yellowface.”

But if the intent is to create a live-action film adaptation of The Weapon, we are respectfully asking that your studio please have the decency to cast an Asian American actor to portray Tommy Zhou’s story. We are prepared to protest the casting of this film alongside other advocacy groups if your studio decides to move forward with this casting decision, though we hope you will reconsider.

One of Platinum Studios’s core value is social responsibility, yet your film has taken an Asian American lead character and cast him as white. Denying actors of color the role of a lead character of color in this film—even going so far as to downplay the significance and change the ethnicity of a clearly Asian American character—is not socially responsible. You are sending the message that a white actors are more entitled and qualified to portray an Asian American hero, than Asian American actors are.

Employing this kind of discriminatory casting will negatively impact your studio’s reputation, when The Weapon should be a film that popularizes Platinum Studios and brings new fans to your properties. Casting an Asian American to depict Tommy Zhou is more conducive to The Weapon’s long-term economic prospects and legacy, as films with culturally insensitive casting are falling out of public favor. The casting of actor David Henrie to play Asian American character Tommy Zhou is discriminatory against Asian American actors, and offensive to viewers of all ethnicities.

I look forward to continuing a dialogue with you on this matter and am confident that we can find common ground, especially given Platinum Studios’s dedication to social responsibility.

Sincerely,

Marissa Lee
Coordinator
mlee@racebending.com
www.racebending.com

It goes without saying, be polite, but assertive and firm in your convictions.

Good luck everyone! Feel free to share your letter in the comments.