Not More Imaginary Than Unicorns

[parallactic]

1. racebending has an Avatar's Quick Reference Archive for a handy reference on what's wrong with the AtLA movie's casting. It's got stuff on the Asian cultures and Inuit culture influence on the worldbuilding, the history of yellowface and Hollywood racism, and key quotes from AtLA's production staff.
2. Seeking Avalon makes interesting points in her post, White Ignorance + Racism:
   
   Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated show), has Inuit and Japanese and Chinese and Korean and South Asian (East Indian) culture, big and bold in dress, food, language, martial arts and architecture. But if you're ignorant of those cultures, of that food, of that language of that architecture, if you've only ever seen it depicted as a fantasy land (ghetto) where white characters run around and save the day - then how would you ever know it was REAL?
   
   How would you, theoretical white person, know that armor design, that sword move, that parka (that atiqik) is real? How would you know that hairstyle, that blade, those shoes, are real? How would you know the artwork reflected something real? The art style of the show itself, reflected something real?
   
3. On a brighter note, the Carl Brandon Society started a new wiki! It's supposed to be a resource for anything related to PoC and the speculative fiction (fantasy, scifi, horror, magical realism) field, meaning literature, comics, movies, tv shows, etc. Poke around, see if you want to start a page for a favorite character of color, or PoC creator.