By: Nguyen

News broke out recently about Disney-Marvel Studios and their plans to make a movie about Shang-Chi, a hero that is a master of kungfu, and a previous member of the Avengers. Most interestingly, he taught Spider-man the “Way of the Spider” when Spider-man lost his spidey sense. Shang-Chi’s power-set other than “kung-fu” is his duplication abilities (e.g., like Naruto’s Bunshin no Jutsu). This power-set sounds awesome, as well as it distinguish other Asian Kung-fu heroes we seen before.

In my opinion, there are some changes that are needed to be done in order to make Shang-Chi successful in portraying “Asian” as a multi-dimensional and non-stereotypical being — and as a result, shine a positive light for Asian men.

Change number 1 – A Paradigm Shift

First, scriptwriters and directors need to create some kind of paradigm shift with regards to the depiction of Asian men. A paradigm shift means:

“a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions” (Wikipedia)

There are many stereotypes of Asian men that are perpetuated in mainstream media. As a result, this leads many people, especially non-Asians, to assume what Asians and Asian Americans are like in terms of personality, skill set, and/or mentality.

Here are some depictions of Asians on-screen so far:

1. Asian men have long been perceived as less attractive and desirable (lack masculinity), awkward, and small.
2. Asian men are asexual hardworking nerds (e.g., sidekicks, hackers)

   

    

3. They are awkward kungfu masters, ninja warriors, Yakuza members that are either a clear-cut one-dimensional good guy or a bad guy with no goals, ambitions, and no reason for their actions. They are not depicted as great as white characters in similar roles: The Outsider (2018).
   

   

    

4. They are the “Mr. Miyagi’s”, the wise old Asian man who teaches the white hero to be “the saviour”

   

    

5. They are the foreigners (even if the actors/actresses are Asian-American) and are usually peeled of their individuality or designate these Asian characters as different from white people.
   

   

   6. They are hypersexual or sexually deviant

   

Unless they are constantly doing it while knowing the consequences, I do not blame Asian and Asian-American actors and actresses for their past portrayals. These stereotypical roles have normalized how audiences see Asians and have long operated something for people to laugh at. A lot of people and movie studios think it is “tongue and cheek” humour when Asian characters are utilized as comedic relief, but Asian people need to be “in” with the joke. Are we really “in” on the joke?

Asian actors are stuck in a dilemma of whether they should refuse the stereotypical role or pay their bills (as well as pursuing their dreams of acting). These stereotypical roles always comes up because Asians are considered the model minority. Asian can be made fun off because they are seen as “successful” and “well-behaved” like obedient dogs, unlike other minorities (e.g., Black and Latino communities). Sorry to burst people’s bubble, but the model minority is a myth! This myth was used to unreasonably criticize the Black and Latino communities. Directors and writers need to beware of how they write Asian characters and remove these stereotypical attributes.

Also, in my opinion, it is not even genres that feature “kungfu / martial arts” that brought forth stereotypes. It is how directors and writers pick and choose how they want audiences to see Asians. The Asian roles overall in Hollywood are so one-dimensional. When the characters get killed off, the audience does not care. There is no emotional investment in Asian characters. Asian characters are often used as target practice and/or something for a white character(s) to kill. We are essentially shown as animals, and not humans (e.g., Lucy, Mission Impossible: Fallout, etc). For instance, in the movie Lucy, Lucy shot an Asian taxi driver because he did not speak English.

Hollywood somewhat started to see how impactful Asian castings are. For instance, there was a huge following after the works of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and John Cho’s Searching (2018) in terms of box office success. However, there is still a distinct hierarchy on those who are supposed to be leads and a clear-cut difference between Asian actors in Hollywood movies versus Asian movies.

Case #1: Jackie Chan

Case #2: Chow Yun-fat

Case #3: Jet Li

Case #4: Deepika Padukone

Case #5: Lee Byung-hun

These five cases are very similar. These Asian actors are well-known and famous in their country. They are also experienced and talented actors with many movies in their resume; however, when these actors come to America for one reason or another, they continue to be portrayed as the foreigner or the outsider. Or, they play one-dimensional characters compared to their American counterparts. I know some readers will say:

“Of course, they are getting better roles in their country. Asian roles get better roles due to being in Asia. Same thing with American actors getting better roles in the US, as compared to foreign actors.”

If that was the case, why are Asian-American actors getting stereotypical roles? And why aren’t they getting juicy roles like their Caucasian American counterparts? Are Asian-Americans … not American??

Should Shang-Chi have an accent?

In my opinion, I think not. Unless they do it correctly (e.g., Black Panther). But lets face it … Hollywood loves exaggerated accents (e.g., The Simpson’s Apu, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Sixteen Candles (1984)). Shang-Chi may follow the same approach as the Russian superhero, Black Widow. In addition, most stereotypical Asian characters have accents, especially heavy exaggerated accents to distinguish themselves as “foreigners”. So, having Shang-Chi with an American or British accent might change the audience’s mindset and/or perceptions of how Asian people are like in real life (in America). Also, I do not want Shang-Chi to follow the Scarlet Witch approach (played by Elizabeth Olsen) wherein the beginning Scarlet Witch has an accent and in the Avengers: Infinity War (2018) she has an American accent. No need for inconsistency. Either the character has the accent or it doesn’t. 

Should Shang-Chi’s origin story relating to his father and mother be removed?

Most definitely yes! The director and writers should reconstruct Shang-Chi’s father’s backstory, rather than an Asian evil caricature created in the early 1920’s “Yellow Peril”, which was also captured in the comics (@subjectivism – Reddit, 2019). For instance, the directors of Shangchi could model their relationship after Star War’s Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Game of Throne’s Tyrion Lannister and Tywin Lannister, and Tekken’s Jinpachi and Heihachi. The Marvel-Disney studio should avoid any connection to “Fu Manchu” mythos.

Shang-Chi’s mother in the comics is a white American woman, but the shocking part is: “His mother was a white American woman genetically selected by his father” (Wikipedia, 2019). I also want this to be removed in the Shang-Chi’s mythology. Asian men are emasculated in media and we do not need any horrible Asian men “stealing” white or “genetically selected” women. What about embracing a strong Asian identity and healthy relationships between Asian men and Asian women? (By the way, mainstream media has had a tendency to erase this. Examples can be found in films like: To all the boys I loved before (2018), The Last Samurai (2003), The Wolverine (2013)). A solution could be that his mother is an Asian-American woman. As a result, Shang-Chi is divided between two worlds (assimilating in Western culture and having an Eastern culture through his parents), which is more similar to what Asian Americans are facing at this moment (the struggles of assimilating, while born in America).  Plus another opportunity to cast an Asian American actress, who have not received any “juicy” roles! 

Please comment on the blog post below if you have any other suggestions on how to improve Shang-Chi as a character or tell me if you think some of my suggestions / opinions are wrong. I am happy to learn from you! 🙂