racebending

See also: race-bending

English

Alternative forms

• race-bending

Etymology

From race +‎ bending, following the pattern of genderbending. Popularized amid fan reaction to racebending in the casting of the 2010 film The Last Airbender (film).

Noun

racebending (uncountable)

1. (informal, often derogatory) The act of playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, a character of different race or ethnicity.
   • 2013, Lee Jian Yun, "Asian Americans on the Rise: How YouTube Changed the Game", The Monash Gazette (Monash Ununiversity), Issue #2 2013, page 71:

     Hilarity ensues as the director tries to justify his decision with famous racebending examples from Hollywood (The faux slit-eyes in Cloud Atlas, anyone?).

   • 2014, Zhana Johnnson, "Bend It Like Jordan", The Xavierite (Saint Xavier University), Volume 83, Number 17, 26 February 2014, page 9:

     Not only did the producers cast actors in their late twenties but also had the audacity to assign Michael B. Jordan (Fruitside Station, That Awkward Moment) to the role of the Human Torch/Johnny Storm.

     What has happened here is a wonderful example of racebending.

   • 2015, Kristen J. Warner, “ABC's Scandal and Black Women's Fandom”, in Elana Levine, editor, Cupcakes, Pinterest, and Ladyporn: Feminized Popular Culture in the Early Twenty-First Century, University of Illinois, →ISBN, page 39:

     As an example of racebending on a different level from that of fandom but which still utilizes a similar approach, in 2005, Denzel Washington portrayed Julius Caesar in a revival of Shakespeare's play.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:racebending.

Verb

racebending

1. present participle and gerund of racebend

See also

• blackface, redface, yellowface

Anagrams

• Grecian bend