on boycotting The Last Airbender

So tomorrow, The Last Airbender opens in theaters across the United States and Canada. As I mentioned previously, I will be boycotting it.

Please, do not give this movie your money. The Last Airbender is an egregious example of institutional racism in action. That's really the important part, but just in case you've missed all the discussion and activism that's gone on since the casting was first announced, I'll try and provide a little background. This is not as thorough as I would have liked to be, but I'll also provide links to some fantastic resources and articles that are well-worth checking out.

( Believe me, this is in brief. )

When I've talked to people about The Last Airbender in person, I've been met with a fair amount of complacent shrugging - a whole lot of "what do I care? what does this have to do with me?" That's privilege talking. I understand that we all have to pick our battles; that this one movie may not be something you can focus all your energy or outrage on. But surely, you can care enough not to pay for one movie ticket. It's hardly a lot to ask.

As I noted above, there's an enormous amount of material out there on the topic; your best source of information would be the Racebending website, which is overflowing with information and resources. They have a primer on the whitewashing of The Last Airbender here, and most of my own thoughts on the topic have been informed by discussion and links posted at racebending. Most of the articles I've linked come from them.

Here are a few more links I'd recommend:

These Are My Colors, by ssj10.

a few (a lot of) words on racism and paramount and the last airbender, by starweather (also contains a lot of great links)

The Last Airbender Movie, by Gene Luen Yang (amazing creator of American Born Chinese, co-creator of The Eternal Smile, and more).

New day in politics, same old racist world on the silver screen, by Derek Kirk Kim (another fantastic cartoonist). (An older post, made back when the casting was first announced, but I think it's an extremely important read - even with all the image links broken.)

And, here's a quick list of the specific articles I linked within my post, for convenience:
-Paramount Pictures – Diversity in the 21st Century? (Racebending.com)
-Yellowface: A Story In Pictures (Racebending.com)
-FacePainting (Floating World on tumblr)
-Caucasian or Any Other Ethnicity (Racebending.com)
-The Problem With Colorblindness (Faith Bell, guest contributor at Racebending.com)

Not that this is an excuse, but I'm pretty tired and overwhelmed with comic work right now, and I feel like I've completely run out of steam at this point - so I'm about to hit post. If you find anything problematic, and you have the energy/inclination I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know.