Debate triggered over Asian stereotypes at the movies

Comparison made

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been compared to the 2018 movie Black Panther in terms of its potential cultural significance.

But The 1990 Institute's video points out that Shang-Chi is not the first Asian hero film, a distinction that goes to the 1994 release The Crow, starring Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee.

The institute said branding Shang-Chi as the first Asian superhero movie is a marketing strategy, while Black Panther was promoted as the first black superhero film, but that accolade should go to the 1998 release Blade.

The video points out that other films with Asian leads have not received the same level of attention, because outside of the mainstream, those movies do not have the same level of marketing hype.

"Despite the shortcomings, Marvel's Shang-Chi is part of pop culture, and has created a platform for conversation," the video states.

Janet Yang said Asian Americans are now part of the national conversation in the US, particularly after rising anti-Asian racism and hate crimes brought the Asian community to the attention of a mainstream audience.

"People are getting smarter. News is traveling faster. We are speaking up. It takes negativity to get people to pay attention," she said.

Cultural creators in the Asian community "are in a phase where they are trying to be normalized", Yang said.

"Not everyone is crazy rich, and not everyone knows how to sucker-punch like Bruce Lee," she added.

"That normalization process means … just a basic drama where people are not acting extreme in one way or another, and people just want to watch us because we're interesting characters and we're not wearing Asian-ness on our sleeves. It's part and parcel of who we are, but it's not the most salient fact about us."