Most of the examples you cited are supporting characters, not the lead protagonist. Even the main characters who are Asian or Asian American, like in _Agents of SHIELD_ are part of an ensemble cast and aren’t the titular protagonist, which definitely makes a difference. It’s like the difference between George Takei…

I believe Rob Bricken went with that argument because it was the most common pretext against diverse casting parroted by the faux-outrage of the white supremacists who were upset about a supposed ‘black Stormtrooper’.

“IT’S NOT CANON” is the rallying cry of many a racist nerd, unfortunately.

I _am_ Asian (North) American and while I am annoyed by the assumption that I might like or be skilled at martial arts, I don’t believe that was Rob Bricken’s argument.

And because of the dearth of ordinary, non-martial artist roles for Asian American actors, it would at least be nice for the sake of actual…

Not if they made Danny Rand an Asian American guy, possibly adopted, who grew up never knowing anything about his own culture (and certainly not trained or gifted in any way in martial arts).

See, it’s possible to be inclusive and give a starring role in a martial arts movie to an actor of Asian descent, without…

I don’t disagree, but I would hasten to add that it depends whether you are looking at the issue in national, or global terms. Because global white supremacy is inextricably linked to imperialism and colonialism, which nations like Zimbabwe have suffered under.

And while that doesn’t exactly make some white kid getting…

The internet is definitely a land of confusion. ;(

Racism = prejudice+power is the commonly accepted definition in social justice activism. There are some social justice groups that don’t use that definition but refer to it separately as systemic and or institutional racism.

I want that list, so I know who to send friend requests to. :)

I’m going to like your post, because I agree with it, but you might want to reconsider using ableist terms like ‘feeb’ (which I assume refers to ‘feebleminded’). I prefer ‘willfully ignorant’/’willful ignoramus’, because that has no ableist connotations.

Unfortunately far too many pejorative epithets centre around…

We can hope that’s the case in this iteration, but originally the character was not written that way, he was preordained (i.e. arbitrarily decided by the white male creators) to be better than everyone else.

It still doesn’t change the fact that it’s one less potential breakout role that could have gone to a non-white…

You totally don’t understand cultural appropriation then:

What are you talking about? While not all martial arts are Asian in origin, the vast majority of the most popular ones are.

Furthermore, the fictional world of K’un L’un is clearly and obviously ‘Asian-inspired’, which would suggest the martial art in question being taught is, in fact, also ‘Asian-inspired’.

No one said…

Spending years studying martial arts in Japan doesn’t make you an expert in anti-Asian racism if you’ve never experienced it. Which clearly you haven’t if you bandy about terms like ‘SJW’ in a pejorative sense.

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultur…

But really, if you think 5 years taking martial arts classes suddenly makes you an expert on what is or is not anti-Asian racism even though you’ve never experienced it, then you are part of the problem.

That wasn’t Rob Bricken’s argument at all. Reading comprehension is your friend.

They can, but they are exceptions to the rule. And sure, superhero stories are inevitably always about exceptions to the rule, because that is part of what makes them different and unique. Yet when so many of these supposed exceptions to the rule are white, and those are basically the only kinds of stories being told,…

Except that that was all made up by two white guys, and it just so happens that _this time_ (like every time), it’s the white guy who gets to be ‘The One’. Strange how there’s that correlation between the people who come up with superhero origin stories, and how their identities are reflected in that of the superhero.

Just because you personally aren’t affected doesn’t mean that others aren’t affected. Also, forms of oppression aren’t interchangeable between different intersectional groups: anti-black racism is not analogous to anti-Asian racism is not analogous to anti-Latinx racism is not analogous to anti-Indigenous racism, etc.

That’s the issue: if it’s so rare that it happens that, as you say, “the odds are not great”, how come it’s so common in superhero origin stories that it’s become a trope?

Meanwhile, Hollywood and other forms of media in popular culture still can’t seem to find leading/main character/protagonist roles to offer actors…

If they were ‘Asian-inspired’ aliens like the Trade Federation in Star Wars, then yes, that would play into the ‘white guy is better at everything than non-whites’ trope, even if they are technically aliens.

Superman is white human-passing, and lives in a society that is predominantly white, so it doesn’t apply.