Americans All Over the Country Have High Praise for Chinese Superhero Originally Written by White Person
White people are finally admiring Asian characters, and not just in calligraphy tattoos this time
By: Julia Zhen
September 27, 2021
HOUSTON – Hoards of Americans have been raving about the latest Marvel cinematic addition, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, sources confirmed.
“It’s honestly so well done. The storyline and the action are fantastic. I think this is the first time where I’ve felt so drawn to an Asian character in a movie,” admitted Marvel Fan Ron Marswood. “Like I’ve seen so many Marvel movies, heck even other movies, and not once have I seen an Asian character and felt like it was real, until now.”
Fans like Marswood have been so pleased to see Shang-Chi the superhero, along with his other Asian characters in the movie, played by the likes of Awkwafina and Ronny Chieng.
“It’s real Asian people, playing Asian roles, and that’s the beauty of it,” explained Kim Huang, Chinese American and Marvel fan. “The character and storyline were written by the legendary Steve Englehart, but for the movie’s screenplay it was adapted by Destin Daniel Cretton and David Callaham, who are both Asian. It’s wonderful; it’s like when I go to Trader Joe’s and get their frozen ‘Beijing style’ vegetable stir fry and make it at home, add some Lao Gan Ma, and then send a picture to my parents saying I ‘made something Asian,’” explained Huang. “They go ape shit.”
But not everyone was entirely impressed by the novel action flick, especially not Michael Dante DiMartino, one of the writers and creators of Avatar the Last Airbender, a popular Asian-themed television series that aired on Nickelodeon.
“Look, Shang-Chi is cute. I get what they were trying to accomplish, and they did it, but like, where’s the authenticity?” DiMartino goes on, “Me and Bryan [Konietzko], when we were making ATLA, we knew we were just two white guys wanting to write an Asian-like story, so in order to really seal the deal and deliver that ingenuity, we brought in all the best writers we could think of – Tara Wilson, Weston Johnson, Nathan Harrison, Benton Reed… all of these people brought so much rich history, detail, and lived-truths to the table. That’s how we wrote our story, and I just wish that the Shang-Chi screenplay had been better adapted.”
At press time, producers of Shang-Chi wanted to reiterate to fans how proud they were of their success. “At the end of the day, this is a story adapted by Asian people, portrayed by Asian people, and initially developed and popularized by White people based on literally one thing that they know about East Asians which is always martial arts for some reason. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
