Protesters oppose

In the world of acting, not all colors are created equal - or at least that's how many people feel when ethnic roles are "whitewashed," or cast with white actors.

Casting for extras in M. Night Shyamalan's Avatar: The Last Airbender took place last Saturday at the Spectrum, where protesters accused casting officials of such discrimination.

Philadelphians were upset that Deedee Rickets, the movie's casting director, sought multiethnic extras after casting the movie's principal roles - members of Asian and Inuit tribes - with white actors.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that two protesters attended the casting call in protest of the movie's lack of Asian actors.

Numerous blogs have recently addressed the issue.

In a blog called Aang Ain't White's Journal, the author protests the casting of the protagonist Aang and his aides Katara and Sokka with white actors.

The author urged activists to "peacefully and respectfully protest the casting decision."

On another blog, Derek Kirk Kim writes about the tribulations of being an Asian auditioning for roles and "having our hearts broken over and over going after roles that specifically call for Asian Americans like The Last Airbender only to see them go to white actors."

Miss Saigon, Fu Manchu and Breakfast at Tiffany's are all examples of "whitewashing" in films where white actors play Asian roles, Asian Pacific Student Coalition chairman and Wharton junior Raymond Flores said.

He pointed to the alteration of the actors' appearance via yellow face paint and the taping back of eyes.

If The Last Airbender's main characters' appearances are altered, that will be a "red flag," Flores warned.

"Whitewashing," though not as prevalent as it once was, has evolved into stereotyping in roles such as Jackie Chan in Rush Hour, Flores added.

"He does martial arts, but he plays a goofy role," Flores said. "He's not completely heroic."

He added the marketing of the casting call for extras - which asked for Koreans dressed in kimonos and people skilled in artisan crafts and martial arts - was "sad, inappropriate and insensitive."

Some people are preparing to take action to prevent future instances of discrimination.

Kirk Kim began a petition to Paramount to "condemn this movie and boycott this discriminatory film if it isn't recast," he wrote in his blog. "Hopefully this will pressure them to recast the movie or at least send a strong enough message so something like this doesn't happen again."

The Last Airbender is Shyamalan's first movie not produced from his own source material, according to Variety magazine.

Film casting officials declined to comment for this article.

Related StoriesTry out for a role - for M. Night Shyamalan - News

Comments (18)

There will be a protest at The Last Airbender Open Call on February 7th in Philadelphia, from 10AM to 4PM at the Independence Hall Visitor Center. Independence Hall Visitor Center �?Independence Ball Room�? 6th & Market Streets Philadelphia, PA 19106 We are asking EVERYONE who is against the all white casting, and racism in HollyWood to please come out and use their voice. News channels will also be out..lets make an impact. It takes ONE person to change the world..it will take a group to change this movie!

We want Asian culture. Just not asians. Lovely. We want Inuit culture. Just not inuits. Lovely. We want good movies. Not Paramount movies.

But really, wouldn't being in an M Night Shyamalan film be worse than not being cast because of race? I mean, doesn't anyone in this article remember how bad his movies are?

I find it funny how the casting officials declined to comment. It's sad.

[QUOTE id="f3bf77ae-1fc9-4e43-bef5-c88822459e34"]But really, wouldn't being in an M Night Shyamalan film be worse than not being cast because of race? I mean, doesn't anyone in this article remember how bad his movies are?[/QUOTE] We are not protesting the director, or the actors, or the quality of the film. We just want people of ethnic background to be given a chance to have strong heroic roles--- and not having them be replaced by white actors. Basically Paramount is sending the message of "HEY we love your culture---but you asian americans are just NOT good enough for film." IT's not fair and racist...there is no other way to put it.

Boycott this movie. Dragonball movie have the same problem, it casted a white guy in the leading role who has a Asian face. It is being boycotted in Japan and Korean, and other countries in Asia had already voiced that they lost interest and confidence in this movie. Thus boycott the whitewashed version of Avatar, only a total commericial failure can let Hollywood show some respeact.

[QUOTE id="597d170e-dec4-4a6c-9ffd-348631864de6"]Boycott this movie. Dragonball movie have the same problem, it casted a white guy in the leading role who has a Asian face. It is being boycotted in Japan and Korean, and other countries in Asia had already voiced that they lost interest and confidence in this movie. Thus boycott the whitewashed version of Avatar, only a total commericial failure can let Hollywood show some respeact.[/QUOTE] Technically, goku would not have to be asian due to being from planet vageta(formely known as plant) but I completely agree that goku "SHOULD BE ASIAN, OR AT LEAST SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHITE". I would not mind if goku could have even been cast as someone who was native american, or at least someone half white for compromise.

Dragonball sucked. look at at how bad it made at the box office with 55 million gross worldwide against its 100 million budget

I personally don't give a crap if the actors are asian or not. I remember when "Memoirs of a Geisha" was cast and people were up in arms due to the fact a Chinese Actress was picked to play a Japanese Woman. If I remember correct that film blew everyone away. Dragonball was nothing but money hungry anime directors trying to take a form of entertainment and make it into something anime isn't meant to be.....a live film. My main concern is wheather or not it stays true to the storyline. And as long as the actors have the chops to bring their characters to life I see no reason how a white actor cannot portray an asian character.....anyone recall "Kung-Fu" star David Carridine before he washed up in the 80's?

I see no reason how a white actor cannot portray an asian character.....anyone recall Kung-Fu" star David Carridine before he washed up in the 80's?" James, I think you need acquaint yourself with a bit of Hollywood history and Google "blackfacing" and "yellowfacing". Maybe then you'll understand why this is a sensitive issue.

Zuko isn't Indian in the show... Why are the 3 main characters NOT asian? This was a GREAT chance to introduce some good asian actors to North America. How unfortunate that didn't happen.

why is every one freaking out over this???? M.Night makes great movies? well some of them are. and why are all of you so racist? only sokka and atara are white!? noah ringer is half philipino. and the guy playing zuko is indian? how is the white washing? you people are idiots?

[QUOTE id="5d7cdb76-b39f-4420-9d6d-e6431bb04b7d"]why is every one freaking out over this???? M.Night makes great movies? well some of them are. and why are all of you so racist? only sokka and atara are white!? noah ringer is half philipino. and the guy playing zuko is indian? how is the white washing? you people are idiots?[/QUOTE] It's not the issue of protesters being "racist". I find your comment to be absolutely silly and ridiculous. It's about staying true to the source of the show. Though based in a fantasy culture, it is clearly and very strongly influenced and based in Asian culture. What people are saying is that when there are few opportunities to cast Asians in film, why would you take a perfect opportunity to do so and then just throw it away? Though casting a mainly white cast doesn't detract from the acting in the film, it does beg the question of why they couldn't accomplish the same goals with a minority cast. I'm not at all of Asian descent, yet I too am livid over the casting. It just reiterates how discriminatory Hollywood can be. Taking from another post I read on this topic, how would you feel if the main characters of Harry Potter were all minorities? It wouldn't detract from the film's acting, but I'm sure that there would have been several protests if that were the case. Btw it's Sokka and Katara, and to me, it seems like they are supposed to be Southeast Asian, so yeah, I am a bit pissed that they're being played by the whitest of white actors.

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