Iron Fist and Bias Against Asian Actors

09-22

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This past year and award season showed off aplethora of films featuring African Americans in leading roles. I will not guess whether this begins a trend or not.But Asian Americans and Asians in general haven』t yet benefitted from studio』s willingness to cast non-white actors. In fact, Scarlett Johanssonwon the lead role for Ghost in the Shell despite the fact her characterin the anime source material is Japanese. Many people have also been upset withNetflix/Marvel for casting a white actor as the lead character of Iron Fist.After watching the series, casting an Asian actor would have improved theseries.

Hollywood often claims that they cast mostlywhite stars to earn money. That』sprobably the case for Ghost in the Shell. Scarlett Johansson is a superstar. She』s proved an abilityto anchor non-super hero films. She』salso demonstrated the ability to play an action star as well as play differentkinds of roles. Also, the main character of ghost in the shell is a cyborg, soScarlett Johansson isn』tplaying a role that was specifically Japanese in the anime. It』s a role and story ripe for expanding intoan international story with a racially mixed cast. Does that mean the leadshould be white? Of course not, but they also cast the most bankable woman onthe planet.

The Netflix/Marvel TV series Iron Fist isa different matter from several reasons. For one, the character from the 1970』s comic was white. So in this case, thecasting stayed true to the source material. That』s not to say it wasn』tproblematic. Did the comic appropriate Chinese and Asian culture? Yes. Did itcome out at a time when almost all heroes were white? Yes. Did the comic comeout in the same area that ABC produced Kung Fu, an iconic 1970s TV, thatstarred a white actor playing a half Chinese, half white Shaolin monk? Yes. Didthe idea for kung fu come from Bruce Lee, as a show that he could star in? Yes.In this case, following the source material reinforced that times』 bias against Asians,Asian characters, and Asian actors.

Another factor frustrating people is that theprevious two Netflix/Marvel collaborations broke new ground. Jessica Jonesfeatured a female super hero who self medicated her Post Traumatic StressDisorder (PTSD) with alcohol. She refused to dress up as well. I note thisbecause many female super heroes wear skimpy customs in comics or movies. LukeCage featured an African American super hero in Harlem, New York. The showdealt with police harassment of young black men, as well as crime andresponsibility in the black community. Both shows took lower grade super heroesand made them relevant. Many hoped that Iron Fist would break new groundfor Asian Americans.

After all, New York』s Chinatown is one of the oldest in America. The population ofManhattan is 9.5% Asian and the population of New York city is 12.7% Asian.That』s over a millionpeople (remember in America, a million is still a big number). So changing IronFist into an Asian American wouldn』thave seemed out of place to anyone who wasn』t a diehard lover of the comic. And Iron Fist was not that popular acharacter, his own series only lasted 15 issues. I had never heard of thecharacter before Netflix promoted the TV series.

Instead Finn Jones was cast. Unlike Johansson,Jones isn』t a big name. Heplayed a small role in Game of Thrones, but he isn』t an obvious audience draw based . But Iwanted to give Jones the benefit of the doubt, since his lack of fame nor hiswhiteness would prevent him from being a great character. So I waited until Iwatched the series to reserve judgement.

Now that I have watched the series, I can say,it is bad. An Asian Iron Fist might not have saved the convoluted plot or thesimplistic writing. Jones wasn』tthe only weakness of the series. But Jones was pretty weak. He doesn』t have the charisma to carry a show on hisown. He was completely overshadowed by the rest of the cast. He was so weak, Iwonder about the next Netflix/Marvel series that will team up Iron Fist withLuke Cage, Jessica Jones and Daredevil.

In addition to the lack of charisma, Jones wasn』t a believable kung fu master. I don』t think an actor needs to be Asian to be amartial artist. Uma Thurman pulled it off well in the Kill Bill movies.But there are a lot more Asian martial arts experts to choose from. Ironically,the show almost cast British Asian Lewis Tan as Iron Fist (pictured above).Instead they cast Tan as a villain in a single episode. To add to the ongoingcontroversy, he stole the scene and demonstrated much better martial artsskill. The character Iron Fist is supposed to be an extraordinary martialartist. He earned his super power by defeating an immortal dragon in combat. Sohaving an actor without grace, skill or physicality just doesn』t work.

As importantly, casting an Asian actor wouldhave allowed the show to explore the insider/outsider place of Asians inAmerican society. Asian Americans own companies, attend Ivy Leagueuniversities, work in elite professions and live in rich suburbs much more thanother minorities in America. But they still face bias and generalizations andracism. The Iron Fist grows up in an inter dimensional 「Asian」 monastery and there the character may have looked like the othertrainees, but his rich American upbringing would have made him an outsider aswell. Since the plot of the series lacked depth, adding this dynamic would haveadded important heft. Perhaps it would have helped the series entrench itselfin Chinatown where I imagine there is tension between poor and middle classChinese and rich Chinese coming in to eat good food on the weekends.

Stepping away from Iron Fist, Marvel and its competitor DC have bothwritten more Asian heroes, especially series they』ve rebooted to a character』steen beginnings. There is a Korean American Hulk for example. And theyauditioned Asian actors for the role of Iron Fist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, themost popular character Iron Fist is sidekick Colleen Wing who is playedby British Asian Jessica Henwick. She displayed the grace to carry out some ofthe best fight scenes. Given the critical acclaim for Jessica Henwick, perhapsshe will team up with Luke Cage alum Simone Missick to lead a Daughtersof the Dragon series. Broadening the base of lead actors and actressesallows studios to tell different stories, but it will only happen if audiencesdemand it.