Why Asian superhero Shang-Chi could truly change the world
AlamyAs Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits big at the box office, it's a milestone in redressing anti-Asian racism on screen, writes Kesewaa Browne.
When, in 2018, Black Panther hit cinemas, it grossed $1bn worldwide and brought Marvel Studios its first ever Oscars. But its impact was about more than money and awards – with a predominantly black cast and crew, led by star Chadwick Boseman and director Ryan Coogler, it sent a message to Hollywood that there was a huge thirst for black stories that was still not being properly catered for.
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Here was a global blockbuster that celebrated the intricacies of a traditional African culture (albeit an imaginary one) from the characters' names to their outfits and rituals. There was a clear point made of casting actors of African heritage such as Zimbabwean-American Danai Gurira and Kenyan-Mexican Lupita Nyong'o. For many young children and adults, it was the first time they felt truly represented on screen. "Black Panther was huge because there have been stereotypes in Hollywood that black films couldn't sell internationally", says Dr Nancy Wang Yuen, sociologist and author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood actors and racism.
AlamyNow Marvel will be hoping to leave behind a similar cultural footprint with its first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten rings. Certainly, the signs so far are good: over the weekend, Shang-Chi did even better in its opening three days at the North American box office than predicted and collected $71.4 million. As well as smashing the record for a Labor Day weekend opening, it is a fantastic return at a time when cinemas are still recovering from the pandemic.
Directed by Asian-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, Shang-Chi begins many centuries ago as a Chinese warlord named Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), also known as The Mandarin, comes into possession of 10 magical rings that give him immense power for nearly a thousand years. Newfound love and subsequent fatherhood then encourage him to leave that megalomaniacal life behind – only for old enemies to push him back towards the rings, rejuvenating his power-obsessed past self. This is where the story of Wenwu's son, the eponymous Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) begins. When the film catches up with him, Shang-Chi is working as a valet driver in the US, and going by the name of Shaun, in an attempt to assimilate and escape his family's powerful legacy. However, it is clear he cannot be truly free from it, when some men track him down in search of a pendant given to him by his late mother – and from there, a battle to overcome his father begins.
With its predominantly East Asian cast, story inspired by Chinese folklore, and martial arts action sequences, Shang-Chi is the latest sign that Hollywood is starting to listen to calls for more Asian representation on screen. In recent years we have seen Asian-American stories like Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell, and Minari become breakout hits, while a South Korean film, Parasite, has won Tinseltown's biggest prize, the best picture Oscar. Then last year, Disney released its China-set, live-action remake of its animation Mulan, though the film was criticised for the lack of Asian talent behind the camera, as well as being met by global calls for a boycott when comments made by the film's star Liu Yifei in of Hong Kong's police angered fans.
What's clear, though, is that after years of being overlooked and mocked in Hollywood, "Asians are starting to have more of a foothold," says Yuen – even if there's still a long way to go. She also believes the fact that Shang-Chi is a superhero film is significant: "I think that we need an [Asian] superhero because of the history of Asians in Western cinema being villainous or servile … from a young person's perspective it's empowering," she says.
Unpleasant stereotypes
Certainly, Shang-Chi goes some small way to correcting the history of unsavoury and unpleasant portrayals of South East and East Asian characters in Western media. One of the earliest depictions of an East Asian character in Hollywood was silent film star Mary Pickford in the 1915 film Madame Butterfly, based on both John Luther Long's short story and Giacomo Puccini's opera, in which she appeared in yellowface as 15-year-old Japanese geisha Cho-Cho San. The Madame Butterfly story has long been heavily criticised for its racial stereotypes and caricatured depictions of Asians. In the film, Cho-Cho marries a US naval officer who is uninterested in her and is subsequently ordered to go back to the US but promises he will return. The pair have a child, but back in the US, the officer marries a "conventional" American wife, named Kate, who demands Cho-Cho give them her child for better opportunities. The story ends with Cho-Cho taking her own life.
Alamy"That whole story definitely embodies a 'Lotus Blossom' stereotype, which is a submissive, fragile and servile Asian woman whose sole purpose is to pleasure the white male lead and sacrifice herself," says Yuen. This type of character can also be seen in works such as musical Miss Saigon and novel-turned-film Memoirs of a Geisha. Another toxic stereotype when it comes to portraying East Asian women is the so-called "Dragon Lady": an "exotic" femme-fatale who is deemed deceitful and villainous for using her sexuality to manipulate others. It's a dangerous cliché seen in Western films from Kill Bill to Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, where a Vietnamese sex worker coins the infamous lines "Me so horny" and "Me love you long time". "I've been propositioned in the street by people using quotes from that film….," says Wang Yuen, "It does subconsciously have an impact. It's very complex but I think popular culture plays a huge role and has an effect on how people perceive ethnic groups.''
Hollywood's first Chinese-American star and icon, Anna May Wong, was typecast and required to portray both the Lotus Blossom and Dragon Lady stereotypes on screen in films during the 1920s and 1930s, with her characters often dying. Then on the occasion where she had hoped to play a romantic lead role, as O-Lan in the 1937 adaptation of novel The Good Earth, the role was infamously given to German actress Luise Rainer, who appeared in yellowface.
By contrast, if Asian women have fought sexualised stereotypes, in Western popular culture, "South East and East Asian men are completely emasculated," says British-East Asian actor and writer, Daniel York Loh. "When you watch Western TV, you'd think Asian men don't procreate. Asian male characters are often portrayed as either ive nerds or "evil villains, and these are really damaging stereotypes," he says.
Going back in Western popular culture, the quintessential Asian villain was Dr Fu Manchu, who in fact was Shang-Chi's problematic nemesis and father in the original Marvel comics, but has been replaced for the film by The Mandarin. Fu Manchu first appeared in 1910 in British author Saxon Rohmer's novels centred on the character, and imagining him as a master of disguise, master of chemistry, and all-round evil genius: he clearly perpetuated and embodied "Yellow Peril", the racist idea that Asian cultures threatened Western society. The books were published around 30 years after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act in the US prohibiting the immigration of Chinese labourers, which built upon the Page Act of 1875 that banned Chinese women from entering the country.
"Fu Manchu is an interesting one because on screen he has never been portrayed by an East Asian Actor," says York Loh, noting how instead he has always been portrayed by a white male actor in yellowface and with an over exaggerated accent and mannerisms. Memories of York Loh's childhood, he says, include "watching Fu Manchu films on Sunday afternoons with Christopher Lee in yellowface and wondering 'do Chinese men not act">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });