The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on DVD

[misskim86]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

As an Asian-American I can tell you that I'm happy as long as we at least ARE in a movie. We must be the least featured minority ever. We have like no cool celebrities at all (And no I'm not counting obscure Chinese ones, I mean American ones.)

So as long as it's not totally racist I'm down with it. Seriously I'm starved for something that doesn't feature Lucy Liu or a guy who can eat 50 hotdogs.

Anyway I don't think he will be racist, they will probably make him out like one of those cool criminals from Hong Kong.


EDIT: Oh yeah we have an ugly slut on MTV too

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

All cool in my book ^^

Jet Li
Jackie Chan
Chow Yun Fat
Maggie Q
Michelle Yeoh

just to start

Are they on the cover of People magazine all the time, maybe not but is that what defines cool?

Hell, my parents go see or rent every single Jet Li movie that comes out and I don't know that I can say that about any American actor.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Russel Wong
Linda Park
Grace Park
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Jennifer Tilly (half-Chinese)
Masi Oka
James Kyson Lee
Jason Scott Lee
Lexa Doig
Bai Ling
Ming-Na
Kelly Hu
John Cho
Rosalind Chao
Moon Bloodgood (half-Korean)

Nope, no coolness or prominent actors there.

 

[misskim86]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Russel Wong
Linda Park
Grace Park
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Jennifer Tilly (half-Chinese)
Masi Oka
James Kyson Lee
Jason Scott Lee
Lex Doig
Bai Ling
Ming-Na
Kelly Hu
John Cho
Rosalind Chao
Moon Bloodgood (half-Korean)

Nope, no coolness or prominent actors there.

Not really no, and ask anyone on the street and they won't know most of those guys.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

People are always saying that the Mandarin is a communist stereotype or some such nonsense. He isn't. He was born in pre-revolutionary China and was an enemy of the Chinese communist government, which treated his family like shit. In this movie, they could easily disarm any possible controversy by having the Chinese gov. play a role in asking Stark to take this guy out and it wouldn't be too far from the comics.

 

[God Magnus]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Why invest more money into a franchise that may potentially misrepresent "my people" in the wrong "usually stereotypical Hollywood" way?

Maybe because JF has clearly said he's aware of these issues and is going to address them (see above posts quoting JF)? Personally I think it's odd to base your purchase on what may or may not happen in a film that hasn't even been written yet. But hey, it's not my cash.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Well, really, there's Keanu Reeves who everyone knows.

But then there's issues with both Tilly and Reeves when it comes to racial passing and the whole "they had Chinese fathers who abandoned their families" thing.

 

[Leroy]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

I fail to see how the Mandarin is racist, he is just a mad scientist from China. I also didn't know there was a stereotype against asians that they are all mad scientist types with power rings salvaged from alien starships.

 

[General Kang]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Umm...does your Power Rangers avatar help Asian-American stereotypes?

Heh heh - nailed it!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Russel Wong
Linda Park
Grace Park
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Jennifer Tilly (half-Chinese)
Masi Oka
James Kyson Lee
Jason Scott Lee
Lex Doig
Bai Ling
Ming-Na
Kelly Hu
John Cho
Rosalind Chao
Moon Bloodgood (half-Korean)

Nope, no coolness or prominent actors there.

Not really no, and ask anyone on the street and they won't know most of those guys.

Yeah, you're right. No one watches Lost, Heroes, ER, Battlestar Galactica...

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

I've watched hundreds of Asian movies with no white characters. But I don't have a chip on my shoulder about it. Or any sterotypical view that the director must hate white people or any nationality he doesn't include.

Get over it.

Exactly. Foreigners make up 1% of Japan's population. I watch just about every Japanese film I come across and yet I've seen one in which I saw a non Asian non speaking extra. I also remember a total of one Korean monster movie where and American soldier on leave shows up to save the day and is promptly eaten. Doesn't bother me a whit.

 

[misskim86]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Russel Wong
Linda Park
Grace Park
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Jennifer Tilly (half-Chinese)
Masi Oka
James Kyson Lee
Jason Scott Lee
Lex Doig
Bai Ling
Ming-Na
Kelly Hu
John Cho
Rosalind Chao
Moon Bloodgood (half-Korean)

Nope, no coolness or prominent actors there.

Not really no, and ask anyone on the street and they won't know most of those guys.

Yeah, you're right. No one watches Lost, Heroes, ER, Battlestar Galactica...

Even if some shows like Lost are big almost none of those names are household names and you can't argue that.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Even if some shows like Lost are big almost none of those names are household names and you can't argue that.

You left off the people Mr. Adventure mentioned as well. Are you saying Jackie Chan is not a household name? Jet Li? Your own example of Lucy Liu? What about Ken Watanabe after his last several films and Oscar nomination? Chow Yun-Fat?

They may not be Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt level stars, but they're pretty well-known.

 

[misskim86]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

They're not household names and I specifically said American stars. We have no good american celebrities.

And no, Joe Schmoe does not know of Chow Yun Fat, they know of guys like Will Smith or Robert De Niro, not Jet Li.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

I've been demanding that Hollywood put more hot asian women in their movies for years! But do they listen? Nooooo...

You need to leave Hollywood alone and stick with the film output of the San Fernando valley...

 

[Aragorn]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Oscar nomination does not mean household name. Just ask Brad Dourif.

There's a difference between name recognition and star power. Jackie Chan and Jet Li may be the biggest names, but their names alone don't put butts in the seats, and often they need to be paired with other actor to share top billing. Plus it doesn't help that when most of these international stars make American films, they tend to suck.

 

[Gojirob]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

I'm starting to think GWR hasn't actually seen the film.

Spoiler: The Mandarin

The secondary villains in the movie are a Middle Eastern terrorist faction called The Five Rings - a reference to the Mandarin. Their leader, Raza, wears a ring and praises Genghis Khan a lot. Jon Favreau has apparently suggested that Raza is a member of a larger organisation, possibly headed by the actual Mandarin.

Of course, it would have been much better if the Mandarin had been portrayed as a green-skinned, pointed eared alien like in the 90's cartoon. (As Ming the Merciless and Dr. No were as well.)

Actually, he was a human mutated by the alien gems. The rings came from his dead girlfriend, whom he abandoned to her fate at the hands of desert bandits. Another set of such bandits, in the finale, gave an amnesiac Mandarin an implied fate that Toon Disney, of course, censored. (I wonder if they call that section the 'Gargoyles' department in honor of the first series they so butchered)

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Its something to think about, and yes Mandarin was based off of racial stereotypes, that whole Fu Manchu style of villain. However, after reading Favreau's comments, I think he'll show the appropriate sensibility. He'll probably still be asian, but I think the GLobal China comments are revealing and he'll be more of a super-rich powerful businessman type (sort of an asian lex luthor). Kind of like an Evil Tony Stark.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Its something to think about, and yes Mandarin was based off of racial stereotypes, that whole Fu Manchu style of villain. However, after reading Favreau's comments, I think he'll show the appropriate sensibility. He'll probably still be asian, but I think the GLobal China comments are revealing and he'll be more of a super-rich powerful businessman type (sort of an asian lex luthor). Kind of like an Evil Tony Stark.

So, he'll basically be the guy from The Dark Knight Returns?

I've watched hundreds of Asian movies with no white characters. But I don't have a chip on my shoulder about it. Or any sterotypical view that the director must hate white people or any nationality he doesn't include.

Get over it.

Exactly. Foreigners make up 1% of Japan's population. I watch just about every Japanese film I come across and yet I've seen one in which I saw a non Asian non speaking extra. I also remember a total of one Korean monster movie where and American soldier on leave shows up to save the day and is promptly eaten. Doesn't bother me a whit.

This was a point of discussion I had with some people in the ENT forum during the Mayweather debates. I actually accept the contention that since Japan or Hong Kong or wherever are racially homogeneous, that essentially implies that their film/cultural output will also be racially homogeneous.

The flip side is whether or not we consider America a "white" nation. If you do think of the US that way, then it's perfectly reasonable to expect that a nation that is mostly white will only have white stars/actors/musicians/etc.

 

[Thrall]

Re: The Mandarin- the primary reason why I won't be buying Iron Man on

Just to piss off Good Will Riker, they should have him talk like a Trey Parker Asian impersonation, "Git ow my shitty wok Ion Man!"