Racebending.com Protest

[jedifreac]

Racebending.com protest. Lots of people. Very cool. We were on the Channel 7 news as a top story!

We are tenth most top-story, right behind "James Franco Returns to General Hospital," "Maggots force plane back to gate," "14 Pandas Debut at Zoo," and "Man gets stuck in wall trying to escape fire."

Comments

[caterfree10]

ASLFKJHSDLFJK We're even higher now at the fifth spot! HOLY CRAP, WE'RE MAKING WAVES. *FLAILS*

[xkyrie_eleisonx]

I was wondering if you were still doing this after the awful reviews came out.

Too bad they didn't interview you!

[jedifreac]

Actually, the Fox guy did but I don't know if it was my best interview. They ended up not using it. An interview with me is in the LA Times.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/07/in-protest-against-the-last-airbender-fans-find-empowerment-.html

[anonymous]

There's an article in the Boston Globe.

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/07/04/last_airbender_opens_debate_on_race/?page=full

[anonymous]

Hey I love how you champion the cause for people of colour but the picture at the top of your blog here doesn't have any! In fact, there is a perfect blonde haired white lady right in the middle.

Good job!

Oh and by the way Fox News is a notoriously right wing channel, in case you weren't aware. Why would they want to show your piece on alleged racism in the airbender? Makes you think doesn't it.

Keep up the great work!

[jedifreac]

Thank you for making me aware of these things.

As for BSG, while it was certainly lacking in it's diversity department, it was still better than most. (The picture actually sports 2 actors of color in it.) I still have to get around to changing it since the show is long over. I've been too busy working on racebending.com

Obviously, as an advocate for people of color, I'm not allowed to like ANY television shows that feature white people in them, especially blonde ladies!

Why would Fox news want to cover us? Why would left wing media organizations want to cover us as well? Oh god, my mind is blown. Obviously, I am the REAL racist!

Because wanting Hollywood to treat minorities with the same respect and give actors of color EQUAL opportunity is racism. And if only people who advocated for fairness and equality would just shut up, then racism would go away!

-_-

Picking on the Last Airbender is racist

[anonymous]

Here's a couple more for you guys to ponder.

I just saw the lovely bones - I don't remember Ebert or anyone else mentioning how the actor picked to play Ray Singh is not Indian - isn't that racist casting? Especially since he actually is written in to the story as Indian so there is no ambiguity.

Or how about this new film - Essential Killing - where Vincent Gallo (who is of Italian descent) plays an Afghan. Where is the big furore about racist casting there?

Or how about Mowgli in the Jungle Book, who was played by Jason Scott Lee, who is not Indian although the book is set in the Indian Jungle - where were Ebert et al back then?

And that's just three I came up with off the top of my head - I'm sure there are plenty more.

Makes you think doesn't it? Why do they pick Airbender, with Shyamalan directing, at this point in time, unless it is a personal attack on him? And then, you have to ask why? Could it be due to the color of his skin?

Re: Picking on the Last Airbender is racist

[jedifreac]

Hey, anonymous poster with the same IP address as before.

Thanks for bringing more instances of racebending to my attention. I believe we actually discussed the casting of Ray Singh on the Racebending.com community. I just learned about Vincent Gallo's casting today, and am looking in to it--it doesn't have the same high profile as Airbender, it's a Norwegian film with no set release date.

AS for Mowgli in the Jungle Book, the swapping of one underrepresented minority group to play another is more along the lines of the Dev Patel casting than whitewashing, but hey, I will go rev up my time machine and go back and fix that for you.

Is it a personal attack of Shyamalan because of the color of his skin?

Or, have we gone out of the way to repeatedly emphasize that people should NOT slam Shyamalan ( even if he claims full responsibility for the casting) including creating nifty educational diagrams for our readers?

Re: Picking on the Last Airbender is racist

[anonymous]

I was not aware that it was a crime to post anonymously from the same IP address, or that I was being tracked, for that matter