Support NeoGAF

[LordOfLore]

Link.

Some quotes(more in the article):

When asked directly about his thoughts on the controversy, Jones paused and finally said, "You know, here is what I'm going to say about it. I get where that frustration comes from. I get the need for diversity and equality in television and film... well, actually in every aspect of life. Right now we live in a culture and a world where we are very unequal in politics, in economics, and in culture. We are being fucked over massively by the top dudes. I stand up for people, I stand up for people across all borders."

Jones went on to stress that "there needs to be more diversity in television and film, especially for Asian actors." He explained, "With this instance in particular, what I struggle with and what frustrates me is that people are commenting on the headline without understanding the full picture, without understanding the full story. What you'll find with the way that we're telling this story is we're addressing the issues that people are very concerned about in a very intelligent and modern way.

"Danny Rand is not a white savior. Danny Rand can hardly save himself, let alone an entire race of people. He is a very complicated, vulnerable individual. He doesn't just show up, like, 'Hey dudes, I've just learned martial arts! I'm going to save the world,'" Jones said in a surfer voice. "Actually, it's the complete opposite. He's gone through and suffered immense trauma and he is struggling to claim his own sanity and identity back."

While Danny Rand has always been white, K’un Lun — the mystic city where Iron Fist lives in the comics, that materializes in the heart of the Himalayas once a decade — has always been presented as a part of Asia. Its inhabitants in the comic books are characters like Shou-Lao and Master Khan, and on the Netflix series, Danny, having only lived in K’un Lun and New York City, shows he is fluent in Mandarin Chinese in the first episode. According to Jones, the creators of Iron Fist took steps to right some of those wrongs that linger from the sort of American kung fu B-movie scene that the Iron Fist comic was borne out of.

"In the comic books, that place is essentially an Asian culture," Jones said of K'un Lun. "Now K'un Lun in our version, it is a very diverse place. It's a mystical kingdom in an alternate dimension, but it is populated by people from all over the map. You've got South Americans there, you've got Europeans there, you've got of course Asians there. It's a diverse space, and we address Danny's inability to honor and hold responsible the Iron Fist — like, that is part of the story, the fact he has this title, but is unable to harness the responsibility of what that means. And Danny is on a journey to hopefully better himself and hopefully learn to earn the right to hold the Iron Fist... and hopefully in that journey, we address the issues which people are concerned about."

Send me to New York if old.

 

[BronsonLee]

He better be getting his ass beat six ways from Sunday until the very end

 

[dancingphlower]

So they went the Doctor Strange route and diversified the "mystical and exotic Asian place"...I will reserve judgement until I see the final product.

 

[richiek]

So they went the Doctor Strange route and diversified the "mystical and exotic Asian place"...I will reserve judgement until I see the final product.

Same with Asgard in the Thor films.

 

[El Topo]

Okay. He's still getting a TV show.

 

[The Artisan]

Same with Asgard in the Thor films.

i didn't read the comics but i think Hogun always appeared Asian.

They changed Heimdall which is fine but I don't like how he and Sif aren't siblings anymore

 

[Kai Dracon]

The cast members for Marvel productions seem pretty aware there are problems with some of the comic book material due to its age. I think they're between a rock and a hard place; some of the material may embody what are seen as negative stereotypes today, but a lot of Marvel's appeal is in how they directly translate the larger than life characters to the screen.

I'm curious to see how this really turns out. There will have to be some justification for why Danny has been given the title of Iron Fist and its responsibilities when he is not a convenient savior for whom things come easily. I could see it being a part of his trial to become the Iron Fist; he has to prove he can live it and that is what he is struggling with.

 

[LordOfLore]

Same with Asgard in the Thor films.

The comics did that way before the movie was made.

Edit: Ninja'd

 

[dancingphlower]

Same with Asgard in the Thor films.

Slightly off topic but I was pretty disappointed at how Hogun was shuffled out of the plot in Thor 2. Like they had to get rid of the only Asian dude?!

 

[J_Viper]

Would've been neat if they went with an Asian dude for the lead.

That said, this show looks fucking terrible, and the ethnicity of the main character wouldn't have changed that.

 

[Zoe]

Slightly off topic but I was pretty disappointed at how Hogun was shuffled out of the plot in Thor 2. Like they had to get rid of the only Asian dude?!

Seriously, they showed him being from a different planet and gave him less than 5 minutes of screen time. It reeked of Jet Li in Expendables 2.

 

[Matty77]

I would have preferred an updated Rand. But I'll forgive it if Colleen Wing has a meaty role. Could also be a great way to backdoor in Shang Chi the same way DD did with punisher.

 

[RS4-]

Slightly off topic but I was pretty disappointed at how Hogun was shuffled out of the plot in Thor 2. Like they had to get rid of the only Asian dude?!

But they had a whole village of asians in huts!

(I might not remember Thor 2 that well)

 

[dancingphlower]

Seriously, they showed him being from a different planet and gave him less than 5 minutes of screen time. It reeked of Jet Li in Expendables 2.

Never saw that film, but I assume he only showed up in the introduction and was written out afterwards?

 

[Slayven]

Anyone that read the comics would know this

 

[BronsonLee]

Slightly off topic but I was pretty disappointed at how Hogun was shuffled out of the plot in Thor 2. Like they had to get rid of the only Asian dude?!

Seriously, they showed him being from a different planet and gave him less than 5 minutes of screen time. It reeked of Jet Li in Expendables 2.

Yeah they had an idea behind it, but it didn't quite work right

Well Jet's deal was because of scheduling I thought

 

[Principate]

But they had a whole village of asians in huts!

(I might not remember Thor 2 that well)

No one does

 

[Saya]

If Iron Fist viewers continue to find Netflix’s origin story of Danny Rand problematic, Jones urged them to stick around, saying the show only gets better and better at exploring Danny’s place in the world. “It’s not until [Episode 8] where you have other characters come in from other places that we really start playing around with the idea of Danny being the Iron Fist and addressing those issues,” Jones said. “Then you’re really like, Oh shit, now we’re getting into those philosophical ideas of identity and culture.’”

Episode 8, eh? I wonder if I can make it that far. It looks terrible in every promo.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Episode 8, eh? I wonder if I can make it that far.

Well Ep 8 is usually when the Marvel Netflix shows start running out of steam badly, so maybe this show will buck the trend and actually pick up

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

still not with the shits.

no matter how they do it, the white boy is still the hero and a hero.

which is fine and all. just dont really care.

also, its funny how the article starts trying to make you feel sympathy for poor old Finn Jones, who just got finished doing Game of Thrones and was enjoying life at Venice Beach....yea, life sucks bro.

 

[anaron]

Well good on him for at least acknowledging it and how the show will hopefully handle it well.

I expect just about all of this to be forgotten if he/the show is good.

 

[Faustek]

Same with Asgard in the Thor films.

[IMGhttps://i.stack.imgur.com/3eLbk.png[/IMG]

[IMGhttp://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelmovies/images/9/9f/F_70788.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/320/height/320?cb=20130722232204[/IMG]

You do realise that Heimdal is perfect.
His life came to be through his nine mothers, sprung from the fire of stone hitting stone in a mill being worked on by 9 women giants. All The giants have never really been described in the edda. All the features such as skin color or hair color have only been referenced as bright as the sun or dark as the night.
The fixation of white pure skin is just something the different Nordic countries have fixated on.

Then again there is a certain dude that changed his shape to a mare, got fucked by a steed, have birth to an eight legged horse. Same dude fucked another giantess and she gave birth to a Wolf. Same dudes humanoid sons have one of them being turned into a Wolf to kill his other son and the other gods use the intestine to bind him.
This shit is made to be whatever you please. Shape-shifting, inter species breeding and cheating gods. It's the ground zero for do whatever the Fuck!

Edit: I should also mention that I read way to much about Nordic mythology... I'm a nere. Sue me but I do love the language of the older edda. It was so harrowingly beautiful and it made me feel good to know how the old religion actually never put the Nordic continent as the middle of the world but already alluded that the world we inhabited was larger than we could dream of.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

Also, this Thread title makes it seem like the Iron Fist Creator is saying this when really it's just Finn Jones trying to justify why he got the part over all those super successful asian actors

 

[Dongs Macabre]

So it's like Doctor Strange where their solution is making him the white savior of people of all ethnicities instead of just Asians.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

So it's like Doctor Strange where their solution is making him the white savior of people of all ethnicities instead of just Asians.

Lol. Love this.

 

[Jaeger]

But Danny has always been white? Why are people acting like this was a sudden cast change to whiten a character?

What are we even talking about right now?

 

[The Kree]

But Danny has always been white? Why are people acting like this was a sudden cast change to whiten a character?

What are we even talking about right now?

We're talking about the problem of making a white character the hero in the middle of a predominantly Asian setting.

 

[QisTopTier]

Also, this Thread title makes it seem like the Iron Fist Creator is saying this when really it's just Finn Jones trying to justify why he got the part over all those super successful asian actors

Why would they pick an Asian actor to be Iron Fist?

They did fuck up majorly with the ancient one in dr strange though

We're talking about the problem of making a white character the hero in the middle of a predominantly Asian setting.

It's Iron Fist, comes with the package

 

[Frozenprince]

How about we just get a Shang Chi show then (and give it to another white guy instead of Bronson).

 

[VeeP]

How about we just get a Shang Chi show then (and give it to another white guy instead of Bronson).

I think a Shang Chi show would be a great idea. They could even go the Punisher route and give him a small arc in Iron Fist, and then spin it off.

 

[Blues1990]

I get the reason why people want an Asian actor/actress to play the lead role, but wouldn't that fall back on the ol' stereotype of Asian characters, especially those who are otherwise unassuming to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat, are likely to know some kind of martial arts and demonstrate it proficiently?

That is one trope that burns my biscuit.

 

[The Kree]

Why would they pick an Asian actor to be Iron Fist?

They did fuck up majorly with the ancient one in dr strange though


It's Iron Fist, comes with the package

I'm aware. I'm hoping they stay true to the source with the subversion of the mighty whitey trope.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I'm aware. I'm hoping they stay true to the source with the subversion of the mighty whitey trope.

I somehow have the feeling they're not gonna stay that true to the source.

 

[dbztrk]

But Danny has always been white? Why are people acting like this was a sudden cast change to whiten a character?

What are we even talking about right now?

We are talking about a comic that was bred out of the cultural appropriation and stereotypes of yesteryear with Marvel trying to bring that to the masses via Netflix.

We are currently living in an age where minorities are standing up and saying you can't take our culture and disregard us and think that it's not a problem.

Instead of just loving the culture, also love and respect the people by not having white people replace the minority in their own culture.

 

[Jaeger]

We're talking about the problem of making a white character the hero in the middle of a predominantly Asian setting.

You mean the problem of making a TV show based on a white character created in 1974.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

Why would they pick an Asian actor to be Iron Fist?

They did fuck up majorly with the ancient one in dr strange though


It's Iron Fist, comes with the package

the same reason the make a previous white hero black. But thats to be applauded while doing it for asians is like "OMG WTF!"

 

[Platy]

We know we need more roles for Asian people, so that's why we took the place that was full of Asian people and put some white people there

 

[DumbNameD]

"In the comic books, that place is essentially an Asian culture," Jones said of K'un Lun. "Now K'un Lun in our version, it is a very diverse place. It's a mystical kingdom in an alternate dimension, but it is populated by people from all over the map. You've got South Americans there, you've got Europeans there, you've got of course Asians there. It's a diverse space..."

I thought one of the main reasons for his being white was that he was a fish-out-of-water outsider, especially via his appearance, but now in a change from the comic books, K'un Lun is a place of diversity, already with Europeans, where a white person wouldn't look so out of place.

 

[Saya]

Why are they making K'un Lun less Asian?

So he learned to speak Mandarin fluently in that multicultural place filled with South Americans, Europeans, and, oh yeah, also some Asians?

 

[WrenchNinja]

I get the reason why people want an Asian actor/actress to play the lead role, but wouldn't that fall back on the ol' stereotype of Asian characters, especially those who are otherwise unassuming to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat, are likely to know some kind of martial arts and demonstrate it proficiently?

That is one trope that burns my biscuit.

Which bothers you more, Asians being martial artists or Asians never getting lead roles?

 

[The Artisan]

Why would they pick an Asian actor to be Iron Fist?

why did they pick a black actor to be Heimdall?

anyways there was a whole GAF thread dedicated to why they should have picked an Asian actor,

 

[The Artisan]

Which bothers you more, Asians being martial artists or Asians never getting lead roles?

definitely the latter. i'm brown, so i technically fall under Asian even though ethnically brown people are of a different race but still - I would've loved to see Glenn play Danny Rand

 

[diaspora]

I still say that this should've used a south asian and filmed in the style of bollywood action flicks.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

I just want to get past this to see Danny and Luke together, but from what I've seen from trailers, I wonder why Luke would be friends with this dude.

 

[The Artisan]

I still say that this should've used a south asian and filmed in the style of bollywood action flicks.

na...

 

[QisTopTier]

Why are they making K'un Lun less Asian?

So he learned to speak Mandarin fluently in that multicultural place filled with South Americans, Europeans, and, oh yeah, also some Asians?

Yeah this is pretty dumb imo

I thought one of the main reasons for his being white was that he was a fish-out-of-water outsider, especially via his appearance, but now in a change from the comic books, K'un Lun is a place of diversity, already with Europeans, where a white person wouldn't look so out of place.

Yup dumb change for the sake of change

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

I thought one of the main reasons for his being white was that he was a fish-out-of-water outsider, especially via his appearance, but now in a change from the comic books, K'un Lun is a place of diversity, already with Europeans, where a white person wouldn't look so out of place.

well now we know the reason for him being white is the Normal reason the Lead is usually white.

 

[Blues1990]

Which bothers you more, Asians being martial artists or Asians never getting lead roles?

It's the latter, but I also get annoyed when the starring role is a western produced martial arts movie and ONLY that. (And even then, its a rare sight to see.

Obviously, Asian-Americans are not the only victims of Hollywood’s continuing penchant for whitewashing. But Hollywood executives are incredibly abrasive towards anything that is not proven.

 

[Platy]

They took out the fish out of water thing that was THE reason they didn't cast an Asian and yet keep him white. AWESOME.

All they had to do was showing from the start that he was the shittiest iron fist ever

 

[CryptiK]

Predominantly Asian setting? I thought this took place in NY.