Where to begin with this?
What matters most to me is more and better roles for Asians in American films, superhero or otherwise. Roles that are in and of themselves diverse and less connected to common stereotypes, even if those stereotypes are positive -- which is why I absolutely *do not want* an Asian-American Danny Rand/Iron First, for exmaple (more on this in a bit).
I'm fine w/Tilda Swinton being in Dr. Strange. She's a good actress and a marvelously odd human being, who quite possibly fell to Earth along with David Bowie at some point in the 20th century. I quite liked Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, too. Another great actor in a role that neatly side-stepped the problems inherent in bringing a Yellow Peril-esque character to the 21st century Silver Screen. Besides, as was already pointed out, Kingsley is of Asian heritage.
To be frank, I have something of a problem with "Asian roles" in media. What starts as an earnest call for increasing diversity often ends up sounding like a return to racist typecasting. I want to see an Asian Spider-Man and Lois Lane, not another martial artist or quasi-Chinese mystic. So gender-and-ethnicity-flipping the Old One into a tall, ethereal British woman is okay, not a cause for concern.
A while back an Asian/Pacific Islander-American advocacy group was petitioning Marvel to recast Danny Rand as Asian. Because Danny being white makes the whole character an act of cultural appropriation, or embarrassingly dated Orientalism, or both. While I can respect where they're coming from, I still think it's an awful idea. I spent my youth being called Bruce Lee/Kato by my peers -- which, in retrospect, I should have taken as a compliment -- so a group of present day Asian-American activists want to essentially reinforce the idea that Kung-Fu Master = Asian Guy seems, well, mindbogglingly stupid and retrograde. Shouldn't we be fighting for better representation than this?
In a similar vein, the complaints about Scarlett Johansson playing the Major Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell remake read kinda racist to me. It's a American adaptation of a Japanese anime/manga. Why does the role "belong" to a Japanese actress. Or failing that, at least a non-Indian Asian one? Would people be complaining if it were, say, a German work being adapted? "Well, the lead actress should be German-American, but we're willing to accept someone Polish or French". I have both a tiny bit of Japanese heritage and significantly more German (if I had too, I could bake a stollen for Christmas using my nana's recipe). I can't fathom why media from one of my ancestries should be treated as different from another -- both are developed nations in their own right, and neither groups in the US qualify as discriminated-against minorities. Besides, the character isn't a minority within the work; she's part of the majority ethnic group (except for the military-grade cybernetics). The demand becomes nonsensical; the studio should preserver & honor the original work by casting an Asian actress, but also completely rewrite the character so she's from a minority background. Oy vey...
Also, while calling out the lack of diversity in media has its place, it's also nice to signal-boost shows that are doing diversity well. Like the aforementioned Agents of Shield, with it's two Asian-American principles (and another season-long guest star/antagonist). And the absolutely amazing Sense8 -- a very brave, ambitious show in which the diversity and beauty of human beings is it's beating, worn-on-it's sleeve heart. Why don't we have a thread about Sense8? It's effing wonderful.
(apologies for the length... this topic is, evidently, important to me).
edit: one more thing - it's with no small amount of irony I'll note that in the 1930s there were at least three Hollywood film series featuring Asian main characters. Fine, fine, none of them were played by Asians (though major supporting roles were, like Keye Luke's fantastic turn as Charlie Chan's #1 Son), but still. That's three more Asian heroes than you've got in the multiplexes today. And of the three, only Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto used the martial arts, and even then only a bit of judo, used judiciously.
What matters most to me is more and better roles for Asians in American films, superhero or otherwise. Roles that are in and of themselves diverse and less connected to common stereotypes, even if those stereotypes are positive -- which is why I absolutely *do not want* an Asian-American Danny Rand/Iron First, for exmaple (more on this in a bit).
I'm fine w/Tilda Swinton being in Dr. Strange. She's a good actress and a marvelously odd human being, who quite possibly fell to Earth along with David Bowie at some point in the 20th century. I quite liked Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, too. Another great actor in a role that neatly side-stepped the problems inherent in bringing a Yellow Peril-esque character to the 21st century Silver Screen. Besides, as was already pointed out, Kingsley is of Asian heritage.
To be frank, I have something of a problem with "Asian roles" in media. What starts as an earnest call for increasing diversity often ends up sounding like a return to racist typecasting. I want to see an Asian Spider-Man and Lois Lane, not another martial artist or quasi-Chinese mystic. So gender-and-ethnicity-flipping the Old One into a tall, ethereal British woman is okay, not a cause for concern.
A while back an Asian/Pacific Islander-American advocacy group was petitioning Marvel to recast Danny Rand as Asian. Because Danny being white makes the whole character an act of cultural appropriation, or embarrassingly dated Orientalism, or both. While I can respect where they're coming from, I still think it's an awful idea. I spent my youth being called Bruce Lee/Kato by my peers -- which, in retrospect, I should have taken as a compliment -- so a group of present day Asian-American activists want to essentially reinforce the idea that Kung-Fu Master = Asian Guy seems, well, mindbogglingly stupid and retrograde. Shouldn't we be fighting for better representation than this?
In a similar vein, the complaints about Scarlett Johansson playing the Major Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell remake read kinda racist to me. It's a American adaptation of a Japanese anime/manga. Why does the role "belong" to a Japanese actress. Or failing that, at least a non-Indian Asian one? Would people be complaining if it were, say, a German work being adapted? "Well, the lead actress should be German-American, but we're willing to accept someone Polish or French". I have both a tiny bit of Japanese heritage and significantly more German (if I had too, I could bake a stollen for Christmas using my nana's recipe). I can't fathom why media from one of my ancestries should be treated as different from another -- both are developed nations in their own right, and neither groups in the US qualify as discriminated-against minorities. Besides, the character isn't a minority within the work; she's part of the majority ethnic group (except for the military-grade cybernetics). The demand becomes nonsensical; the studio should preserver & honor the original work by casting an Asian actress, but also completely rewrite the character so she's from a minority background. Oy vey...
Also, while calling out the lack of diversity in media has its place, it's also nice to signal-boost shows that are doing diversity well. Like the aforementioned Agents of Shield, with it's two Asian-American principles (and another season-long guest star/antagonist). And the absolutely amazing Sense8 -- a very brave, ambitious show in which the diversity and beauty of human beings is it's beating, worn-on-it's sleeve heart. Why don't we have a thread about Sense8? It's effing wonderful.
(apologies for the length... this topic is, evidently, important to me).
edit: one more thing - it's with no small amount of irony I'll note that in the 1930s there were at least three Hollywood film series featuring Asian main characters. Fine, fine, none of them were played by Asians (though major supporting roles were, like Keye Luke's fantastic turn as Charlie Chan's #1 Son), but still. That's three more Asian heroes than you've got in the multiplexes today. And of the three, only Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto used the martial arts, and even then only a bit of judo, used judiciously.
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