Fan activists and the politics of race in The Last Airbender

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7532472
AutoresLori Kido Lopez (0000-0001-6805-8864, University of Southern California, autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume15
Fascículo5
Páginas431-445
Data de publicação2011-10-21
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1367-8779 • E-ISSN: 1460-356X
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1367877911422862
OpenAlexW2160675265
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas29
Referências citadas17

When the producers of the film The Last Airbender announced their casting decisions, a large collective of fans became irate – they argued that the original cartoon was set in an Asian world, so all four lead roles should go to Asian American actors. Instead, producers cast three white actors as the heroes, and an actor of South Asian descent as the villain. This article investigates the fan-activists who organized to protest the casting and utilized the skills they developed as fans to participate in larger conversations about politics and race. Within their demand for changes in the representation of Asian Americans in entertainment media, these politicized fans offer new ways of considering the potential impacts of ‘racebending’ and the politics of minority representation

Advertising · Asian americans · Asian games · Business · Entertainment · Ethnic group · Media studies · Political activism · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Representation (politics · Sociology · White (mutation · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law