Spoilers Daredevil: Born Again season two discussion

[Tonguez]

Personally, I think they could have largely ignored Danny Rand's history more or less the way they did with Luke Cage. They do talk about the experiments and whatnot, (with a hilarious nod to the crown he wore in the comics) but largely, they ignored most of the blaxploitation stuff in the history and focused on modern issues. Which made it work really well.

If they had pretty much skipped over most of Danny Rand's history and stuffed it way in the background, it would have made the character work a lot better. Stick with the modern issues - massive corporation screwing over people is a pretty easy sell.

Yeah I think they could have cast someone like Andrew Koji who would make for a believable and dynamic Iron Fist and due to him being mixed race they could have still kept Danny Rands 'conflicted' story in place without falling in to white saviour territory.
Unfortunately Marvel didnt seem to learn much after casting Tilda Swinton as a Buddhist nun

 

[Ryujin]

Unfortunately Marvel didnt seem to learn much after casting Tilda Swinton as a Buddhist nun

Yeah, she made a far better Scottish alien in "The Dead Don't Die."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Unfortunately Marvel didnt seem to learn much after casting Tilda Swinton as a Buddhist nun

The ancient one is neither Buddhist nor a nun, and Tilda Swinton was great in the role.

 

[gnarlygninja]

The ancient one is neither Buddhist nor a nun, and Tilda Swinton was great in the role.

I agree with this but still think it's completely fair to criticize the casting decision and the motivations behind it.

 

[Tonguez]

The ancient one is neither Buddhist nor a nun, and Tilda Swinton was great in the role.

I agree Tilda Swinton was great in the role but why did they put her in a 'House of Wisdom" in Nepal? And while Buddhist nun is hyperbole, her costuming was very much invoking eastern styles and shaved head.

They could have had her be a Scottish Ancient One living on the Isle of Skye invoking all the celtic mysticism that wanted in her portrayal, I personally think that would have been spectacular and reminiscent of her turn as Jadis.
They could have even transferred to Nepal later for the library scenes and meeting Wong if they wanted to keep Kamar Taj in place.

The 1978 Dr Strange Movie made the Ancient One a white american guy living in New York, with his friend and student Wong, and it was unremarkable (though the movie is remarkably bad)

 

[Clint_L]

I think another key difference is that many of those Blaxploitation films were being made by pioneering Black filmmakers who couldn’t get jobs in the Hollywood system, and so are now seen positively by a lot of contemporary Black filmmakers.

Whereas the White Saviour films have no such redeeming quality.

 

[Tonguez]

I think another key difference is that many of those Blaxploitation films were being made by pioneering Black filmmakers who couldn’t get jobs in the Hollywood system, and so are now seen positively by a lot of contemporary Black filmmakers.

Whereas the White Saviour films have no such redeeming quality.

yeah as Not-an-American born in the early 70s the Blaxplotation flicks formed a piece of my teenage years from Shaft to Black Gestapo (I do suspect I missed most of the worst versions though). Overall, though they were premised on the bad ghetto tropes, we realised they were fiction, the heroes were presented as very cool and proved that black actors and directors could produce successful action movies.

White ninja movies still just tell us that white people can do 'your' culture better than you can - even if David Caradine is supposed to be half chinese

 

[Paul Farquhar]

on the Isle of Skye

That's a bit too easily accessible these days. There is a road bridge.

She could have shared a remote island off the coast of Ireland with Luke Skywalker!


But, having made her Celtic, they could have done more with it. Morgan Le Fey?

 

[Tonguez]

That's a bit too easily accessible these days. There is a road bridge.

She could have shared a remote island off the coast of Ireland with Luke Skywalker!


But, having made her Celtic, they could have done more with it. Morgan Le Fey?

Morgana Le Fey was the Antagonist of the 1978 movie, and makes an MCU showing via Runaways, so I approve

 

[Toe Knee Nose]

I think another key difference is that many of those Blaxploitation films were being made by pioneering Black filmmakers who couldn’t get jobs in the Hollywood system, and so are now seen positively by a lot of contemporary Black filmmakers.

Whereas the White Saviour films have no such redeeming quality.

I'd take it a step further as well - the "White Savior" stories have been on the go for a LOT longer. I mean, you can go back to the turn of the 20th century and find white savior stories. And they continue to be made today, as seen with Iron Fist. I mean, it's not hard finding a white savior story pretty much every single year on the big screen. Blaxploitation was only a couple of decades and then it died. So, sure, Luke Cage may have had its genesis in those blaxsploitation days, but, it's not like the new version was trying to lean into the same tropes. Whereas Iron Fist jumped in with both feet and didn't even try to hide it.