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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
See that's an admirable goal but I dislike the idea of taking away what few minorities roles there are just to avoid stereotypes. It's a lateral move in terms of representation because while you're not promoting stereotypes you're doing it by erasing minorities entirely. A better idea would be to take people like the Mandarin and the Ancient One and write them in a way that isn't stereotypical.
I honestly loved how they used the Mandarin to take a critical jab at the origin of the character, which is very much a product of the "yellow scare". Especially since it would have been pretty hard to make the character non offensive. Whatever you do, you always end up with the white hero fighting the evil Asian.
To me the rumour (and that's what it is) sounds like Marvel is thinking out of the box again, which is always a good thing in my eyes. I hope though that the Inhumans will be full of Asian characters given how they are portrayed in Ao S.
So the white characters can't ever fight minorities? I don't really like that idea. The Mandarin could have still played up the Yellow Peril stuff while still being an otherwise normal corrupt businessman from China. Heck, given the way the Ten Rings were previously portrayed he didn't even have to be Chinese. The Mongolian Empire stretched over much of Asia and the Ten Rings seemed to be spread over much of the Middle East.
I just want to make it clear that I don't care if the Ancient One is a woman and isn't played by a Tibetan actor. I just want someone that isn't white and can believably pass for the character. The Mandarin was already changed and the only East Asian character with any prominence in the movies is Helen Cho. Given their overall lack of diversity Marvel should be including them whenever possible.
Well, there's Skye and May over in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Also, we're going to get the Iron Fist series on Netflix, which is about a white guy excelling at Asian—wait, no, that's part of the problem.
edited 27th May '15 12:56:52 PM by TobiasDrake
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As I just said, that might be even worse. Think about it; you finally get an Asian in a starring role in MCU, and what's he starring in? A martial arts flick. I'm sure you can see how that might lean juuuuuuuuust a bit towards sterotyping and/or typecasting here.
edited 27th May '15 1:01:50 PM by kkhohoho
They're damned if they do, damned if they don't.
If he's a white guy, then he's Mighty Whitey.
If he's Asian, he's still participating in erasure of Asian characters by whitewashing a Caucasian character for a role that could be just as well served by an actual Asian character, Shang-Chi.
Asians: good enough to play white characters but not good enough to have their own, even when their own exists?
edited 27th May '15 1:03:06 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Seriously!
Iron Fist would be totes important if they were trying to do a Heroes for Hire series, but they gave them the Defenders name for some f*cking reason so that doesn't matter.
EDIT: Oh dear god, I just used "totes" unironically. Damn you kids, ruining my vocabulary.
edited 27th May '15 1:06:25 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.NOBODY surpasses the White Man at dancing poorly!
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Jesus, that woman would make an AMAZING Blind Al.
...
Back on point, yeah, I could see her as the Ancient One.