Letters to Spin Master Ltd.

[mrcab]

Okay, for starters, some of you may or may-not have heard about this already but Spin Master Ltd. is the company that will be making the the toys for The Last Airbender. Will you be buying them? No? Hm, maybe we should tell them about it.

Even though Spin Master Ltd. has close ties with Nickelodeon, it's a bit futile to be writing them to ask for their help to possibly not make the toys. Needless to say, they will, most likely, be making the toys for this film and, like all tie-in products, they should be added to the boycott: books, toys, Halloween costumes, breakfast cereals, etc... I figure we should probably let them know first; almost like giving them a chance to pull out.

I have this letter to Spin Master Ltd. all written up but I wanted to check with everybody here to see if everyone is willing to go through with it. We really need more than one letter here. I know this isn't like writing to the producers, or even M. Night himself, but it needs to be done. I'll still send this either way; what I want to know is, how many people are willing to write a letter also? Don't worry, all it has to be is short.

What you should write: Basically, keep it simple. You don't have to write some big letter explaining “blah blah blah...” like I did, or any letter you've written for the cause, in the past. All you have to do is tell them you will not be buying any toys related to this film, and any toys under the “Spin Master” brand name.(including telling friends and family not to buy, also) Refer to Racebending.com, and that's it. Simple. Short, simple. Print out your letter several times over and mail them to the multiple addresses listed below.

I've actually had this written out for a wile now, but out of being discouraged and finding the right time... eh.. here it is:


Dear Ronnen Harary, Anton Rabie and everyone on the Spin Master Ltd. management team,

Recently it has been brought to our attention that Spin Masters Ltd. has gained an exclusive deal with Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products for the master global toy licensing of the M. Night Shyamalan film “The Last Arirbender”: Produced by Paramount Pictures. This news has prompted us to write and ask for your help in regards to the controversies surrounding the film.

You may have already received letters from our supporters who are very concerned with this issue. Regardless, we feel this should be address to you in a more formal manner. It's a complicated issue, so I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

As you already know, “The Last Airbender” is a film adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar was heavily based off east-Asian and Inuit cultures, but primarily east-Asian; from various forms of martial-arts, weaponry, armor, clothing & fashion-accessories, food & eating-utensils, written language(Chinese calligraphy), music & musical-instruments, art & architecture, philosophy, people, names, and so on... Essentially a pan-Asian world.

The controversy arose when the cast of the film was announced and the roles of the four lead characters (Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko) went to four white actors; roles that were basically handed to them. This upset quite a bit of the fans, as well as the Asian-American community. -The feeling here, is that they were never even given a chance to try-out for roles based off their own ethnic-group and cultures- Adding insult to injury, the casting-call (of the four leads) asked for “Caucasian (or any other ethnicity)”. Later, one of the cast members dropped out, and was quickly replaced with Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel(a British born, Indian, actor). Some felt this was a PR move to clean up the mess made by the casting decisions. Unfortunately Dev Patel filled the role of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation: the villain. Zuko, once a character of lighter skin, now had a dark completion, and everyone related to him, in the film, will be so too. Now we have three “white heroes” going up against, genocidal, dark-skinned, villains: almost the complete opposite of the show. That being said, skin-color, or race, should never be a determining factor in choosing who is to be a hero and who is to be the villain. Although, what do you think would be the one to avoid in today's society? Middle Eastern-looking bad guys? Right; as the cast rolled in, we saw a mix of Middle Easterners and south-Asians(Indians) filling the roles of the villains: the genocidal fire-nation. Why would the filmmakers so heavily change the ethnicities of the characters? And why would actors of color be relegated to villains, supporting roles, and background?(a sort of tokenism for the white heroes) What message are they sending to our kids?

Getting back to the casting-call: In a world populated primarily with Asian characters, why would they primarily ask for “caucasian” actors? The answer to this is that Hollywood does not care to cast Asian-Americans in leading roles, as they fear it will lower ticket sales. Is this really the proper approach?

This is not an isolated incident, as “whitewashing” has been going on for many year, and is directly related to Hollywood “yellow-face”(a practice that lasted up until the late 1980s, and still persists in small forms to this day). Hollywood studios claim “There are no bankable Asian-American actors”, yet are willing to bank on white actors that are complete-unknowns: this, in turn, becomes a cycle of whitewashing that feeds itself. Only now has it seemed to reach a ridiculous high point, and generated the the most anger toward the studios themselves.

Examples of recent offenders would be movies such as 21(2008), a film that had been intrenched in a boycott by several organizations, including the East West Players, and MANAA(Media Action Network for Asian Americans) for ignoring the real-life ethnicities of its Asian-American leads; Dragonball: Evolution, in which the Asian lead, “Goku”, was portrayed by white actor Justin Chatwin; and the upcoming King of Fighters, for having the lead character Kyo Kusanagi (clearly Japanese) be portrayed by a Caucasian actor, Sean Faris: While this film is not as high-profile as The Last Airbender, it is still a striking example of Hollywood's continuous whitewashing of asian characters. It's very upsetting, not only to Asian-Americans, but fans of the original source materials, as well. This is just a few, and there are many examples out there, and still much, much, more to come...

These casting decisions, especially those of The Last Airbender, are typically made in the name of “diversity”, yet all the diversity is background, and supporting characters; merely a setting for the “white” heroes. Not only does Paramount Pictures see fit to whitewash the leads of the film but in another one of their movies, The Goods, they believe it right to make light of hate-crimes, by condoning the beating of an Asian American: for laughs. Just another example of a film that has come under scrutiny, with protests, and boycotts.

Our movement is simple: After numerous appeals by fans of the series and MANAA, to Paramount Pictures, (yes, we were completely ignored until the film had already gone into production) we have called for a boycott of the film. The Last Airbender will not be in theaters till July 2010, but we hope to spread the word and gain more support from the public and from sources like Spin Master Ltd.

This controversy has grown larger and has gained more attention, and more support for this movement, than earlier offenders (several mentioned above). With your help we hope to draw even more attention to this controversy: A well known toy company, such as Spin Master, dropping a big-name toy-license over new found information(i.e. The discriminatory casting, and Hollywood's continual whitewashing of asian characters) would be quite the news, and would draw well deserved attention to our cause.

We do recognize you have close ties with Nickelodeon, and dropping a toy license over this controversy would not be in your best interest; but consider this:

Any competitors you may have that might attain the toy-license will be subject to the same concerns.

Online polls have consistently shown that, somewhere around, half of all fans, and the general public, are very displeased with the discriminatory casting, calling it “nothing less than racist”. If these numbers do not impress, then compare them with others who “don't see anything wrong with it”, at a mere 10-13%, and it most certainly is impressive.

What is the social responsibility here? Even you, as a toy manufacturer, can understand what it means to shape the future of young minds. As part of your “Mission and Values statement” is “Integrity”; “Integrity”? Always? No fooling? We would love to see you put that to the test. If so, this will truly make people happy.

Thank you, and we hope to hear from you shortly, as we wish no misunderstanding would inadvertently pull Spin Master Ltd. into an already heated controversy, and subsequently a boycott. And we wish any conflict of interest you may have, will not hinder your principles.

Sincerely

*my name*

[undersigned]

For more information, please visit:

www.racebending.com
or
www.manaa.org

Remember, All we need are small, short letters, as described above.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, as this has not been mailed quite yet. Also, let me know if I have these addresses written out properly.

Addressses:

Spin Master Ltd.

(Global Headquarters)

450 Front Street West

Toronto, ON

M5V 1B6

Canada

Spin Master Inc.

(Marketing, Brand Management, Spin Master Studios)

5890 W Jefferson Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90016

USA

Spin Master France

(Sales)

36 Rue de Silly 92100

Boulogne-Billancourt

France

Spin Master Toys UK Ltd.

(Sales)

Meadowbank, Furlong

Road Bourne End

SL8 5AJ

UK

Any e-mails I'll add latter.

list of Spin Master Ltd. product lines:

Air Hogs

Aquadoodle

Bakugan Battle Brawlers

Bella Dancerella

Fogo Sports

Furberries

Girl Crush

Liv dolls

Tini Puppini

Moon Sand

Storm Hawks

Swypeout Battle Racing

Tech Deck

Thomas and Friends Home Decor Products

Pixos

Yo Gabba Gabba

Marshmallow

Update #1