Why an Asian American Iron Fist Matters

by MC Nedelsky in collaboration with MCU Exchange

Pop culture writers, whatever their chosen topic, write because they are passionate about the subject. First and foremost we’re fans, and we want to share our passion. But, like any writer, we also hope our words have an impact — that they will cause a reader to reflect, or think differently about something, or change their mind.

Keith Chow’s article on why we need an Asian American Iron Fist had that effect on me. Like many Marvel fans, I was very excited to see Iron Fist come to the screen. And like probably the majority of comics fans, I assumed the character would be a rich white guy. After all, that’s what he is the comics, right?

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: The Time is Now

Originally posted at Angry Asian Man

As we near the end of 2015, one thing is for sure: it’s a great time to be an Asian American television consumer. For the first time in history, you’ll need two hands to count the number of major television programs to feature Asian American leads! On ABC alone, you have shows like Fresh of the Boat, Dr. Ken, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Quantico.

This Sunday night, the biggest network of them all — AMC — throws its hat into the ring with Into the Badlands, a dystopian martial arts drama starring Daniel Wu. And I can safely say the show is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

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Stan Lee’s Chinese Female Superhero: A Good Idea?

by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF

Stan Lee, like Ken Jeong, is one of my personal heroes. I previously wrote about how he probably is Asian1. As a writer, his legacy is unmatchable; he created literally DOZENS of characters with which almost everyone in America has a passing familiarity. I mean, ask a person in a bar to name four characters in The Great Gatsby and it might take a while, but that person will at least have heard of Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Thing, Daredevil, X-Men, Galactus, Magneto.

And, I’m Chinese American, so yeah, technically I’m in favor of more Chinese superhero characters (there are only, like, three of them). And as a culture critic I see the righteous value of a female-led narrative in a Chinese context. The world needs those.

But is it a good idea for Stan Lee to develop Realm, a film featuring Chinese star Li Bingbing? Not REALLY. 

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Racism Tries to Come For A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Originally posted on Ebony.com

Even a galaxy far, far away can feel the effects of racism and White paranoia. Over the weekend, a group of our less enlightened brethren got the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII to trend. Why would anyone want to boycott one of cinema’s most venerable franchises? Well, according to some, the new Star Wars film (to be released on December 18 and helmed by geek-favorite J.J. Abrams) promotes “White genocide.”

Yes, you read that correctly.

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We Are Brienne

by Lexi Alexander | Originally posted at Lexi-Alexander.com

“All my life men like you’ve sneered at me, and all my life I’ve been knocking men like you into the dust.”

Brienne of Tarth to Jaime Lannister

Imagine being a female TV & movie director trying to make it in an already competitive industry and the first thing that comes across your news feed at the beginning of the week is the sad fact that the most talked about show on TV failed to hire a single female director on its last season.

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With Great Power Comes Great Cynicism

I take super heroes and the media surrounding them entirely too seriously. This is why I get so worked up over comics and movies. It doesn’t take much for me to launch into an hours-long tirade over the finer points of caped continuity. However, there is some method to my fanboy madness.

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The NBA: Where Fanboys are (Big) Fundamental

Cross-posted at Dat Winning

Over the summer, five-time NBA champion Tim Duncan made waves across the internet when it was revealed that he was going to be immortalized on the cover of a Marvel comic book. Not only were comics fans surprised to have such a legendary sports figure in their midst, NBA fans were surprised that Duncan had a personality! (I kid! I love TD!)

It all started when, during the Spurs’ most recent championship playoff run in May, a reporter tweeted out this photo of Duncan’s knee braces:

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Feminism is our Superpower

by Marjorie Liu

What can I add that hasn’t already been said? Not much, I suppose. There’s been an amazing symphony of voices on the internet, keeping alive the reality, the truth, that so many would prefer to ignore: that misogyny continues to thrive in every corner of the world. It is reflected back on us women every day, in a million different ways, and while it’s easy to point the finger at other countries and say, “Look at the way they treat women!” we all must know, deep down, that here in America we put into practice the same patterns of hate and ownership, and entitlement.

A pregnant woman was just stoned to death in Pakistan for marrying a man against her family’s wishes — but that happens here in America, all the time, with just slightly different players. Google “boyfriend kills pregnant girlfriend” and you’ll see a list of unending deaths. We read in horror about how rapists in other countries are let off easy by “corrupt authorities,” but what about our legal system? It’s just as monstrous towards victims of sexual assault. Check out this imagined, but very real, conversation — what if mugging were treated like rape is in the eyes of the law — found at the @femusingsteam twitter feed:

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NOC Reviews ‘Deadly Hands of Kung Fu’ #1

by Krishna Sadasivam | Originally published at PC Weenies

I really wanted to like Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1, by Mike Benson and Tan Eng Huat. After all, what’s not to like about Shang-Chi? He’s cut from a similar cloth to Bruce Lee. He has no superpowers, yet he demonstrates total mastery over the martial arts.

Shang held his own title for nearly 100 issues from 1974 to 1983 in the late, lamented Master of Kung Fu series. Capitalizing on the martial arts craze in the 1970s, Master of Kung Fu combined martial arts mayhem with espionage and over the top villains.

While those thematic elements are present in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, what’s missing completely is Shang-Chi. Oh, he’s physically there (more on that in a bit), but he’s very much out of character here.

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‘Evangelion 3.0’ You Can (Not) Make Sense

It was by complete accident that I found out that The Movies at Montgomery Mall was playing Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo on the big screen last Saturday night. Is this a thing that happens regularly there? They really need to advertise that shit better. If I hadn’t been randomly looking around Fandango, I would have missed it entirely.

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