Racebending: Understanding the Controversy

Yesterday, I posted a series of articles based on conversations with M. Night Shyamalan about his upcoming adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Normally, user comments about movies are about the creatures, weapons and special effects (that flying sky bison looks so fake!) but this time we were swept up in a conversation about racial politics.

Nine times out of ten message boards on hot button topics devolve into abuse and vulgarity but, by and large, this has not.

The chief group behind the discussion are the members of Racbending.com, an awareness site distressed at the casting decisions in Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender film.  Their chief bone of contention is that the animated series offered a “culturally nuanced depiction of an Asian fantasy world,” that appears whitewashed with the casting of Caucasian actors in the three main roles of Aang, Katara and Sokka.

Racebending.com argues that Katara and Sokka are clearly of Inuit heritage, and Aang, who can certainly pass for “mixed race” by his physical appearance, is nevertheless a clear depiction of Asian culture.

Shyamalan argues that his film is the most culturally diverse tent-pole ever made, and that his casting decisions were based on a) finding the best performers and b) maneuvering appropriate races to the different “nations” on the Airbender mythos.

Shyamalan claims that he once had an Asian (and very tall) actor in mind for Aang, but ultimately gave the role to young Noah Ringer, and that an Ecuadorian was in the running for the role of tormented villain Prince Zuko, now played by Dev Patel. Racebending.com, however, points to the strangely worded casting calls early in production as indication that only Caucasian kids would have been seriously considered.

What makes this controversy so fascinating is that it isn’t, if you’ll forgive the expression, a clear expression of black and white. Avatar: The Last Airbender, created by two Caucasians, was a show that borrowed heavily from all sorts of world cultures and philosophies. M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most successful directors of color working in Hollywood. There is dismay that the only characters of color in The Last Airbender are villains, but should the film continue through the full story arc we’ll meet other heroes of other races (and some of our original baddies will be redeemed.)

What's clear is that the characters of Aang, Katara and Sokka mean a lot to a lot of people.  Heck, they mean a lot to me and I am not a member of an underrepresented minority in film.  To many, The Last Airbender is a missed opportunity, to others, despite protestations to the contrary, it is a simple business decision on how to cast for a multimillion dollar movie.  I take Shyamalan at his word that he cast the film based on the best actors he could find, but the image from the trailer of Jackson Rathbone and Nicole Peltz (Sokka and Katara) as "leaders" of an Inuit tribe seems a little off.

What's so striking to me is that M. Night Shyamalan does not see his film as racially insensitive. However, I am not sure if his message is yet getting out to the people who need to hear it. I hope he and the Racebending.com group are able to reach an understanding, perhaps even this weekend when both will be at San Francisco’s Wondercon. Maybe we’ll also get the big reveal of Appa we’ve been waiting for, too.

I plan to have follow-up conversations with some of the people at Racebending.com as well as some Airbender enthusiasts.  With luck I'll get some more time with Shyamalan as well.  'Til then, I ask you:  who would you cast in The Last Airbender?

For More:

Interview with Racebending.com's Michael Le.

The Last Airbender producer Frank Marshall responds.