Polling "People Against Racebending" for Demographics

[jedifreac]

I have been contacted by a group curious to learn about the demographics of our movement. It might be important to prove to the world that this issue concerns everyone, not simply Asian Americans or young people or Avatar fans, etc. As much as statistics 'pigeonhole' us, it can also help show how diverse we are

Comments

[upstart_crow]

Sure :)

Age: 28
Ethnicity: white (ETA: equal parts Dutch and white American with Armenian heritage as well)
ETA: Sex: Biological female, mostly female-identified
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Reason: I'm an Avatar fan who liked the show for many reasons, but largely because it was an extraordinary fantasy not set in a world dominated by white people. I'm appalled as well by the racism Hollywood constantly displays and by blackface and yellowface, and by not casting Asians and Asian-Americans in specifically Asian roles, I think this film is reinforcing racism. Further, I am one white viewer who is sick of every major movie featuring people of my race, and I think more racial diversity in art benefits everyone.

(I hope that didn't suck too badly :x)

[upstart_crow]

Age: 17
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica
Reason: I have grown tired of the stereotypes and under representation of all minorities in films. The Last Airbender was a chance for East Asian actors to find success but it was stolen from them. I am also offended that the studio tries to make it better by hiring numerous South East Asian actors now(Dev Patel).

Poll

[upstart_crow]

AGE: 22
ETHNICITY: Chinese American
HOMETOWN: Houston, TX
GENDER: Female
REASON: I have watched Avatar since the first day it came on, and I loved the diversity of the characters represented by the show. I was even more impressed by the creators' well researched attention to the details of the various cultures in the stories. I was disappointed with Director Shyamalan, who is not white, for not believing in the capabilities of non-white actors. After all, he's not white, and a capable director.

last airbender

[upstart_crow]

Age:20
Ethnicity: Native American

I love the show avatar on Nick, its a wonderful, very thought out story that just had me drawn in from the very first episode all the way to the last movie, when i heard there was going to be a movie i was so excited, until i seen who they had playing the characters, its not that i have any thing against white people at all but for this story to have most of the characters being played by white people is pretty offending, like for katara and sokka its really messed up that thoes are native based characters being played by white people where there are many really good native amreican actors that could play thoes rolls.and for all the other characters thats just pretty crappy.

[erikonil]

AGE: 29

ETHNICITY: European American mutt

HOMETOWN: Chesapeake, Virginia

REASON: I'm a student of animation and became a fan of the Avatar series because it was one of the most well written and wonderfully animated American series I had seen in a long time. I found it a wonderful tribute to Asian cultures that was at the same time very honest and respectful to them rather then being the normal exploitive stuff that we so often see. It was also so groundbreaking and bold because of the decision to use Asian and Native based heroes.

When I heard about the casting I thought it was an internet joke. When I found out it was true, I felt betrayed because they were taking something that was so smart and bold and watering it down and taking away what made it special to so many people who saw it as groundbreaking. It's become a whitewashed mockery and nothing more then a soulless studio product.

[pseudo_tsuga]

Age: 19
Ethnicity: White
Hometown: San Francisco, CA but going to to school in Santa Barbara, CA.
Reason: I was a fan of avatar from the third season on so when I saw the casting news I was outraged. I knew Hollywood had a history of whitewashing films but even in my cynicism I never thought they'd go this far simply because the series was so blatantly Asian-based. I was very glad to see that action was taken so quickly and that it made such a huge impact so as well. The power of the internet!

[ninefly]

AGE: 19
ETHNICITY: Chinese in Canada
HOMETOWN: China
REASON: I'm just getting sick of whitewashing Asian characters, whether it's in the original Avatar cartoon (which is admittedly not as Asian as I'd hoped it would be, but good enough) or in general other TV shows with Asian Americans playing the token character of color. With a live action movie I'd hoped that there would be more Asian actors given a chance to make it big. Plus, I just really hated the recent DBZ movie turning Goku white (Monkey King was my childhood hero, though I admit Goku's only loosely based off him, it still stings to see him white...and speaking English in Forbidden Kingdom).

[vejiicakes]

• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Ethnicity: Japanese American
• Hometown: Cupertino, CA
• Reason: I'm a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the high quality of work that it showed in every facet of its production (if I had reason to suspect that the original Avatar was no more than cultural appropriation--a weeaboo's wet dream--or just another in a line of western "anime" chic, I would never have bothered with it). But I believed that not only did Avatar's creators take the cultures, people, and other sources that it borrowed from very seriously, but that they trusted viewers to appreciate the beauty of the underrepresented eastern cultures without resorting to exoticism or stereotypes. Seeing The Last Airbender become yet another Hollywood property, whitewashing source materials originally populated by eastern cultures and PoC, (especially when it came from an already American source which proved it would work as is) is honestly more offensive to me than any anime-to-Hollywood!live-action adaptation yet.