; Last Airbender; becomes latest racebender

A couple weeks back I required a boycott of the movie "Prince of Persia" because they did not hire a Middle Eastern actor to portray the friggin' "Prince of Persia. "

Now the manufacturers of "The Last Airbender" movie, an adaptation of Nickolodeon's "Avatar: The final Airbender, " follow. They've cast two white actors rather than Asians in lead roles.

Why couldn't both leads be Asian actors, specially when "Avatar" co-creator Bryan Konietzko (a white guy, BTW) insisted they based all of the characters on Asians?

The process through which Hollywood abandons good sense and hires actors of one race to portray characters of some other is known as "racebending. " It is going completely back to the beginning of cinema, with white actors in blackface portraying African-American characters.

It continued with the Charlie Chan movies, with the lead Charlie being played with a white actor in yellowface.

Strangely enough, it had been okay for minorities to experience supporting characters or villains. They simply couldn't take part in the leads.

I'm particularly pissed at "Airbender" - or "Racebender" and i'm gonna refer to it as - because it's helmed by M. Night Shyamalan, an Indian-American and director of "The Sixth Sense. " One would think like a man of Asian descent he'd be gung ho to incorporate all of the Asian actors he could.

Then again, based on Box office mojo. com, Shyamalan's last three films didn't make the domestic box office of "Sixth Sense. " Maybe he did not have the ability to call the casting shots on the big summer tent pole movie. Despite the fact that making the film was his idea.

At least, I'll provide him this way out.

As with "Persia, " "Racebender" is not a movie that needs an accepted white actor to get it business. "Racebender" is really a known property.

The series does boffo business with the young adult and children's markets. Plus, it is a big loud action movie with cool effects.

It appears I am not alone during my call to boycott. The fellows behind Racebending. com stick to the tale pretty much.

When inquired about this racebending, "Aibender" director Shyamalan said he'd no agenda with casting. He merely sought out the best person for that role.

My argument is the fact that too often when a chance arises for any minority actor to accept spotlight, the "best person for that role" - regardless of the minority race of the character - works out to be someone white.

I ask Hollywood to investigate why this really is and also to find a solution.