Was Doctor Strange Changed to Please China? (Marvel ordered to "Portray China in a Positive Light")

Youtube ^ | 4-29-2016 | China Uncensored

[ghosthost]

Marvel's new movie Doctor Strange may have changed the Ancient One from a Tibetan man to a Celtic white woman to appease China. That's at least was Doctor Strange writer C. Robert Cargill suggested on the Double Toasted podcast. Or was this another example of Hollywood whitewashing—giving Asian roles to white actors?

[ghosthost]

The Chinese Communist government allows 34 foreign films to play in China every year. So, for Disney/Marvel and other movie houses to compete for a chance for the 34 spots, they must either allow Chinese investors, it must "portray China in a positive light", have Chinese actors or the Chinese must be allowed to edit it. This is what happened in Disney's "Iron Man 3." You'll notice the villain, the "Mandarin," became Ben Kingsley. In their latest movie, Dr. Strange, the "Ancient One, a Tibetan male mystic is now a white woman. The director of the movie said having a Tibetan character would be a death sentence for the movie in China. They want those dollars. Marvel quickly distanced themselves from the comment.

I noticed, in the trailer for the new Independence Day 2 trailer, available here, they've added a new Chinese lady fighter pilot hero who wishes to "fight for the honor of her family." She certainly portrays China in a positive light.

We can look forward to all sorts of new Chinese heroes in the movies to come. If it's one thing I think of when I think of the Communist Chinese, it's "selfless heroes."

[WKUHilltopper]

FU Marvel and China

[the_individual2014]

Does not surprise me to be honest, there is a large market in China, got to go after that market and that means not pissing off the Chinaman.

[ghosthost]

It sums up one of the HUGE problems I have with the United States. We are a merchant nation. We are a stock ticker symbol. We trade with the insane muslims for their oil and can’t criticize them, we trade and sell to all manner of cruel nations, and since they pay the bills, we must “portray their atrocities in a positive light.” I say “we,” but in reality, you and I don’t benefit from all these backroom deals, and shenanigans. My family didn’t own slaves, and yet we all pay for the decisions to ship millions of slaves to the US. I don’t make billions selling movies to the Chinese communists. I don’t need millions of illegal criminal Low-IQ Mexicans to fuel my business. I am a regular guy, and I just get screwed by these horrible decisions. I hate the elite. The are our enemies. I think their day has come to an end.

[ghosthost]

Of course everyone loved the Chinese "Pirate's" Diney movie. What the hell was that?

[Regulator]

Yeah. All them heroic ChiComs.

You know. The same folks who kept Ho Chi Minh in power and killed 58,000 Americans.

Tell me again why they’re a “Most Favored Nation”?

[ghosthost]

I liked them better when they were portrayed they way they should be. China is never going to come to anyone's rescue. They are never going to do the right thing for the rest of human history. They can always be counted on to do evil.

[kabar]

What most may not realize, Hollywood gets more revenue from its foreign markets than the US. And China is a huge market for US films, which are selectively admitted to the Chinese market. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

[Jack Hammer]

Yup. If anyone in the production company ever harbored the notion of sight-seeing in China, they had to kiss Chinese butt.

No doubt they did.

[Arm_Bears]

Stan Lee is a huge lib/leftist, so it fits.

[Sans-Culotte]

It's not unlike the Bond films substituting SPECTRE for the Russian spy organization SMERSH in the film of From Russia With Love, presumably to keep from offending the Soviets at the height of the Cold War.

[GreyFriar]

The Dr. Strange of Marvel comic books of my youth, 1960s, was a white male.

[Donglalinger]

[Donglalinger]

“The Dr. Strange of Marvel comic books of my youth, 1960s, was a white male.”
and still is

[longfellow]

Those yellow oriental fiends.
That’s what we used to call em.

[BiggerTigger]

Dr. Strange simply will never translate successfully to the screen, ever.

[discostu]

I doubt that. Swinton is just a good choice for the role. She’s always had that weird not quite connected to the same reality air. They could have easily kept the character oriental and just not said Tibet if they wanted to make China happy.

[ifinnegan]

“What most may not realize, Hollywood gets more revenue from its foreign markets than the US. And China is a huge market for US films, which are selectively admitted to the Chinese market. He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

Do you have a point in this other than defending the Chinese Communist regime?

[Sans-Culotte]

Dr. Strange simply will never translate successfully to the screen, ever.

I always preferred Marvel to DC, but I never really cared a great deal for Dr. Strange. Why do you think it won't work on the big screen?

I didn't care for the way Thor was portrayed on the big screen. He seems to be too much of a jock. In the comics, Thor's alter ego was Dr. Donald Blake, a physically lame but dedicated physician. The movie Thor's alter ego would seem to be high school football coach. And I missed Stan Lee's pseudo-Shakespearean dialog.

[Ransomed]

“Marvel’s new movie Doctor Strange may have changed the Ancient One from a Tibetan man to a Celtic white woman to appease China.”

I did see a statement from Marvel about this a while ago:

“The rumors that the part of the Ancient One is being played by a Celtic white woman is not true. Our CGI animators were directed to render the character as a giant albino praying mantis. Any resemblance to a human living or dead is purely coincidental and probably tragic.”

Freegards