Shang Chi The First Chinese Superhero Marvel Film Sparks Controversy In China Over Tony Leung's Role
First Chinese superhero film by Marvel sparks controversy over Tony Leung's role https://t.co/C0xiuLY4Av pic.twitter.com/TYGFP90bqx
— AsiaOne (@asiaonecom) July 22, 2019
Shang-Chi: Why Some Chinese Fans Aren't Happy About the MCU Filmhttps://t.co/EHfoknHogF pic.twitter.com/f1k703sddP
— Comic Book Resources (@CBR) July 25, 2019
-While many of his fans are happy for him, not everyone is amused by the news. On Weibo, Chinese netizens are criticizing Leung for accepting the antagonist role who is said to be inspired by the controversial character Fu Manchu. On Weibo, #TonyLeungChiu-waistarringnewMarvelfilm quickly accumulated 410 million views and spawned nearly 64,000 posts.
-"To give a little bit more context on the character, Fu Manchu is a villain character created in 1912 who has become an archetype of the evil criminal genius and mad scientist. The character made his debut in Marvel comics in 1973 and is widely seen as a racist take on the Chinese by Westerners."
-In the comic, Fu Manchu is the father of Shang Chi and is a racist caricature of a Chinese person that highlights Yellow Peril (a xenophobic hysteria targeting Asians arriving in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries).
-"Weibo users note the film's plans to pit Shang-Chi against the Mandarin instead of Fu Manchu swaps out one offensive Chinese stereotype for another. The Mandarin was similarly depicted as an East Asian caricature representing the communist Chinese menace when he originally appeared as an Iron Man villain."
-"This complaint is compounded by Weibo users observing that popular Hong Kong actor Tony Leung has been cast as the Mandarin, while Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu is Canadian, rather than a Chinese citizen."
-Simu Liu is an unknown actor in China said entertainment industry analystn Wu Zhaojie. Said that Leung is one of the few Chinese stars whose work is recognized by Western audiences as Marvel films are shot for a global market.
Why China is angry about Marvel's first Asian superhero movie https://t.co/ZjiJYHrETV
— Quartz (@qz) July 23, 2019
basically the origin story of shang chi includes fu manchu which is like a huge anti-chinese symbol & the makers of the movie said they're gonna change the story to make it less racist but lots of people are still mad and it looks like they're calling for a boycott eventually ._. pic.twitter.com/phRtY4KmY1
— iris (@janeandthor) July 22, 2019
Tony Leung as The Mandarin is a brilliant cast because it will ensure that this villain role will be multifaceted & not stereotyped. And I am so glad Marvel has banished Fu Manchu & all that racist baggage. #ShangChi pic.twitter.com/sDmtmridwU
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) July 22, 2019
Sources: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5
I totally respect that Chinese citizens feel wary about this tho.
Can someone please explain to me why this is a problem?
"For some others, Fu Manchu became the most notorious personification of Western views towards the Chinese and became the model for other villains in contemporary "yellow peril" thrillers: these villains often had characteristics consistent with the xenophobic ideologies towards East Asian people during the period of Western colonialism."
I know Elektra came in in S2 played by Elodie Yung who is Southeast Asian, also they faced huge backlash with Iron Fist's casting. They were going to introduce Shang Chi in the series to throw the viewers a bone before scrapping the idea yikes.
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I loved what they did with Mandarin in IM3 and I have high hopes for this movie, but, on the other hand, Marvel movies had the Ancient One, so I leave a room for error in my judgement.
The only way his name makes sense is if they excuse it by saying it's American media that started calling him that (similar to how the press named Spiderman), but that brings about a whole slew of racist implications that I don't think Disney would want to deal with, even though story-wise it would give the Mandarin even more reasons to hate the US...
He's an established and experienced character actor and would not have taken this role casually, so whilst I completely understand the wariness around this, I also trust that he's got it in hand.
Edited at 2019-07-28 01:37 am (UTC)
i have faith that marvel will address and redress the mandarin's legacy for the movie and the character going forward; similar to the way he was subverted in iron man 3.
tony leung!
Edited at 2019-07-28 01:38 am (UTC)
No offense to Donnie Yen, he's a legend as well but thank god Tony Leung was cast. He's an iconic actor a kin to Tom Hanks in pan Asia. Will be very intrigued to see what comes out of this film. I think Mulan will be the litmus test come Spring 2020.
also tbh i still think he's super handsome so i'm not gonna be mad when his face is all over that marvel promo ngl.
Edited at 2019-07-28 01:59 am (UTC)
As an aside, I do have hope that they've suitably changed the aspects of the character that would fall under offensive; from what I've seen Tony is very serious about the type of representation in Western media given to Chinese characters, and I wouldn't say it's likely he needs money enough to do this film if he didn't feel comfortable with the portrayal of the character.
Edited at 2019-07-28 01:45 am (UTC)
I'm very curious to see who they else they cast in Shang Chi, and if more Chinese actors will take a page from Tony and be in this project. Wonder what the response would be. As for the comic, the background/history of it is racist/offensive but I feel like people usually associate Asians with marital art films and wonder if this film is playing into that notion. I mean remember Ninja Assassin?
I also do have hope, that if not for his own love of these characters, then for his knowledge of what needs to be done for the box-office and fan support, Feige will have agreed that changes needed to be made as well. I get what you mean about playing into the stereotype of martial arts films as well; I think it's possible for them to include those obvious aspects of the character and balance other aspects so it has a depth beyond "wow look at all the cool choreography!", but obviously since that is such a long-standing notion it may take a lot of care to do so correctly. I want to believe they can do it.
Ninja Assassin was... no words.
i trust tony leung with my life now. and i totally understand the distrust towards marvel over this bc...well, they’re marvel.
but i also trust tony leung, he doesn’t need a marvel movie in his life, so if he’s doing it - must be bc it’s good
Is she the love interest?
i remember similar things being said about lucy liu when i was a kid
“The point here is not whether the Mandarin is exactly Fu Manchu or just his replacement, the point is both characters emerged because of the discrimination and stereotyping of the Chinese population in the previous years. Back in the 1900s us Chinese were too weak to fight back characters like this, but now, we have become strong and have the ability and obligation to say no to such figures,” wrote (in Chinese) a Weibo user with handle “Souththth.”
"Another comment upvoted over 10,000 times accused Marvel of casting a Chinese actor (Leung) as the villain, while an ethnically Chinese actor (Liu) with Western heritage gets to play the hero: “If you’d like to make money in China, better shape your Chinese characters more wisely.” The topic “Shang-Chi” has been viewed more than 70 million times with 60,000 posts discussing it on Weibo. Many commenters are calling for a boycott of Marvel—and even Tony Leung for accepting the role."
"Yet despite some huge successes, studios still find themselves struggling to appeal to audiences in different countries with movies released worldwide. The American romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, celebrated in the US as a model for inclusiveness and representation of Asian Americans, was widely viewed in China and elsewhere in Asia as promoting outdated caricatures. It was a flop in China."
Or maybe people from the Asian diaspora are entitled to representation in an American film of all things? jfc, let Asian-Americans/Canadians have something for once.
ETA: I realize that the film is also not entitled to make money in China and won't be surprised if it flops. I'm just tired of people in Asia complaining that Asian-American roles in American TV/film are "inauthentic" or "too Western" or whatever. Like okay sure, you don't have to watch, but the Asian diaspora is already paid dust by Hollywood, it's so irritating to hear people who already have a thriving domestic film/TV industry argue that they're also entitled to the few roles Asian-Americans ever get. (Sorry for the two edits just wanted to be clear)
Edited at 2019-07-29 08:49 am (UTC)
Maybe they’ll reunite all the Asian characters and give Black Widow a cameo. #invazn