Despite a months (née years)-long campaign to have Marvel and Netflix consider Asian American actors for the role of Danny Rand in their upcoming Iron Fist show, it was announced that Game of Thrones star(?) Finn Jones had been cast in the role.
Honestly, is anyone actually surprised?
I’m not gonna rehash everything I’ve said (both here and on twitter) over the last two years. My main reason for writing the original article wasn’t to cause some mass movement on twitter, but just to present the possibility that Asian Americans could also be nuanced, heroic characters and that white maleness doesn’t have to be at the center of every superhero narrative. Or any narrative, for that matter. Alas, that point was lost on many. As evidenced by some of the gloating fanboys showing up in the NOC mentions and at the #AAIronFist tag.
In the end, Marvel decided to go with Finn Jones, the British actor best known as Ser Loras Tyrell on Game of Thrones. And for what it’s worth, at least the actors we pitched were, you know, American. Anyway, here are some of the reactions to the casting on twitter:
On Jones’ Whiteness
I'll let someone else write the thinkpiece, but Marvel cast the whitest Iron Fist they could find, didn't they?
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) February 25, 2016
Not only did you get a white guy for Iron Fist, you got THE WHITEST GUY.
— Tolkien Negro (@marcbernardin) February 25, 2016
I SEE THEY HAVE CAST THE NEW IRON FIST THEN pic.twitter.com/aDs14tOcyp
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) February 25, 2016
On Orientalism and Cultural Appropriation
https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/702958840602632193
Iron Fist is an orientalist-white-man-yellow-fever narrative. Asian actor would have helped subvert that offensive trope, and reclaim space.
— Marjorie Liu (@marjoriemliu) February 25, 2016
Hey dumbasses, no-one is saying it's whitewashing. But I get how you make that mistake, since you probably never object to that either.
— Andrew Wheeler (@Wheeler) February 25, 2016
Hollywood’s History of Centering Whiteness in POC Stories
David Carradine, Tom Cruise, Finn Jones. https://t.co/ZOuPchbUk0
— Rebecca Sun 孫洪美 (@therebeccasun) February 25, 2016
Without Danny Rand, white people would have no way of trying to understand what it means to be an outsider. #AAIronFist
— Cameron Williams (@Wasgo) February 25, 2016
@ChuckWendig Listen, Chuck, it's simple. White characters should always be played by white guys. Characters of colour…also white guys.
— Neil Scott (@wneilscott) February 25, 2016
Whitesplaining Racism to Asian Americans
The responses to those talking about the Iron Fist casting shows how little people care to understand the AAPI experience.
— Jon Tsuei (@jontsuei) February 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/fionastaples/status/702996878036578305
https://twitter.com/ubeempress/status/703105591078572033
https://twitter.com/skrishna/status/702946703746453504
Accusations of Fake Geekness
Are we really doing "But you haven't even READ Iron Fist!" when people are bummed we lost a rare chance for Asian representation? Srsly?
— Devindra Hardawar (@Devindra) February 26, 2016
Hahahaha at all the fanboys in @marjoriemliu and @jontsuei's mentions talking bout "stop complaining and create your own Asian heroes!"
— The Nerds of Color (@TheNerdsofColor) February 26, 2016
@ReelSeanMurphy fully aware. so?
— Tolkien Negro (@marcbernardin) February 25, 2016
Hey at least we got a badass Daredevil trailer featuring Elodie Yung as Elektra!
Wait, did Marvel Studios drop the Elektra heavy Daredevil trailer just to soften the blow of the Iron Fist announcement?
— Jeremy Whitley (@jrome58) February 25, 2016
Oh wait…
https://twitter.com/opsimathist/status/702965138748530688
So, #AAIronFist was fun while it lasted. Now that another white British dude is playing a Marvel Superhero, fanboys can rest assured that their 21st century superhero television shows look exactly like their 40-year old comic books!
Meanwhile, we’ll move on to the next cause. Namely, getting Megalyn E.K. her own live action Vixen show! And if Greg Berlanti and company happen to be reading this, I got an idea for how to bring in an Asian American Richard Dragon to be Mari’s co-star/love interest…
.@ARROWwriters should intro an Asian American #RichardDragon next season. Then pair w/ @Megalyn on the #Vixen show & have @Lexialex direct.
— The Nerds of Color (@TheNerdsofColor) February 26, 2016