Imagine all that could’ve been accomplished in marvel’s racist ass would’ve cast Iron Fist correctly and corrected all the orientalism white saviorism shit of the comic book pages. (also fuck the creator of the character who got defensive when folks called out the white saviorism/racism of the character). heck imagine the impact it could’ve had, where folks take action and correct the pages, cause the character is still pushing negative tropes, being white in the pages.
imagine all the socio political topics they could’ve addressed if they casted him correctly. the subtext. the references. to certain racial ethnic topics significant to asian americans. to issues they face.
and then how amazing him crossing over with luke cage would really be. imagine that.
imagine how amazing the fight scenes would’ve been if they cast an actor with experience.
Lewis Tan has every right to be bitter. But Marvel TV is run by Jeph Loeb, who had never handled race well. And ultimately he has to answer to Ike Perlmutter (sp?), an old crotchety racist who tried to veto Black Panther and Captain Marvel before Disney took direct control of Marvel Films.
It’s really all downhill from here, huh?
The way they acted as if fixing Iron Fist was some Herculean task. Like making him Asian American would be so easy or even a transracial Asian adoptee from a white family discovering the land of K’un-Lun, something that feels like HOME. But that sound too much like right, don’t it? 🙃🙃🙃
i remember someone trying to make a point that making him an asian american would “ruin it” because he “wouldn’t be an outsider”…like being asian, or asian american are monoliths. they’re not. there are so many nuances they could’ve tapped into. cultural nuances. the contrast of narratives. not being a monolith. feeling displaced amongst his diaspora, an outsider to K’un-Lun, and in NYC, and the communities in NYC.deconstructing the model minority myth.
Also in a Luke Cage crossover Black power/Yellow peril references.
Personally I think the reason why they took extra steps with Luke Cage and Black Panther because they know there will be a shit storm if they don’t, but they didn’t seem to give a fuck about how Asians felt about Iron Fist. When I was still a social justice baby and a Marvel fan circa 2012, I distinctly remember there being a petition ran by AsianAm fans going PLEASE make Danny Rand an Asian or at least half Asian. It’s not fair to Asian American fans who have been hurt by this because Marvel does not see them as a demo that could truly hurt them if they fuck up.
But in the last couple of Marvel movies, there will always be a scene somewhere in South Korea, but no prominent Korean characters that actually contribute to the story. 🙃
I remember it too. The petition showed up as soon as Iron Fist was announced, literally within hours.
Also, Marvel international locales for their wanton property damage without an international cast has been one of my pet peeves since AoU.
And the thing was, it’s not like asking for an Asian American Iron Fist was new.
Marvel acted like they’d never heard of the concept, but Asian Americans were writing in since 1974 – the year Iron Fist first appeared
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