Because that's not the character of Iron Fist. I really don't understand criticizing Marvel for sticking to their source material.
It's because movies and shows aren't the same as comics, and things that worked in the 60s and 70s don't necessarily work anymore. Captain America punching Nazi's in the face isn't as relevant now as it is in the 40s and stories about white male prodigies through other people's cultures is now controversial...hence all the backlash with Dr. Strange and Iron Fist.
Changing for the sake of it being the martial arts is just as bad as making drug dealers black.
What's wrong with that? Just playin!!! But foreal, that's not really the same thing. Casting an Asian as a martial artist strengthens and reinforces Asian culture and provides a sense of authenticity or verisimilitude. Yes, it's stereotypical but it's a positive image that many Asians can be proud of. But casting Blacks as drug dealers damages Black culture and reinforces negative stereotypes that the majority of Blacks don't want to be affiliated with. That's the main difference.
I appreciate the POV. It's very insightful.
Love it!
This is basically stretching it just to make a character a different race. It was bad when the Fantastic Four does it and it would be just as bad then.
Well that was just an example of how you could expand on changing Danny's race. A lot of those same points still apply even if he wasn't adopted.
Like I've repeated before, this is a character that has been around 70 years, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But it IS broken, otherwise it wouldn't be such a controversy. Wolverine studied Japanese martial arts but no one is calling for him to be cast as Asian. That's because his story, skills, and powers don't center around Japanese martial arts. They center around his animalistic nature. His story hasn't deteriorated as the times change (kinda like Logan himself, huzzah!) so no one has a desire to change anything about him. But people of all sorts of shapes and sizes would like to have seen an Asian Iron Fist...so even if his story might not be considered broken by some, it could certainly use some updating.
It's illogical because we as comic book fans have been b***hin' for years to studios to "stick to the source material" and that's what Marvel has been doing. I'm a black man that has been DYING for black super heroes for DECADES. Personally, I would rather have the characters that exist that are black then changing the race of a character just to appease the masses. Marvel has asian comic book characters and I hope they finally get the chance to put them on screen, there's no need to change those that exist. (As you can tell, I'm a bit of a purist).
You are?! My mind is blown
I kid....and I pretty much agree with you on this point.
The whole movie of Batman Begins is essentially the same premise as Iron Fist, but no one's screaming for Bruce Wayne to be cast by an Asian guy just because he trained in Asia.
I'm not sure how many times I have to reiterate that Batman's story is not Asian-centric. Yes, a chapter of his life was spent in Asia learning martial arts but that's not the biggest influence on his life. Same as Wolverine. A chapter of his life is spent in Japan but that's not what drives him. These two ALSO learned martial arts from other parts of the world but to my knowledge (someone correct me if I'm wrong) Iron Fist has trained exclusively in Asian-based martial arts. But even if it turns out he's dabbled in other disciplines, his upbringing is based in Asian culture. You can't say the same for Batman. His alias is “Batman”, not “Crouching Emo, Hidden Bat”.
The whole movie of Batman Begins is essentially the same premise as Iron Fist
Batman Begins is about a young man (not a boy) who travels the world in order to understand and find himself with the hopes of finding a way to reverse the corruption that brought about his childhood trauma. Iron Fist is about a young BOY who, as a result of his parents' death and through no fault of his own, lands in an Asian-based mythic city and spends his developing years adopting not only their fighting system, but their culture as well.
If they were to change Batman Begin's script so that he learned a Middle Eastern martial art or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu then it wouldn't really change the essence of Bruce's character, but it most certainly would change Iron Fists' essence and even his NAME if they tried the same thing with him.
Mystical forces based in Asian concepts, right?
Again, you could land Dr. Strange in any place in the world without changing the essence of his character.
I disagreed with this casting as well. I thought they should have cast at least an Asian woman.
Ah, common ground! I would've loved to have seen Michelle Yeoh as the Ancient One!
As they should be and they have plenty of characters to choose from to create a diverse roster, so there's no need to change ones "just because"
Examples of changing a character's race “just because” would be changing Logan into an Indian or changing Scott Summers to Black. There would be absolutely no logic or reasoning behind those changes. We've discussed, thoroughly, why people would like to have seen an Asian Iron Fist and to an extent you understand why. Obviously it's not “just because”.
We totally agree on this.
More common ground! Hope we can find more. Let's bridge this gap.
This literally contradicts the previous paragraph.
I realize that...but I also realize that there's room for minor compromises if it means major progress.
You're right, the Defenders will have 2 white dudes who know martial arts, as well as an Asian woman who knows martial arts.
True, but she's not one of the lead characters in that show.
By the way, why not make Daredevil asian. His character has been STEEPED in Asian culture for decades now. It's a slippery slope...
We're going in circles with this argument. I'll have to refer to my previous points about how the essence of the character wouldn't be compromised if you changed the discipline from which he learns his fighting techniques. Daredevil's essence is justice through adaptation and perseverance.....and guilt through Catholicism, lol!
I get the why, I just don't agree with the logic. I agree that comic book movies are dying for more diversity...just not at the sake of the source material.
If you get the 'why' then we're making progress even if we don't agree on the logic. I guess we'll just have to disagree slightly on how close to the source material these adaptations need to be.
BTW, thanks for keeping this civil! You've got my respect.