Did marvel do their cultural research? Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings.

Marvel Studios is the 5th largest movie production company in the world, with their total box

office revenue being a whopping $33,686,093,642, the company has their fair share of

mind-blowing movies. Despite this, phase 3 of the MCU is slowly coming to an end. With the

original 6 avengers slowly leaving one by one, the legacies live on with the newest heroes to

arrive, with Anthony Mackie reprising the role of Captain America, after saying a fond

farewell to Chris Evans at the end of Avengers: Endgame, and with Benedict Cumberbatch

currently on set for the new and upcoming movie,

‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of

Madness.

’ There are a few recognisable faces. However the newest face we have learnt to

love is Simu Liu’s character of ‘Shang Chi.

’ ‘Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings’ is the

first marvel movie to have an Asian superhero as the main character, and is the first of

phase 4, therefore it had an awful lot to live up to. Before the movie was released the fans

were over the moon with the idea of an Asian hero, but why was Shang-Chi not a hit in the

country it was based in? Why does China not accept this new found hero?

Marvel has plenty of experience diving into other cultures, Stan Lee, the creator of Marvel

Studios and the Marvel comic books always said he wanted every child and person to be

able to relate to characters of both his comics and his movies. The biggest experience they

have had in multiculturalism, is with the 2018 hit movie ‘Black Panther’ starring the late

Chadwick Boseman, the movie made $1.3billion, becoming the 10th highest grossing movie

of all time(The Hollywood Reporter, Pamela McClintock, April 7th 2018) and led marvel to

their first ever oscar nominations. The movie was nominated for 7 academy awards,

including best score, best costume design and best picture. The way the movie was

produced was Kevin Feige and Stan Lee's idea, they decided to use all the film crew with

African or African American descent that they had worked on previous movies like Debbie

Berman and Robert Cole. The movie director Ryan Coogler asked the crew to use their own

knowledge and knowledge from family members to make the movie as authentic as

possible. This is a common trope by the movie producers, asking directors and screenwriters

to cooperate and use personal experiences. The same thing happened with Shang-Chi and

the Legend of the T en Rings, Kevin Fiege the president of marvel studios hired Dave

Callaham and Destin Daniel Cretton as playwright and director(New York Times, Jin Yu

Young, Amy Chang Chien, Azi Paybarah, September 17th 2021). When discussing the film

Kevin Feige asked Callaham to use his own personal experience with a Chinese mother to

write the script and Cretton to direct in ways he had seen in Asian movies directed growing

up(Kevin Feige interview, Weibo, September 15th 2021). The idea was to make an

Asian-American film by using Asian-American filmmakers. A movie that young Asian children

could look upto and see themselves. The plan was to make a movie where an Asian

character has the whole power, one where a young Asian child could believe that someone

who looks like them and has similar things around them can be the hero where they have

never seen that before, as majority of Asian superheroes are cartoon or manga, whereas

this movie is a real person, an actual actor being the hero and saving the day, alongside his

also Asian family and friends.Did Marvel do their cultural research? Shang-Chi and the

legend of the ten rings.

Despite the rest of the world really enjoying the movie, it is yet to be released in the country

the story is based in. China have refused to release the movie, due to some seemingly

chauvinistic social media users who claim that what Simu Liu said in an interview in 2017

‘insults’ China, in this interview Simu Liu called China ‘a third world country where people are

dying of starvation everyday’(CBR.com,Narayan Liu, September 9th 2021), the users

claimed Liu belittled China and questioned why he was playing the Chinese hero when he

left China at such a young age. However many other fans argued saying everything Liu said

about China was actually true and the points he was making were factual(The Straits Times,

Lim Ruey Yan, September 10th 2021 ). Liu lived in Harbin and was raised by his

grandparents until he was four years old. The year later he and his family moved to Canada

for the exact reasons he had stated in that interview, he lived in a poor area and they were

struggling with money, his mother believed Canada would be a safer place for him to grow

up in. However, this is not the only reason that China won't release the movie, They claim

that Shangchi may be a victim to a flowpoint in Chinese-US relations(New York Times, Jin

Yu Young, Amy Chang Chien, Azi Paybarah, September 17th 2021), and alongside this

China are trying to push away from western influence. They are doing this by denouncing

foreign books, movies and the teaching of the English language.(New York Times, Jin Yu

Young, Amy Chang Chien, Azi Paybarah, September 17th 2021). However the Chinese

marvel fans have something to say about this as the government allowed the live action

version of disneys ‘Mulan’ to be shown all around the country with reviews claiming it was

nowhere near a believable show of Asian culture, with people claiming the movie was

inauthentic and American(Variety Magazine, Rebecca Davis, October 15th 2021), whereas

Chinese viewers who managed to watch Shang-Chi either abroad or on some other platform

praised the movie, along with many other Asian countries, a man from Seoul, South Korea

claimed he thought the movie would be ‘borderline racist’ but he said it was the first movie

he had seen in years that actually managed to capture the true meaning of Chinese

culture(New York Times, Jin Yu Young, Amy Chang Chien, Azi Paybarah, September 17th

2021).

The movie cast included Simu Liu, T ony Yeung and Akwafina, all Asian actors or actors of

Asian descent. Despite the movies negative backlash in China, everywhere else in the world

praised the movie, it received plenty of positive reviews in the western media, Getting an

IMBd rating of 7.9 out of 10 and Rotten T omatoes giving it 98% of audience ratings, despite

China the movie is doing plenty to keep the viewers coming. Shang chi broke box office

records becoming the biggest thursday/midnight preview gross for a labour day weekend

release. Gaining 8.8M$(Forbes Magazine, Scott Mendelson, September 3rd 2021). And was

the 7th highest grossing film of 2021(Variety Magazine, Ellise Shafer, September 25th 2021),

receiving $370 million in global ticket sales(Variety Magazine, Ellise Shafer, September 25th

2021). Many even believe that Shang-Chi could change the world (BBC, Kesewaa Browne,

September 7th 2021), the movie goes against unpleasant asian stereotypes which are

common in the western media. The movie is creating solutions to problems, as there's been

a rise in Asian race crimes in the US by 70%(BBc, Kesewaa Browne, September 7th 2021)

according to the BBC Shang-Chi represents a turning point "where we can see theseDid Marvel do their cultural research? Shang-Chi and the

legend of the ten rings.

types of Asian characters who are not only heroic but also have flaws and a range of

experiences that make them complex and interesting"(BBC, Kesewaa Browne,

September 7th 2021). Also according to the Independent many fans and critics were

calling the film ‘phenomenal’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘hilarious’, claiming that ‘every fight

scene must have been practised and choreographed to perfection as there wasn't a

wrong move and every one was different’,(The Independent, Peony Hirwani, August

17th 2021) with others saying the movie was brilliant but it was the soundtrack that

topped it off. The music was produced by 88rising, a production company who

mainly focuses on upcoming Asian and Asian American artists(The Independent,

Peony Hirwani, August 17th 2021). The movie is the latest sign that Hollywood is

starting to listen to the calls for more Asian representation on screen. (The

Independent, Peony Hirwani, August 17th 2021).

Overall, Marvel knows what they're doing and as much as it may not be 100% culturally

accurate, they used people, cast and crew members who are all knowledgeable in the Asian

culture. The movie was made in an American country with an American movie production

company, so the movie may never have been completely Chinese, and completely

coordinated with Chinese culture, however the authenticity is there, the idea was there, the

plan to give the young Asian kids a superhero they can look up to and finally think thats me,

was most definitely there. Marvel did their best and even if some people don't agree with it,

the overall majority definitely did.

● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang-Chi

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Rings

● https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/shang-chi-fan-reactions

-disney-b1903828.html

Peony Hirwani-Tuesday August 17th 2021-19th October 2021-The independent

● https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210906-why-asian-superhero-shang-chi-could-

truly-change-the-world

Kesewaa Browne- Tuesday September 7th 2021-19th October 2021-The BBCDid Marvel do their cultural research? Shang-Chi and the

legend of the ten rings.

● https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/09/03/shang-chi-box-office-thursd

ay-9m-simu-liu-tony-leung-akwafina-disney-marvel/

Scott Mendelson-Friday september 3rd 2021-20th October 2021-Forbes Magazine

● https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/marvel-s-shang-chi-was-made-china-mind-her

e-s-n1280571

Rhea Mogul-Sunday October 3rd 2021-20th October 2021-nbc news

● https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/business/shang-chi-china-marvel.html

Jin Yu Young, Amy Chang Chien, Azi Paybarah-Friday September 17th 2021-18th

october 2021-New york Times

● https://variety.com/2021/film/news/shang-chi-china-ban-simu-liu-1235066529/

Rebecca Davis-Thursday September 16th 2021-18th october 2021-Variety magazine

● https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Shang-Chi

● https://www.cbr.com/shang-chis-simu-liu-under-fire-in-china-for-explaining-why-his-fa

mily-emigrated-to-canada/

Narayan Liu-Thursday september 9th 2021-20th October 2021-CBR.com

● https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/shang-chi-star-simu-liu-accused-of-in

sulting-china-in-2017-interview

Lim Ruey Yan-Friday September 10th 2021-20th october 2021-straits times

● https://variety.com/2021/film/box-office/shang-chi-box-office-black-widow-highest-gro

ssing-film-2021-1235074112/

Ellise Shafer-Saturday September 25th 2021-25th october 2021-variety magazine

● https://variety.com/2020/film/news/disney-mulan-asian-americans-in-hollywood-1234

805159/

Rebecca Davis-October 15th 2021-October 25th 2021- variety magazine

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-black-panther-sails-past-ti

tanic-become-no-3-title-all-time-us-1100758/

Pamela MClintock-april 7th 2018-20th october 2021-hollywood reporter