Supporter Spotlight: Jeremy Porath
June 9th, 2010 | Published in Featured, Supporter Spotlight
This week’s spotlight is on Racebending.com supporter Jeremy Porath (skemono on livejournal).
1. Who are you?
My name is Jeremy Porath. I’m a 25-year old white male currently working at tech support and computer programming.
2. What’s your story?
It’s about this resentful fallen angel who’s trying to — wait, what? Oh, I guess you meant “tell us about yourself”? Well, I was born, went to school, then college, then work. My mother is part Native American, and a few years back mentioned her surprise at discovering that anti-miscegenation laws applied to Native American-white marriages. At that point, I had never heard of miscegenation laws, so I started reading up on them. So for the past couple years I’ve been reading about (mostly historical) racism as a hobby.
3. Why do you support Racebending.com and how did you learn about us?
Several months ago I read a blog post mentioning the casting controversy, and I followed links until I found the aang_aint_white and Racebending LiveJournal pages. It’s been long enough that I don’t remember what the original post was that eventually led me here.
When I first read about the controversy, my thoughts were the same as many people who support the casting: “They look white”, etc. Mike and Bryan did such a good job normalizing Asian culture in the series that, I confess, I didn’t even notice it when I first watched the series. Nor did I notice that Sokka and Katara had darker skin than the other characters. Once these plain facts were pointed out, it was so obvious I wonder how I missed it the first time around.
As for why I support Racebending.com, it’s the same reasons many others do. Because casting white people to play Asian and Native American characters is an embarrassment and a disgrace. Because making white people the leads in movies deprive other races of role models that are like themselves. Because it’s an insult to the amount of research into the culture that the creators of Avatar did. Because Hollywood’s habit of whitewashing characters and sidelining characters of color has gone on far too long and needs to stop. Because it robs actors of color roles and money.
4. What makes you passionate about The Last Airbender film controversy and similar Hollywood choices?
The practice of getting white actors to play people of color is reminiscent of blackface minstrel shows (even more so in the case of [Gérard] Depardieu putting on dark make-up to play Alexandre Dumas). It’s a practice that should have gone by the wayside decades ago, but there’s no indication it will stop anytime soon. Really, there’s simply no reason not to cast actors that are the same race as the character.
5. What other issues interest you?
A lot of things. The effort to get creationism taught in schools and evolution watered down or omitted entirely; gay rights; racism; feminism; politics.
6. What are your hopes for the future of American media?
I can’t say I’ve thought of that much. Obviously I hope they stop whitewashing characters, and give women and minorities more prominent, more varied, and less stereotyped roles.
