APA Groups: Casting in 'The Last Airbender' is 'Whitewashing'

The film's one main Asian actor, Dev Patel of 'Slumdog Millionaire,' will play a villain.

By Melissa Chua, P.C. Web Reporter
Published May 15, 2009

Hollywood is doing it again.

In the wake of "Dragonball: Evolution" and "21" - films that ignited controversy over their casting of mostly Caucasian actors in roles originally written for Asian Pacific Americans - another Hollywood movie studio is drawing similar criticism.

M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming movie "The Last Airbender," based on the Nickelodeon television series "Avatar: The Last Airbender," isn't set for release until 2010, but fans and APA advocacy groups are already accusing the production of racial bias in its selection of white actors to portray Asian characters.

The popular animated series takes place in an Asian fantasy world inspired by Asian cultures and themes. The characters practice East Asian martial arts and dress in traditional Asian attire. They even write with Chinese characters.

Yet in the film adaptation of the series, white actors play three out of four of the main characters. Dev Patel, of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame, will be the sole Asian face in the upcoming film version of "Airbender."

Among the critics are members of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), the Los Angeles-based theater East West Players, and Racebending.com - a Web site launched in response to the film's casting.

"People need to realize that recasting Asian actors as white actors is institutionalized discrimination that affect children who perceive white as the norm, even in a world that is Asian-based," said Loraine Sammy, public relations coordinator for Racebending.com.

"This was a chance for actors from our community to be represented, but that chance was taken away," said Marissa Lee, also of Racebending.com.

The "Airbender" casting sends a message to the public that white actors are more qualified and entitled than APA actors to play Asian characters, added Lee.

So far Paramount Pictures, the studio backing the film, has remained tight-lipped about the casting process.

"At this time, Paramount does not have a comment to share," said Michael Agulnek, vice president of national publicity and the film's lead publicist.

But in a statement, "Airbender" producers said they "envisioned embodying the 'Airbender' universe with a large and ethnically diverse cast that represents many different heritages and cultures from all corners of the globe."

"Diversity is good, but not when you're making the background more diverse and the foreground less diverse," said Lee. "The more this happens, the easier it gets for Hollywood to get away with it."

In December when news of the casting broke, outraged fans began protesting with a letter-writing campaign, a petition and a direct response Web site. 

"Fans, most of which identify themselves as white, Latino and black, are really concerned that this racial discrimination sends a terrible message to children especially Asian children because they can't see themselves on screen," said Guy Aoki, co-founder of MANAA.

Community leaders also expressed outrage when the film's casting director Deedra Ricketts told the Daily Pennsylvanian that she had asked extras auditioning for roles "to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire ... if you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen."

In response to Rickett's comments, East West Players' Tim Dang wrote a letter to Paramount blasting the studio.

"Besides the ignorance of confusing Korean hanboks with Japanese kimonos, Ms. Ricketts' call for extras to come looking ethnic and foreign could not contrast more sharply with the casting of whites for most of the leading roles."

Also at contention is Patel's character, Zuko - a villain.

APA activists say movies like "Fu Manchu", "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Sixteen Candles", show that Hollywood has a long record of casting actors of color as villains or stereotypical characters.

"Very rarely are Asian people allowed to be cast heroes in the story," said Aoki.

MANAA and Racebending.com are calling for a boycott of the film when it is released next summer.

"We can refuse to support movies like these that are willing to sell actors of color short for whatever reason and to deny what they've done by casting people of color as extras," said Lee.

For more information: 
www.manaa.org, www.racebending.com