Hollywood

“Racebending” discourse is thinly veiled racism

By: Yasmin Hassan, Staff Writer The word “racebending” was originally coined by fans protesting against the whitewashing of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s live action cast. Nowadays, the phrase and its variations are often used in negative and even racist contexts. The phenomenon of production studios casting people with a different skin tone than their original character is often used as an excuse to attack BIPOC and perpetuate racism.  This year, it was announced that Jamie Lloyd would direct a version of the famous Shakespearan tragedy Romeo and Juliet, starring Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet. After Rivers…

Continue reading