Racebending.com

2002 to mid-2008: Origin of the Animated Series August 2008: Casting Heroes: “Caucasian or Any Other Ethnicity” December 2008: The Protest Gets Organized January 2009: Extras and Villains Wanted, Seeking Actors of Color February 2009: Advocacy Groups Become Involved Summer 2009: Former A:TLA staff members speak out! Fall 2009: Paramount’s film The Goods Outrages the Asian Americ...

UGO has released the first look at The Last Airbender movie’s Super Bowl ad. The Super Bowl spot reminds us of what the movie could have meant. A large budget film portraying heroes of color in a positive light. Instead, it shows the continuing Hollywood tradition of whitewashing – which is itself a direct descendant of practices of blackface and yellowface. The bottom-line is that...

Henry Jenkins is the Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. This blog highlights some research he has done with Anna Van Someren and Sangita Shresthova on fan activism and participatory culture. Lori Kido Lopez, Vice President of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and doctoral student on this research team...

Want to protest The Last Airbender film in style? You’re in luck – Racebending.com is launching a brand new line of Carolina-blue street team shirts. U.S. manufactured, union-made, sweatshop-free! The new shirts are on-sale at BlackLava.net. Today, January 27th ONLY, our shirt is available for just $15 – no tax, no shipping! The sale is OVER but the shirts are still available...

Over the past few months, Bloomsbury has been under scrutiny for using racebending tactics for the cover images of their young adult genre novels. What blogs across the web have been discovering, this practice is not uncommon. Various other publishers make the decision to whitewash characters of colour for the cover images of teenaged- and adolescent-themed books. Bloomsbury’s first faux p...

A new video series on how to talk about Racebending. Having trouble explaining to people why you feel so passionately about The Last Airbender film? Frustrated by the people you meet who mean well but don’t understand? Watch this series – it’s less than five minutes altogether. We hope it helps! (Now with subtitle/transcripts provided by Racebending.com volunteer Maddy!) Introdu...

Every Monday, we’ll be spotlighting media that celebrates the contribution of diverse faces, traditions, or talents to the American cultural landscape. In the future we’ll be letting you know about films, shows, and music that resonates with the mission of Racebending.com, with a focus on Asian American and Native American culture. For our very first media spotlight, we look to Avat...

To celebrate the New Year, we have launched an official Facebook Page. Becoming a fan lets you: Show your support for the movement Access all the latest Racebending videos and news Quickly share Racebending with your family and friends Check us out: http://facebook.com/racebending AKPC_IDS += "1515,";

In his December 23rd, 2009 “Answer Man” update, venerated American film critic Roger Ebert publicly condemned the casting of The Last Airbender film. Q. Regarding the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan vehicle The Last Airbender, what do you think about the whitewashing of the production [...] ?Arlene C. Harris A. Wrong. The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and...

At a meeting with Paramount Pictures regarding the depictions of Asian Americans in The Goods, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans brings up the casting controversy over The Last Airbender. On Thursday, November 12th, 2009, Asian American advocacy leaders met with several Paramount executives, including President of Paramount Film Group Adam Goodman. This meeting was held in response to...