Racebending was coined as a term of protest in 2009 as a response to the casting decisions for the live-action film adaptation of the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender.[1] The starring roles of the show (Aang, Katara, and Sokka) were coded as being of East Asian (Aang) and Inuit (Katara, and Sokka) descent, but were played by actors of European descent in the film.[2] The initial protests such as "Saving the World with Postage,"[3] were created in a LiveJournal online forum that initially responded to the casting decisions by "inundating Paramount with protest mail."[2][3] However, the cast went unaltered and when production began, the leaders of this protest responded by founding the advocacy group and accompanying website Racebending by "playfully borrowing the concept of manipulating elements (bending) from the Avatar universe."[3]
The Racebending.com website defines "racebending" as, "situations where a media content creator (movie studio, publisher, etc.) has changed the race or ethnicity of a character. This longstanding Hollywood practice has historically been used to discriminate against people of color."[1] The website also states that the issue predates the coining of the term. According to Christopher Campbell, whitewashing in film is particularly common and "possesses a long tradition among the industry's most successful and venerated productions. Film history is replete with ignominious examples of white actors portraying characters of color."[4]
^ ab"What is "racebending"?". Racebending.com. February 23, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
^ abLopez, Lori Kido (October 21, 2011). "Fan Activists and the Politics of Race in The Last Airbender". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 15 (5): 431–445. doi:10.1177/1367877911422862. S2CID 146773251.
^ abcGruenewald, Tim (2015). Drawing New Color Lines: Transnational Asian American Graphic Narratives. Hong Kong University Press. p. 169.
^Campbell, Christopher (2017). The Routledge Companion to Media and Race. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
accompanying website Racebending by "playfully borrowing the concept of manipulating elements (bending) from the Avatar universe." The Racebending.com website...
movements to promote social change. Groups like Harry Potter Alliance, The Racebending Movement, and the Nerdfighters have historically attracted a significant...
be a detriment to the story itself." Film portal Color-blind casting Racebending White savior narrative in film Straightwashing Race in horror films Tokenism...
see: Loraine Sammy (November 11, 2010). "Noah Ringer: American Indian". Racebending.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved October 9...
and the 'First Slayer'" – leaving fans wondering "why a reboot has to racebend Buffy, when it could simply focus on a different character". A Twitter...
the comics such as Calvin Ellis or Val-Zod. This was seen by some as racebending a white character while "erasing" existing Black characters, a conversation...
on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2008-12-29. Hoffman, Jordan (2010-05-21). "Racebending — The Controversy Continues — The Last Airbender". UGO.com. Archived...
female pseudonym Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater Racebending Yellowface (novel) Whitewashing in film Kashiwabara, Amy, Vanishing Son:...
blackface Negermusik Pinkface, non-gay actors playing gay characters Racebending Redface Stereotypes of Africa Stereotypes of African Americans Yellowface...
Retrieved July 19, 2013. ""Legend of Korra" Panel at ComicCon 2011". racebending.com. July 28, 2011. Archived from the original on January 30, 2018. Retrieved...
"Interview With The Track Team: The Musicians Behind The Legend of Korra". Racebending.com. Retrieved 2012-04-27. "Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards - 38th...
California, Santa Barbara in 2016 entitled "Brown Skins, White Avatars: Racebending and Straightwashing in Digital Games". Chang states that video games...
Global Information