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...

M. Night Shyamalan has repeatedly said that his movie, The Last Airbender (2010) is “the most culturally diverse tent-pole [movie] in history” and that “everyone is represented.” But did the movie live up to his claims? This seven-part article explores the depictions of underrepresented groups in The Last Airbender. “Except for a few lines from some victimized A...

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On July 1st, Racebending.com, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, the Korean Resource Center, Avatar: The Last Airbender fans and other concerned members of the public gathered to protest the discriminatory casting of The Last Airbender in front of theaters in Seattle, Wash. and Hollywood, Calif. Photos by Jason Lopez, Ma...

On Tuesday, March 30th, Racebending.com staff responded to M. Night Shyamalan’s comments to fansites and online media about the casting of The Last Airbender by firing off an email to the President of Paramount Film Group, Adam Goodman. The email clarified the public’s concerns over the casting and requested a meeting between Paramount, The Last Airbender production, Racebending.com...

On July 1st, actor Dante Basco wrote an article on his blog regarding the casting controversy surrounding The Last Airbender: The Last Airbender: To Boycott or Not? Basco writes: “Believe me, as an actor, it’s no easy answer. My first gut feeling is, the best actor should be cast for the job no matter race… But maybe that’s just an ideal that is unreal when it comes to making a mov...

On July 2nd, 2010, Racebending.com was featured on The Takeaway, a show by Public Radio International with half a million listeners: Race and Identity in ‘The Last Airbender’. Racebending.com spokesperson Michael Le interviewed with PRI at 3:30am in the morning, only 5 hours after getting home from the Los Angeles protest. The audio recording of the interview is available on PRI’...

On July 2nd, Racialicious.com published “An Open Letter to Racebending.com Detractors, written by Racebending.com organizer and spokesperson Mike Le. AN OPEN LETTER TO RACEBENDING.COM DETRACTORS by Michael Le I’d like the chance to explain what Racebending.com is about. Why are we boycotting Paramount’s The Last Airbender? Why are we angry about the production’s casting practices? I th...

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@raceb...

As with any movie adaptation, there are bound to be changes. However, fans are always interested in what’s different between a film and the source material. This is intended to shed light on what has changed, not to pass judgment (positive or negative) on the changes. The lists below are meant to document the differences between the feature film and the television series. We made an attempt...