Jeph Loeb controversy over racism on Daredevil storyline

[XPac]

https://ew.com/tv/daredevil-actor-ma...-asian-people/



This is disgraceful. Good for Peter Shinkoda for exposing this.

I can buy that arguement for Nobu, but I thought Gao was used pretty well. She was somewhat of a permanent fixture in the Net Flix shows.

[rpmaluki]

Isn't that headband from the Karate Kid movie? He may have been ignorantly referencing that in his attempt to promote IF and stumbled upon culture appropriation. Times have certainly evolved where the latter is now recognized by the general public as a big no-no and Loeb missed the memo. As for the statement, not knowing the full context, I cannot judge. This actor is no doubt offended by what was said, that can't be dismissed. My question is whether the statement was said with malicious intent in a general sense beyond the show or it was just an assumption on the audience response to a very specific plot on show about a straight, white, lawyer-martial artist vigilante?

[j9ac9k]

Does this mean I can't wear a karate uniform ever if I'm not full asian?

I don't know that you'd have to be asian, as a lot of martial artists aren't, but it has meaning to those who are devoted to its practice - it's not a costume so it's a bit disrespectful to treat it as such. But that's just how I see it - I'm not speaking for anyone else. I don't think it's the end of the world offensive, but in my mind, it's certainly bad taste.

[Powerboy]

I'm not mad they cast Danny as a white guy, I just think the fact that there were better options like that drunken fight guy puts a damper on the casting. There is an ocean of identity based preference going on with this kind of stuff. I should make a video on it because no one seems to have the insight I have on this topic.

When I look at a movie such as "The Last Samurai", I ask why they didn't just do a story about the "last" samurai. Why bring in a white guy to be an outside observer but also the main character?

Some argue it's because the audience is mostly white and this character is a stand-in for them, seeing this as they would see it. But I think the deeper reason is because there are people involved in making the movie that think the largely white audience won't identify with a Japanese main character so they rig the story to make a white guy the main character.

With Danny Rand, it goes even further. Originally, he was the white guy the readers would allegedly identify with more and a complete outsider to the culture where he trained. This is ironic in that it presumes that an Asian character from the "real" world would not be an outsider in a mystical realm of magic martial arts.

So you've already got the identification factor that they think he has to be a white guy. Then, forty or so years later, they do a live action series. Now, you get the "Has to be a white guy" syndrome with both barrels. Now, the argument becomes, "Well, he was originally a white guy and this is just changing who the character is" which is largely BS for "I won't identify with him."

It's essentially the same as, "Well, sure, Wonder Woman is supposed to be a Greek and should have been played by someone who can pass as Mediterranean but she was originally played by someone clearly white and drawn in the comics as white so you shouldn't change that" which is usually BS speak for "I find her more attractive as white and it's an excuse to continue an injustice based on tradition".

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

One of the enemies in ironfist was a better lead than all of them, the drunken fight guy,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIWVF_IXau0


I wanted to see more of that guy on screen, I think he might have gone for the Danny role, should have given it to him.

I saw him in Wu Assassin and he's a decent performer but I don't know if he can handle a whole show on his own. To me Sacha Dhawan (Davos) gave on of the best performance in both seasons and he was my pick for Doctor #13 before whitaker was announced. So I would have preffered him take over instead of Tan but I think both actors would've struggled with this take on Danny. He is the weakest part of this show and I get why everybody hates him.

I liked the drunk boxer dude and felt he was a 2d character versus the cliches the other martial artists were up to this point. He should get ported over to the comics in my opinion.

[Powerboy]

Isn't that headband from the Karate Kid movie? He may have been ignorantly referencing that in his attempt to promote IF and stumbled upon culture appropriation. Times have certainly evolved where the latter is now recognized by the general public as a big no-no and Loeb missed the memo. As for the statement, not knowing the full context, I cannot judge. This actor is no doubt offended by what was said, that can't be dismissed. My question is whether the statement was said with malicious intent in a general sense beyond the show or it was just an assumption on the audience response to a very specific plot on show about a straight, white, lawyer-martial artist vigilante?

I'm known to wear a Captain Marvel cap and I think people should be offended since it's a female character and I am therefore gender appropriating a gender whose negative cultural experiences I have not and cannot experience.

In other words, though Liberal, I think the "offense culture" has made these things seem so trivial that "real" bigotry gets lost in the mix. Most of that is really just the "Internet culture" where certain people are like the shark in "Jaws" trawling through the water looking for the next trivial thing to be offended by and hence feel righteous.

[rpmaluki]

I'm reminded of what Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep from Fraser's The Mummy) once said about a particular action star in whose movie he played a villain. For whatever reason, this guy told AV he'd never make it as actor in Hollywood because he was South African and had a heavy accent or some such. That was offensive and as a fellow South African, I was livid for the longest time and refused to ever watch this guy's work ever again. I totally get where Shinkoda is coming from, being marginalized because of your race but years later I realise i may have read the statement wrong. It may not have come from a place of offense (in his own ignorant way, the actor may have been trying to offer advice on how to make it in Hollywood) but that's how it was perceived. That's the problem with ignorance, it can be as equally offensive to the injured party as blatant racial stigmatisation.

[Surf]

Loeb can wear that getup anywhere he wants whenever he wants however this was a professional setting and he was presenting a work. If this cornball can't even get out of his own way when promoting a show lots of other people worked on, well he garners very little benefit of the doubt. Even less so that what society usually affords a guy like this under these same circumstances and even less still considering DD's most seminal stories involve lots of Asian ninjas. Maybe that actor was onto something.

[AnakinFlair]

...did I watch a different Blade trilogy from everyone else?

I seem to recall only two Asians in the first two movies (never saw the third).

[The Cool Thatguy]

I can believe that either Loeb or Shinkoda or whoever-as-whoever else was confusing Blade with Kill Bill, since Kill Bill had similar complaints from the Asian American community about the first film. That it's a duology rather than a trilogy, that it's a Tarantino movie and not a Marvel movie, are beside the greater overall point that killing Asians en masse on screen shows the (old) Hollywood thinking that audiences don't care about Asian characters (to allegedly Loeb's point), that it's super problematic (to Shinkoda's point), and/or both points actually.

Err, they were in Japan, and the protagonist was fighting a Yakuza crime boss. Seems like an odd complaint to make

[Havok83]

I'm not in the loop as to what the "headband" thing is referring to.

Its racially insensitive and quite tone deaf, especially given the context

[Alan2099]

This place is seriously jumping on the cultural appropriation bandwagon?

A guy dressed like something that isn't front his culture is about he stupidest thing you can be offended by.

[j9ac9k]

This place is seriously jumping on the cultural appropriation bandwagon?

A guy dressed like something that isn't front his culture is about he stupidest thing you can be offended by.

It's not a "bandwagon," it's a real thing and your description of it only shows that you don't actually know what you're talking about unless you're trying to belittle it, but I won't assume your intention. (and no, I have no interest in educating you - you can look it up if you care to be informed about something before posting about it)

[Havok83]

This place is seriously jumping on the cultural appropriation bandwagon?

A guy dressed like something that isn't front his culture is about he stupidest thing you can be offended by.

Let me guess. You are a privileged white male that does not belong to a racial minority group that is routinely appropriated from?

[Immortal Weapon]

Let me guess. You are a privileged white male that does not belong to a racial minority group that is routinely appropriated from?

Tell me, what's difference between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange?