Racebending facts for kids

Racebending is a term that describes when a character's race or background is changed when a story is made into a movie, TV show, or play. This often happens when a character who was originally a person of color is played by a white actor. This is also known as whitewashing.

The word "racebending" became popular in 2009. This was because of the casting choices for the live-action movie The Last Airbender. The main characters in the original cartoon, Aang, Katara, and Sokka, were meant to be of Asian and Inuit descent. However, white actors were chosen for these roles in the movie. Fans protested these choices. They created a website called Racebending.com to speak out against this practice.

Racebending.com explains that racebending is when a movie studio or publisher changes a character's race. They say this has been a common practice in Hollywood for a long time, often leading to unfair treatment of people of color.

Why Racebending Happens

Many people wonder why racebending occurs. Some experts, like Christina Shu Jien Chong, believe it's not because there aren't enough talented minority actors. Instead, it's often due to how the entertainment industry works. It can be based on who you know, and sometimes people in power might not even realize they are favoring certain groups.

Casting descriptions, which list a character's traits like name, age, and race, can also play a part. While these descriptions aren't bad on their own, they can sometimes lead to discrimination. Most directors are white, and they might unknowingly choose to change a character's race. This can make it harder for actors of color to get roles.

Some producers and directors have different reasons for racebending. They might say it's not about discrimination. Instead, they claim there aren't enough well-known minority actors to bring in a lot of money for a film. For example, after the movie 21 came out, its producer, Dana Brunetti, said they couldn't find "bankable Asian-American actors." The film was based on a true story about Asian American students, but most of the main characters were played by white actors.

Director Ridley Scott also made a similar claim about his film Exodus: Gods and Kings. He said he couldn't get funding for a big-budget movie if the lead actor wasn't a well-known name. Critics often see these explanations as excuses for not casting diverse actors.

Examples of Racebending

Racebending has happened in many movies and shows. Here are a few well-known examples:

The Last Airbender

When the movie The Last Airbender was being cast, fans and even artists from the original cartoon were upset. The main heroes, who were supposed to be Asian and Inuit, were played by white actors Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone. However, the bad guys in the movie were mostly played by Middle Eastern and Indian actors. This led to many protests and the creation of Racebending.com.

Power Rangers Samurai

In 2010, the show Power Rangers Samurai initially looked for only white actors to play the Red Ranger. Racebending.com and other groups spoke out against this. Because of the protests, the casting call was changed to include actors of all backgrounds.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

The movie Exodus: Gods and Kings faced a lot of criticism before it was even released. White actors like Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton were cast as Egyptians. Meanwhile, black actors were mostly given roles as slaves or thieves. The director, Ridley Scott, argued that Egyptians have many different backgrounds. He said the audience shouldn't just focus on the white actors.

Prince of Persia

In 2010, groups like Racebending.com also called for boycotts of the movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This film was criticized for casting white actors in the main roles. Many felt that actors of Iranian or Middle Eastern descent should have been chosen instead.

Ghost in the Shell

When Scarlett Johansson was cast as Motoko Kusanagi in the movie Ghost in the Shell, many fans were upset. The story is set in Japan, and the character was originally Japanese. Fans signed petitions asking for a different actress.

Scarlett Johansson said she wouldn't have taken the role if it meant taking it from an Asian actor. She explained she liked the idea of a female hero in a big movie. However, activist groups like the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) disagreed. They felt Hollywood was not giving Asian actors a chance to play Asian characters. Asian actors like Constance Wu and Ming-Na Wen also called for people to boycott the movie. They believed it was unfair that an Asian woman wasn't cast.

The president of MANAA, Guy Aoki, said that Hollywood often makes excuses about not having famous enough Asian actors. He argued that without giving them chances, they can never become well-known. This movie sparked many discussions about how to give more opportunities to minority actors in Hollywood.

However, the director of the original 1995 anime film, Mamoru Oshii, defended Johansson's casting. He said the character, Motoko Kusanagi, is a cyborg and her body is not her original one. He believed Scarlett Johansson was the best choice for the role.

Positive Racebending Examples

Sometimes, racebending can have a positive effect. This happens when a character who was originally white is played by a minority actor. This can help increase representation for people of color in movies and TV.

Some examples of this "positive racebending" include:

• Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
• Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Paolo Montalban as Prince Christopher in The Wonderful World of Disney's retelling of Cinderella (1997).
• Hayley Kiyoko as Velma in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009).

Even though these examples are few, they are important. For communities of color, these casting choices mean seeing themselves represented in American stories.

In 2016, Abbey White from Paste magazine said that racebending is being used more to help TV networks show more diverse groups of people. This not only increases visibility but can also lead to more interesting and meaningful characters.

Statistics on Representation

Studies show that there is still a big difference in who gets roles in Hollywood. A 2016 report from the University of Southern California looked at many movies and TV shows. It found that about 71.7% of speaking characters were white. This is much higher than the percentage of white people in the actual United States Census Bureau's population, which was about 63.3% at the time.

The report also showed that other groups were underrepresented. For example, Hispanic/Latino people made up 16.2% of the U.S. population but only 5.8% of speaking characters. Asian people were 4.9% of the population but only 5.1% of characters.

Another article by Christina Shu Jien Chong found that white actors had 83.5% of lead roles. Minority actors had only 16.5% of lead roles. This includes 9.5% Black, 2% Latino, 2.5% Asian, and smaller percentages for Native American and mixed-race actors. These numbers show that racebending and other biases still lead to a lack of diversity in major roles in the entertainment industry.