{FAQ} [link] || {Aang-Aint-White LJ} [link] || {Racebending} [link]


Statement from Avatar: The Last Airbender Animatic Editor Dao Le [link]
Racebending.com has received a statement from Dao Le, Animatic Editor of the Avatar: The Last Airbender original animated series: [link]

"...Giancarlo Volpe, who directed 19 episodes of the series, and martial arts and cultural consultant Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Assn have both publicly commented on the casting controversy. East West Players--a theater troupe founded by the late Avatar voice actor Mako (IROH) and comprised of several Asian American actors who starred or guest starred in the series--released a letter sent to Paramount expressing their disappointment [link] with the casting. Earlier this month, series cultural consultant Siu-Leung Lee, PhD shared his views [link] on the cast on a radio show, and shared that all East Asian and Chinese language and calligraphy elements will be removed in the live action adaption... continued: [link]

7/30/2009 The Last Airbender to replace all Chinese calligraphy in the movie with gibberish [link]
Earlier this month, Professor S.L. Lee spoke out against racebending on San Francisco's 94.1 KPFA radio. Lee's statement today confirms fan speculation that Chinese calligraphy has been cut from The Last Airbender and will be replaced with a gibberish language.

"I just received words from the movie producers. They are not going to use Chinese calligraphy at all, replacing it with unreadable symbols. I won't be participating in the movie.
It is not only a disappointment on the cast. They are removing all the successful elements of the original TV series... I am disappointed to learn that the Avatar movie has removed the successful cultural elements of the original Avatar TV series. Whether this is a right decision will be seen in the box office."

- Professor Siu-Leung Lee, cultural consultant, Avatar: The Last Airbender

7/30/2009 The Last Airbender live-action-movie-manga [link]
The Anime News Network [link] wrote up a review of SDCC '09. This includes Del Ray manga's announcement that there's going to be a manga adaptation of Shyamalan's The Last Airbender.
and are cowriting! is also against the movie casting.

7/30/2009 Racebending REPRESENTS at San Diego Comic Con! (+pics!) [link]
Stats:
Days at the con: 4
# of volunteers: approx. 7
# of signatures for petition: 200+
# of pins given: 1500
# of flyers distributed: 7000
# of shirts distributed: 15
AWESOME WORK YOU GUYS!

7/22/2009 SEE YOU AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2009 - Check out our table and/or see you at the Avatar cosplay photoshoot! [link]
*New pic of Sifu Kisu with racebending t-shirt at SDCC [link]

7/14/2009 New Cast Photos and Promo Images [link] and [link]

7/14/2009 Apply to fight racebending at San Diego Comic Convention! [link]
"Due to popular demand, we've thrown an application form up at racebending.com. Please apply if you want to help us at Comic-Con!" [link]
Mike and Bryan are confirmed to be there- however, please do not direct protests towards them. The creators did not have a say in the casting of The Last Airbender movie. Thanks!

7/14/2009 Racebending on the radio! [link]
The radio program Living Room (on KPFA-FM in Berkeley) broadcasted a segment on the "Last Airbender" controversy 3rd July, 2009 at 12:30PM Pacific time.
HOORAY for fans pulling what media strings they have to get the word out and about!


6/10/2009 MANAA interviewed about The Last Airbender! [link]
An inspiring, highly informative read. We have their full support!

6/10/2009 New Jackson Rathbone (Sokka) TV interview - includes footage from the set [link]
He now has Sokka hair...

6/10/2009 ...Meet Avatar Aang and Prince Zuko. (picture of Noah Ringer!) [link]

5/15/2009 Our webcam is now a stamp, too: [link]

5/15/2009 A stunt double has now been cast for "karate star" Noah Ringer. [link]
An Asian one.
I guess Asian stunt doubles for Asian characters are okay in Hollywood, but Asians to play Asian leads aren't?

5/15/2009 We're this week's front page story of the Pacific Citizen! [link]
"The Pacific Citizen is an award-winning Asian Pacific American semi-monthly newspaper with a distribution of 30,000 throughout the United States and Japan. Its popular Web site averages over 300,000 hits per month. Ideally, now 330,000 people have seen this story and heard about what happened to the cast of The Last Airbender."


04/15/09 Airbender Casting director Dee Dee Rickets - LIVE! Start listening at 3:45 [link]
>>What a "The Last Airbender" extras audition sounds like!
>>Also see pics of protest
"So, what we're going to do now is, we're going to take your picture...and if you--if you can make yourself look like you're not walking off the streets of Philly, that's great! Even if that means putting a scarf around your head and making you look like a peasant villager from Lithuania, that's great! *Dee Dee Laughs* Anything! ...Because anything is going to mix it up."
Start listening at 3:45 [link]

The journal has been updated with a new FAQ: Racebending 101 section! [link]

Aang-Aint-White official petition (will be hand delivered to Paramount & the Kennedy/Marshal company.)
Click here to sign the petition: [link]

Racebending.com
"As fans of the original television show, we still hold the highest level of respect for the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series and its culturally nuanced depiction of an Asian fantasy world. We desperately want to support The Last Airbender film, but we cannot in good conscience support its current incarnation and the generations of Hollywood discrimination it represents."
Racebending.com (created by Aang-Aint-White) - [link]

12/03/09 Mandvi, Toub and Curtis to Join THE LAST AIRBENDER
[link]

Shaun Toub = Iroh = [link]
Aasif Mandvi = Zhao = [link]
Cliff Curtis = Ozai = [link]

02/03/09 Casting about for Mongolian Actors [link]
""I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan," Rathbone told MTV.com, presumably just before his publicist sat him down for a chat about political correctness.

But the only thing some fans will suspend are their plans to see the movie when it opens in summer 2010. Forums online including LiveJournal have spearheaded letter-writing campaigns to object to the casting. More than 2,000 people have joined a Facebook group titled "Save the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Movie from an All-White Cast..." Continue reading: [link]

26/02/09 Casting Calls in Virginia and New York [link]
"The producers are looking for actors of Mongolian, Cambodian or Laotian heritage, which suggests the filmmaker is responding to previous criticism from "Avatar" fans about the cast looking a little too Caucasian.

Paramount is trying to put a bandaid on this problem by casting Asian actors in minor, background roles, in a world that will still be saved by three white heroes. Now is the time to tell them that that isn't good enough.

Media Action Network for Asian Americans speaks out against The Last Airbender [link]

Aang Aint White on LJ covers Dev Patel, tokenism, and the continued push for their cause. [link]


2/01/09 Jesse McCartney drops role as Zuko due to conflicts in schedule, replaced by Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel
[link]
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Also, Jessica Jade Andres cast as Suki.

---

THE CAST: [link]
Aang: Noah Ringer (Texan, unknown)
Sokka: Jackson Rathbone (Twilight's Jasper Hale)
Katara: Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls)
Zuko: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Jessica Jade Andres as Suki
Aasif Mandvi as Admiral Zhao
Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh
Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai
Keong Sim as Earthbending Father


AANG-AIN'T-WHITE on LJ link: [link]

Angry journal entry by a professional comic/graphic novel artist Derek Kirk Kim [link]

((A MUST READ. Includes official comic artists/writers petition against The Last Airbender.))

A list of varied reactions from the Avatar fanbase to the casting that properly reflect the purpose of this plz account:
[link] [link] [link] [link]
[link] [link] [link]


[link] From Phily?: Audition as an extra today!
"We want you to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire," she [casting manager] said. "If you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen."

Jackson Rathbone talks The Last Airbender [link]
"..."Airbender" has already begun to face a bit of controversy over the casting of white actors like Rathbone, Ringer and McCartney to play Asian characters — a concern the actor was quick to dismiss. "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan," he said of the transformation he'll go through to look more like Sokka. "It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit." "

Jesse McCartney speaks on his role in The Last Airbender on a live radio interview [link] (fastforward to 12:00)

1/29/09 The San Francisco Chronicle: "'Avatar' an Asian thing- why isn't the cast?" [link]
"These are kids growing up with manga," Kim says. "They're not only comfortable with Asian concepts, they're fascinated by them. To think that they won't come to a live-action version unless it's cast with white actors - that's really a shockingly ignorant viewpoint. These kids aren't watching Jackie Chan movies and thinking, 'Yikes! I wish he were a white guy!' " Continue reading at [link]

1/29/09 Lisa Zhu's Open Casting Call Experience: [link]
A 'last' straw for ignorance
"If the director himself is Indian, why would he have an all-white cast if the movie itself is supposed to be diverse?" said Simarque Kane, a Philadelphia resident and a prospective extra.

When asked about the criticism of this casting decision, Rickets merely said, "The best actors were cast, and that was it."...
Continue reading at [link]

Jesse McCartney MTV interview [link]
"McCartney — who plays Prince Zucko — assured fans of the writer/director who feel he may not be right for the part that Shyamalan has it all figured out...
...Although he is still learning all about the popular cartoon that first made its debut in Asia before gaining popularity in America, it was his little brother who was already a fan when McCartney signed on to the flick. "I heard about the series from my little brother who's an avid 'Avatar' fan," he explained. "I heard about the project, and that Night was directing it. He flew me out to Philly to read with him. I worked with him a lot on the character. He called me on my phone and was like, 'I want you to play this character.' And we took it from there."
Continue reading [link]





_{Our mission: Bring deviants up-to-date information about racism in The Last Airbender movie, and promote the Aang-ain't-White cause.}