In one of the most pivotal scenes in the movie where Shaun/Shang-Chi asks his aunt Jiang Nan (Michelle Yeoh) how his mother became the only who has ever defeated his father in combat, Jiang Nan proceeds to show him a “softer” way of fighting, removed of the brute force punches Shaun/Shang-Chi was trained by. Sharp turns, blurring speeds, killer assassins and enchanted forests couldn’t stop her from driving a vehicle the way it’s meant to be – from point A to B in one piece. She saves the day more than a few times behind the wheel by commandeering a busload of passengers to safety (albeit by grinding it to a halt by crashing into another truck and rolling over a street of cars) and safely transporting her friends through the magical moving maze to Ta-Lo. Blowing that theory completely out of the water is Katy again who not only works as a car jockey and handles the latest supercars with complete ease, but with a whole lot of ballsy ecstasy. There is perhaps no movie trope more overdone than that of the Asian woman who cannot drive. Being of multiple backgrounds is commonplace and should be embraced more. When they arrive in Macau and Jon Jon mocks her inability to speak Chinese by saying that he, too, speaks ABC – American-born Chinese – proves that not belonging completely to a singular culture is rampant even at the other side of the world. The first glimpse into her home where her mother points out that “moving on is an American concept” has Katy arguing that her mother is also American, showing the pull-and-shove of being a third culture kid who often has trouble identifying with either one of her roots. Shang-Chi’s kooky best friend and sidekick Katy (Awkwafina) presents a real world window into the lives of many in that position, who straddles the culture they were born into and the reality of the every day they live in. Too frequently have those who find themselves in that position been made to choose to identify as just one or the other. Most people in today’s world grew up in dual, if not multiple, cultures but it is not something often spoken about. Here’s how Shang-Chi does it all without missing the beat of being an action-packed humour-riddled masterpiece that we’ve come to know Marvel for.
It is a big deal and a big win for representation in Hollywood and by extension, everywhere, without a doubt.īut before we celebrate the movie for just that, there are plenty more subliminal ways the movie challenges convention to not be your typical superhero movie.Īction, fabled lands, fantasy creatures and superpowers are weaved in with convention-defying messages of challenging patriarchy, overcoming toxic masculinity and breaking harmful stereotypes. Yes, it is also the first to have an almost all-Asian cast (one that speaks a big part in Mandarin Chinese too) led by Simu Liu as the titular character Shang-Chi. Yes, the movie directed by Destin Daniel Cretton features the MCU’s first Asian superhero.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) taps once more into film’s growing culture shift to the East with its 25 th title Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and it already has people talking. If the roaring successes of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians are anything to go by, it is that representation matters.
0 kommentar(er)
