• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Man Behind "Iron Fist" Says "Danny Rand Is Not A White Savior"

Status
Not open for further replies.

CryptiK

Member
"We understand there's a concern about Asian actors being underrepresented and white people being given the spotlight, so we took away more Asian roles and gave them to everyone else."

Uhhhh
Uhhhh indeed no asian roles were taken away in Iron Fist.
 

WarrenD

Member
Can we really call Dr Strange white washing though? It's not like they changed the character for the normal white people cant identify BS, it was done to appease the Chinese audience.
 
Didnt realise we were in a Dr. Strange thread my bad.

Well yea, we're in a thread about an actor trying to justify the lack of asian roles. So a poster's comment mentioning an example about it with that example coming from under the same umbrella makes sense. This is less of an "Ironfist" thread and more about Finn Jones saying "Yo, i know asians need roles and yall worried about tropes, but its all good, cause we go more white people to keep it from seeming mighty whitey"
 

Platy

Member
Uhhhh indeed no asian roles were taken away in Iron Fist.

No ?

"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
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Didnt realise we were in a Dr. Strange thread my bad.
You think this problem is somehow an isolated incident? Iron Fist does not exist in a vacuum. This is an issue with TV and film at large, and it sure as hell isn't stretching when we're talking about two Marvel superhero properties.

Can we really call Dr Strange white washing though? It's not like they changed the character for the normal white people cant identify BS, it was done to appease the Chinese audience.
That doesn't make it not whitewashing. Then hire an Indian actress. Or a Japanese actress. Or an Indonesian actress. Or a South American actress.
 
I didn't like the whitewashing in Dr. Strange of course. And I think they could have made the Ancient one be played by a asian guy without him falling into the trope..... but Tilda killed that shit. Fuck you Marvel for making me accept that shit. I wanted to hate it so bad!
 

Sojgat

Member
"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.

Lame.
 

- J - D -

Member
I don't think Jones should have to answer for anything. If it wasn't him in the role it would've been another White actor. Actor's gotta eat and he's not a big enough name to be picky with roles. I appreciate that he's given the controversy some thought, practiced or otherwise.

Marvel has shown that they aren't interested in Asian males getting lead roles in any of their cinematic properties, tv or film. It's on them.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
I didn't like the whitewashing in Dr. Strange of course. And I think they could have made the Ancient one be played by a asian guy without him falling into the trope..... but Tilda killed that shit. Fuck you Marvel for making me accept that shit. I wanted to hate it so bad!

With Marvel's track record, them making the most powerful character on Earth a bald white woman was downright progressive by their standards
 
Marvel has diversified the comics like crazy. I would expect to see some bleed over after the initial phases of the MCU / TV universe as it is slightly separated. Now that Spiderman is going to crossover hopefully they can get Silk in with a TV show or something.

Over time they will cycle over. I don't mind Danny being white, but I do want to see him get his ass kicked by the other immortal weapons.

Amadeus Cho is an awesome character but until the hulk transformation, his power set was super intelligence, which would have been good for a procedural ... not sure they would invest into a movie. It would be cool to start having these characters show up in the MCU as side characters before fully transforming into the leads with a baton pass. I really enjoyed the Hercules run with him, but yet again hard to picture them going there for a movie.
 

Slayven

Member
It was done to cast Tilda Swinton
I wish we can recast you with Emma Stone
Marvel has diversified the comics like crazy. I would expect to see some bleed over after the initial phases of the MCU / TV universe as it is slightly separated. Now that Spiderman is going to crossover hopefully they can get Silk in with a TV show or something.

Over time they will cycle over. I don't mind Danny being white, but I do want to see him get his ass kicked by the other immortal weapons.

Amadeus Cho is an awesome character but until the hulk transformation, his power set was super intelligence, which would have been good for a procedural ... not sure they would invest into a movie. It would be cool to start having these characters show up in the MCU as side characters before fully transforming into the leads with a baton pass. I really enjoyed the Hercules run with him, but yet again hard to picture them going there for a movie.

Cindy Moon is in the Spiderman movie
 
Marvel has diversified the comics like crazy. I would expect to see some bleed over after the initial phases of the MCU / TV universe as it is slightly separated. Now that Spiderman is going to crossover hopefully they can get Silk in with a TV show or something.

Over time they will cycle over. I don't mind Danny being white, but I do want to see him get his ass kicked by the other immortal weapons.

Amadeus Cho is an awesome character but until the hulk transformation, his power set was super intelligence, which would have been good for a procedural ... not sure they would invest into a movie. It would be cool to start having these characters show up in the MCU as side characters before fully transforming into the leads with a baton pass. I really enjoyed the Hercules run with him, but yet again hard to picture them going there for a movie.

shit its what Im hoping for. Im hoping in next phase we start seeing the baton passed to Kamala, Miles, Riri and yes, most importantly, Amadeus.
 

Faustek

Member
Ahh, Amadeus Cho. Never reflected on that Pak made him the Hulk to diversyfi. Always saw it as the natural outcome if you think about who Amadeus is and his connection to the Hulk but that interview of his said so, about diversity so double yay! I might prefer the Banner Hulk but Amadeus isn't light weight either.

Marvel has diversified the comics like crazy. I would expect to see some bleed over after the initial phases of the MCU / TV universe as it is slightly separated. Now that Spiderman is going to crossover hopefully they can get Silk in with a TV show or something.

Can we see more of this with the Inhumans? The TV series or movie or whatever it is now.
 

suzu

Member
Fish out of water, but they changed K'un-Lun to be more diverse? Wuh. Then they could've gone with an Asian American or any non-white Danny Rand. lol
 
I don't think Jones should have to answer for anything. If it wasn't him in the role it would've been another White actor. Actor's gotta eat and he's not a big enough name to be picky with roles. I appreciate that he's given the controversy some thought, practiced or otherwise.

Marvel has shown that they aren't interested in Asian males getting lead roles in any of their cinematic properties, tv or film. It's on them.

Yeah I certainly don't blame an actor for selecting their parts, I blame the studios for being unwilling to diversify. But like you said, it's nice to see when an actor has given the subject some thought, and disappointing when they don't. I remember an interview with Scarlett Johansson and she basically side stepped the issue with GITS iirc.
 

Faustek

Member
Yeah I certainly don't blame an actor for selecting their parts, I blame the studios for being unwilling to diversify. But like you said, it's nice to see when an actor has given the subject some thought, and disappointing when they don't. I remember an interview with Scarlett Johansson and she basically side stepped the issue with GITS iirc.


ScarJo is the Hollywood leader for feminist. Says all the right things when it suits her.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
I'll reserve judgement until I see it, but I just hope Danny speaks better Mandarin than the Kingpin did. That was so bad it really threw me out of the experience.
 

Sheroking

Member
Fish out of water, but they changed K'un-Lun to be more diverse? Wuh. Then they could've gone with an Asian American or any non-white Danny Rand. lol

I felt like they should have gone with an Asian American for the role to kind of pull off BOTH the fish out of water and diversity in heroes aspect, but I can see how they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.
 

Not

Banned
Don't protest too hard.

God they're just coming up with "white liberal" ways to still keep Asians from being main characters.

I hate this shit.
 

Matty77

Member
we have yet to have kraven on the screen, we dont need miles for anything.
Too bad Marvel's animation doesn't seem capable of darker more mature material( as in thematically not edge) because if done properly it would be the perfect way to adapt Kraven's Last Hunt, hell if it did well they could even adapt and follow it up with Grim Hunt. Maybe a shorter one between to explain who Kaine is without having or trying to adapt the clone stuff more than to explain Kaine, who is pretty important to Grim Hunt.
 

Not

Banned
In Kubo too, King Liberal Travis Knight defended casting well-known Asians like Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, and Matthew "Goddamn" McConaughey as the lead Asian characters because they ALSO cast black people as white people in other films they made and "it's the performance that matters"

Fuck off, man. Just admit you live and thrive in a culture that straight up and unabashedly refuses to make Asians into movie stars due to film executives' own backwardass preconceived notions that have been hammered into the Id part of their brains by a neverending cycle of Hollywood racial exclusion.
 
In Kubo too, King Liberal Travis Knight defended casting well-known Asians like Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, and Matthew "Goddamn" McConaughey as the lead Asian characters because they ALSO cast black people as white people in other films they made and "it's the performance that matters"

Fuck off, man. Just admit you live and thrive in a culture that straight up and unabashedly refuses to make Asians into movie stars due to film executives' own backwardass preconceived notions that have been hammered into the Id part of their brains by a neverending cycle of Hollywood racial exclusion.

Voice acting is a tough angle. The majority of people that voiced characters in The Prince of Egypt were white yet it's still the only mainstream adaptation of Moses with the most POC. And of course Samurai Jack is voiced by a black guy. Nothings gonna change until live action movies get their shit together.
 

Not

Banned
Voice acting is a tough angle. The majority of people that voiced characters in The Prince of Egypt were white yet it's still the only mainstream adaptation of Moses with the most POC. And of course Samurai Jack is voiced by a black guy. Nothings gonna change until live action movies get their shit together.

Prince of Egypt is laudable for going with realistic ethnicities due to not having to actually cast middle eastern/african movie stars for a live action film in '90s Hollywood, when they absolutely would have had to cast white people in order to get it made.

It's a different era.
 
In Kubo too, King Liberal Travis Knight defended casting well-known Asians like Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, and Matthew "Goddamn" McConaughey as the lead Asian characters because they ALSO cast black people as white people in other films they made and "it's the performance that matters"

Fuck off, man. Just admit you live and thrive in a culture that straight up and unabashedly refuses to make Asians into movie stars due to film executives' own backwardass preconceived notions that have been hammered into the Id part of their brains by a neverending cycle of Hollywood racial exclusion.

oh shit. I never checked the cast of Kubo but Beetle's voice annoyed me because it not only sounded super familiar but just didnt sound right coming out of an ex samurai's mouth. It was just too southern. it being MM makes so much sense now. Not only is that horseshit but the fact that Kubo was a kid from GOT? smh.... cmon man, could have at least made the lead voice be a asian kid. one of the fresh off the boat kids could have did it if they wanted someone who is relevant thats asian and young.

Kubo doesnt deserve the Oscar based off of that.

Moana did that shit the right way
 
Let's talk source material.

K'Un L'un knows white folks too.

DAvos in his early iterations was a white guy

davos2.jpg

Steel-Serpent-taking-down-Iron-Fist.jpg

RUMOR_IRON-FIST_COLLEEN-WING_STEEL-SERPENT_NETFLIX_MARVEL-TV_.png

IF001D.png

steelserpentdavos4.jpg

vs. the more appearances of other Asian characters in the opening arcs.


All the major characters in early Iron Fist were white, but on an Asian backdrop. Danny, the Meachums, and Jeryn Hogarth. Colleen Wing was clearly meant to be half-white, half-Chinese. (In actually, her mother was revealed at Japanese, making her half-Chinese, half-Japanese.)

Marvel slowly firmed up Davos and Colleen's designs until they recalled their Asian heritage (indeterminate in Davos' case).

You'll note there that Danny's father, Wendell Rand, is the impetus for Davos' ouster. K'un L'un is no stranger to non-Asian folk and that's pre-Immortal Iron Fist. Danny is the outsider because he's the outsider, not because he does not look like the rest.

This is why I kept pointing this out in earlier threads. Danny himself does not have to be white. It doesn't particularly add anything more to the story. The point was to not be white in K'un L'un, the point - one that carries forward with the character - is he's not from K'un L'un and is ignorant of its larger history.

This doubled down upon given that Orson Randall exists post-Immortal Iron Fist. Orson Randall > Wendall Rand > Danny Rand; they should be used to white dudes.

Now, I don't have a problem Danny being white. That's the source material. I just have issues with the various incorrect arguments as to why he should be white. The only real reason is "because he is in the comics". One that becomes increasingly hard to make given the other changes in an adaptation. (Don't see many arguing vehemently for Colleen's hair to be bright red.)

Given it's an adaptation, I'm also fine with the change to K'un L'un. The mythical city should be primarily ethnic Tibetan and Chinese (the region has a ton of ethnic groups) given the place it appears in in our world, but it's a mythical city that a number of people have traveled to find and they don't seem to have any issue welcoming folks in. I've always been perplexed that K'un L'un has been shown as primarily Chinese, as it doesn't really fit with the region, but that's neither here nor there.

And let's be real, we're not getting a Shang Chi series.
 
oh shit. I never checked the cast of Kubo but Beetle's voice annoyed me because it not only sounded super familiar but just didnt sound right coming out of an ex samurai's mouth. It was just too southern. it being MM makes so much sense now. Not only is that horseshit but the fact that Kubo was a kid from GOT? smh.... cmon man, could have at least made the lead voice be a asian kid. one of the fresh off the boat kids could have did it if they wanted someone who is relevant thats asian and young.

Kubo doesnt deserve the Oscar based off of that.

Moana did that shit the right way

I didn't recognize MM's voice. I didn't hear the southern accent from the character.

I'd argue Kubo deserves the Oscar just based on the blood, sweat, and tears in making a stop-motion movie of it's caliber.
 
Kubo's cast was weird but I liked Theron in it, Mom had some real goddamn rage

Moana did it right, tho I think that's because Disney wanted that from the get go and put in the work, finding someone like that is a needle in a haystack
 

Not

Banned
I didn't recognize MM's voice. I didn't hear the southern accent from the character.

I'd argue Kubo deserves the Oscar just based on the blood, sweat, and tears in making a stop-motion movie of it's caliber.

Yeah, me too. It's a damn shame though to hear well-meaning people coming up with well-meaning explanations to excuse the same old shit though.

Kubo's cast was weird but I liked Theron in it, Mom had some real goddamn rage

Moana did it right, tho I think that's because Disney wanted that from the get go and put in the work, finding someone like that is a needle in a haystack

Even if that's the case (with her ethnicity being so specifically Polynesian and all), it's still Hollywood's fault for not fostering young Asian actresses for stardom.
 
Let's talk source material.

K'Un L'un knows white folks too.

DAvos in his early iterations was a white guy



vs. the more appearances of other Asian characters in the opening arcs.



All the major characters in early Iron Fist were white, but on an Asian backdrop. Danny, the Meachums, and Jeryn Hogarth. Colleen Wing was clearly meant to be half-white, half-Chinese. (In actually, her mother was revealed at Japanese, making her half-Chinese, half-Japanese.)

Marvel slowly firmed up Davos and Colleen's designs until they recalled their Asian heritage (indeterminate in Davos' case).

You'll note there that Danny's father, Wendell Rand, is the impetus for Davos' ouster. K'un L'un is no stranger to non-Asian folk and that's pre-Immortal Iron Fist. Danny is the outsider because he's the outsider, not because he does not look like the rest.

This is why I kept pointing this out in earlier threads. Danny himself does not have to be white. It doesn't particularly add anything more to the story. The point was to not be white in K'un L'un, the point - one that carries forward with the character - is he's not from K'un L'un and is ignorant of its larger history.

This doubled down upon given that Orson Randall exists post-Immortal Iron Fist. Orson Randall > Wendall Rand > Danny Rand; they should be used to white dudes.

Now, I don't have a problem Danny being white. That's the source material. I just have issues with the various incorrect arguments as to why he should be white. The only real reason is "because he is in the comics". One that becomes increasingly hard to make given the other changes in an adaptation. (Don't see many arguing vehemently for Colleen's hair to be bright red.)

Given it's an adaptation, I'm also fine with the change to K'un L'un. The mythical city should be primarily ethnic Tibetan and Chinese (the region has a ton of ethnic groups) given the place it appears in in our world, but it's a mythical city that a number of people have traveled to find and they don't seem to have any issue welcoming folks in. I've always been perplexed that K'un L'un has been shown as primarily Chinese, as it doesn't really fit with the region, but that's neither here nor there.

And let's be real, we're not getting a Shang Chi series.

I think Marvel didn't want to create an awkward divide between Danny being Asian in the MCU and Danny being white in the current Marvel comics. They should have created a new Asian character who becomes the new Iron Fist and have Danny be his mentor.
 
I think Marvel didn't want to create an awkward divide between Danny being Asian in the MCU and Danny being white in the current Marvel comics. They should have created a new Asian character who becomes the new Iron Fist and have Danny be his mentor.

Oh, like I said, I don't have a problem with it. I understand why they didn't shift.
 
Can anyone fill me in as to why people are upset at the casting?

Marvel keeps fuckin' up with Asian males and some people think Iron Fist would be a good character for them to roll with an Asian male lead, since they've done race/gender lifting before

Seeing how they approached Asian characters in Daredevil I'm not optimistic.

But what if, and I'm just spitballing here


ninjas
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom