Posted on 12/06/2018 9:05:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind
HONG KONG — An angry Chinese public is accusing Marvel Studios of “insulting China” after learning that its first Asian superhero on the big screen will be the son of Fu Manchu, the offensive fictional character who has become a shorthand for racial stereotyping.
Chinese-American screenwriter Mr Dave Callaham, whose movie credits include 1984’s Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2, is working on a script for a film showcasing Shang-Chi, who first appeared in Marvel’s comics in the 1970s.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is expecting Shang-Chi, also known as the Master of Kung Fu in the Marvel universe, to “break out in a way similar to Black Panther earlier this year”.
Hollywood, the online publication said, was coming to realise the importance of Asian identity following this summer’s hit Crazy Rich Asians.
However, when translated reports of the news reached Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, the online community was unimpressed.
“You used Fu Manchu to insult China back in the day, now you are using Fu’s son to earn Chinese people’s money, how smart,” one internet user wrote.
Fu was a fictional villain who first appeared in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the early 20th century.
The character sparked accusations of western racism and orientalism, with protesting Asian Americans describing the depiction as offensive, in its reliance on “yellow peril” and Asian-centric xenophobia.
Another commenter on Weibo wrote: “It’s common in American comics that a superhero is the son or daughter of an evil villain, but the problem is Fu Manchu has already become a symbol of discrimination against the Chinese.
“There are many other Asian characters they could choose from but they had to choose this, it’s no wonder they are being criticised.”
(Excerpt) Read more at todayonline.com ...
Ironically, Marvel originally tried to acquire the rights to Kung Fu, the popular 1970s martial arts television drama.
When Marvel failed in its bid, it instead bought the rights to Fu Manchu, as part of its ambition to create a superhero based on martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
Lee missed out on the leading role in Kung Fu in favour of a non-Chinese actor named David Carradine.
Fu Manchu wasn’t the hero, he was the villain. Dennis Neyland Smith, the good guy, was the hero.
I never knew that! I knew when Gulacy took over the art for MoKF, Shang Chi began looking more and more like Lee, but didn’t know the backstory. Thanks!
As for “offending”, people nowadays forget the impact some of those movies and shows had on kids back then. “Kung Fu”, “Green Hornet”, “Master of Kung Fu”, “Sons of the Tiger”, Sax Rohmer’s writings... kids didn’t see anythings racist in those things, but more than a few of us became interested in Asian history and culture. My friends and I tried to learn shogi because we saw it in a comic.
Of course, that’s cultural appropriation now, I guess.
Who, ironically, died in Thailand of 'self asphyxiation'.................
Holy crap.
I guess villains can’t be anyone but white people.
Reminds me that I got to move the audio book to my replacement mp3 player to finish it.
“everybody was kung fu fighting...Those fists were fast as lighting...”
If they don’t like this, they’re gonna hate the all Chinese ‘Dukes of Hazard’.
They’d better change the father to Charlie Chan to settle things down, I guess.
Whatever.
The original writers of most comics were Jewish and enjoyed casting Jews as villains: Magneto, Lex Luther (sometimes Episcopalian or sometimes nothing), the Joker (sometimes), and Harley Quinn (observantly so, refusing to commit crime on Yom Kippur , etc.
Somehow we survived the pain (sarcasm).
They are already casting:
BOING!
Who’s gonna play ‘daisy’??? :P
You know the old joke, which we can’t tell these days:
“Many man smoke, many man drink, but Fu Manchu.”
And the Chicomms can drop dead. Maybe we can help arrange it.
I think I’ll grow me a fu man chu
It’s what I really really want to do
And if I grow me a fu man chu
Guess what I’m gonna do?
So change his back story. Make him the son of Tai Nee Wong and Wun Dum Ho.
If you know the stories—Fu Manchu wasn’t Chinese—He was an Egyptian to pretended to be Chinese for power and wealth.
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