Oh no you didn't.

[green_dreams]

So, I picked up the latest Realms of Fantasy issue, started reading the first story--news article, not fiction--and three paragraphs in was sitting there with that look on my face you get when you are thinking Oh you did not just say that.

I hit their website to see if they'd commented on it at all. No dice, although the first words that caught my eye were "For the August issue, we are privileged once again..."

That word, it means so much more than you think it means.

Ahem. Yes. Anyway, the writing in question:

Cut for those who are just not up to dealing with whitewashing apologists right now.

However, The Last Airbender has already caught flak for "whitewashing," meaning, the casting of white actors (or actors who appear to be white) to play non-white characters, especially when those characters are heroic. It's a hot-button issue that dredges up memories of images like Al Jolsen wearing black-face makeup. Of course, there are two sides to this coin. On one hand, whitewashing can feel insulting, disrespectful, and disappointing to movie-goers. Many may label it as politically incorrect. On the other hand, anyone who has run a casting call will tell you that when you find the right person for the role, something magical happens. Time seems to stop, and you feel as if the character comes to life right in front of your eyes. The character is no longer ink on paper; the character begins to live and breathe. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the individual human being reading for the part. Adding to the mix is the fact that some roles written for white people have been won by actors of color, and some roles written for men have been played by women. In other words, whitewashing isn't a one-way street. It's a difficult situation that places filmmakers between the goal of finding magic and not offending audiences. At the end of the day, most directors simply want to tell a good story.

I can't even begin to play bingo with this.

So yeah. I cancelled my subscription to RoF, and am working on a letter to them. And... Jesus, does the fail ever begin to end?

(How's Clarkesworld doing these days? I am sure that not picking up a year's worth of RoF makes buying their print anthologies a lot more workable.)

Comments

[glockgal]

Hi there!

Sorry for the spamming, but I'm a Mod of the racebending comm and we're trying to pin down this article from RoF. I downloaded the August 2010 issue and found an article about the Last Airbender written by Resa Nelson, but I couldn't find this particular excerpt. Is this quote from the June 2010 issue?

Thanks for your help, and for making this post!

[green_dreams]

Not spamming at all. :) I thought it was the August issue--I'm in the middle of digging up my office and putting everything away, but I'll try and find it for you. Poke me if I don't get back to you in a couple of days, tops?

[glockgal]

Yay thank you so much! I really appreciate your help!

[green_dreams]

(Faster than I'd hoped. Maybe there's something to this "organizing" business.)

Yes, it's definitely the Resa Nelson article in the August issue--"M. Night Shyamalan Takes a Leap of Faith and Turns a TV Cartoon into an Epic Fantasy Film". It's the third paragraph, the one that starts in the second column of the article; I can send you a scan, but that will take a little longer.

[glockgal]

Wow! Yay for your organizing skills!

And that is SO weird. I'm looking at the issue right now (I got the pdf) and the paragraph is not there! So confused?

Here, I hope this is ok (you can delete this comment afterwards if there are copyright issues, etc) but this is a direct copy&paste of the first few paragraphs of the article as I'm reading it from the pdf version. Does this match what's in your version? Thank you for your patience in helping me figure this out! It's now turned into a puzzle! :D

-------------------------

If you’ve heard that M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, The Happening) has written and directed a live-action film based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, you might be scratching your head. How can the director most often compared to Alfred Hitchcock and known for twist endings tackle such a project? Maybe the bigger mystery is why he would suddenly depart from his own unique vision. A visit to George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in San Francisco was the first step to unraveling this mystery.

A glimpse of scenes from The Last Airbender (scheduled for release on July 2 from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies) at ILM reveals this movie has more in common with Shyamalan’s body of work than first meets the eye. Shyamalan’s movies fall into the realm of the paranormal, science
fiction, and horror while typically staying grounded in our present-day world. His foray with The Last Airbender allows him to stay within the realm of fantasy while extending his reach into a mythical world. At the same time, The Last Airbender promises to showcase Shyamalan’s strengths:
great performances, storytelling, and characters.

“The story is based in a fairy tale kingdom, which is split into four different worlds,” says actor Dev Patel, best known for his role as the heroic Jamal in last year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire. “There’s the Air nation, the Fire nation, the Earth nation, and the Water nation.”

Within each nation, people have the ability to control and manipulate that one element, and this ability is called “bending.” For example, a member of the Water nation has the ability to tap into any source of water—such as a lake, a fountain, or even a puddle— and then “bend” that water in any
number of ways. In a fight, a Waterbender might whip water around as if from a hose that has escaped the hands of a firefighter, or turn water into shards of ice to create a protective wall
or to use like daggers.

But there’s a problem. Years ago, the Fire nation nearly succeeded in taking over the world. The Fire nation controls almost every city, and members of the Earth and Water nations have lost touch with their powers to bend their elements. Thematically, the movie seems to say that everyone is born
with a purpose, and it is up to each of us discover what our purpose is.

[green_dreams]

What I've got is
, which was on page 8 of the magazine.

Looks like they just yanked the paragraph in question (I'm guessing this was a PDF that RoF released, rather than a third-party scan?). Everything else you've quoted seems to be in the actual magazine.

(ETA: holy crap, bigger pictures than expected. Sorry!)

[glockgal]

Thanks soooo much for the scan. I did indeed get the pdf directly from their website archive. I find it very interesting that they pulled that quote from the pdf version.

One of our supporters will be on an A:TLA panel with Resa Nelson at the Arisia convention, debating the Airbender controversy, so. I think having both versions of the article will provide better insight. Thank you again for your help, I truly appreciate it!

[green_dreams]

*tips hat* Pleased I could help. --look, I'm trying to clear out my office, rather, and don't really have much use for the issue anymore. Could I send it to someone care of their hotel at Arisia, or directly if it's faster? (She said from the Ottawa region.)

[glockgal]

OMG if you could that would be brilliant! I know Canada Post can be a bother sometimes (me = still waiting on soaps I ordered from the States in November) but if you truly don't mind sending the magazine off, I'll happily provide the address information:

c/o Donna Martinez
Arisia 2011 Conference
Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel.
425 Summer Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
USA

And I owe you a favour! :D

[green_dreams]

Canada Post can't guarantee it'll get there by Friday unless I go with the Worldwide Priority option on their website (2 to 3 days guaranteed), and that's over $50. Give me a moment to check around; I know that a couple of local people are heading down, I'll see if they can drop it off.

[green_dreams]

What day and time is the panel? I may have magazine delivery...

[glockgal]

Dude, you are seriously above and beyond! The panel is on Sunday Jan 16 at 8pm, and I can ask Donna if she'd like to pick it up from the Reception anytime before that of course!

Thank you soooo much.

[green_dreams]

Heh! Honestly, I'm just glad I have a chance to have it go to some use. I *really* need to clear out some of my magazines, and I hate throwing them out.

'kay. So I can just ask the kind soul who's carrying it to drop it at Reception, or should it be at the hotel's front desk...?

[glockgal]

Yes please! The hotel's Front Desk would be awesome! I let Donna know where to pick it up.

Sooooo much obliged, I owe you one!

[beable]

Hi glockgal, I was the magazine deliverer, and she did get the magazine, but when I spoke to her later than evening she was (understandably!) very unhappy with the derail that happened at the panel.


If you are regularly in touch with Donna, could you pass along the following info to her?

I was having dinner on Monday evening with several Arisia-SMOF/con-com types, as well as the fan GOH Rene, (whom she met on her previous panel) and shared the feedback (2nd-hand on my part) about how the Airbender panel had gotten completely derailed, and how one of the panelists - who had expected a panel talking about whitewashing in Airbender to yanno, talk about whitewashing in Airbender! - had been completely shut out of contributing to the panel by the other panelists who had signed on largely to derail the panel completely, except for some extra bonus "reverse racism" derail for added hijinks.

So everyone at dinner did agree that this was not on, and if she felt up to it, they'd appreciate hearing the details firsthand - feedback can be sent to feedback@arisia.org

Also, Rene volunteered for the panel if they have it next year, as he has some strong opinions on the subject himself.

[glockgal]

Thank you for letting me know! I will most certainly pass on this information to Donna. I think in the case of trying to address 'touchy' subjects like anti-racism, it can feel quite discouraging when people seem more apathetic than disagreeing, y'know? Reading this info you provided is really thoughtful, and I think Donna will truly appreciate it.

And high-five to across-board LJ/fandom networking for social change, holy moly! It's amazing. *feels enlivened*