Why Shang-Chi Will Be A Huge Deal For Asian-American Representation

A Shang-Chi movie has been in development as early as 2006, even before Iron Man. It wasn’t until years later in 2019 when the movie was officially announced. Not only will this be the first ever Asian-led, big studio superhero film, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shared that Shang-Chi will star a 98% Asian cast. Throughout the history of American cinema and television, there has only been a handful of movies or shows starring majority Asian casts.

Mariko Carpenter, the Vice President of Strategic Community Alliances at Nielsen, talked to Screen Rant about Asian American representation and discussed the significance of Shang-Chi. Screen Rant brought up that Simu Liu would play the first ever Asian lead in a superhero feature film, and asked him how he’d describe the excitement for the movie to those who don’t fully understand the hype:

 “I don’t blame people for not knowing, if they’re not from a minority group. But I really hope that they’ll see that it is important. That it means a lot to our community to get that opportunity… The one time when it’s the first, it becomes scrutinized. Because you are the first, and there’s no one else, so you’re expected to be everything and all of it, to everybody.”

Carpenter also talks about the value in movies like Shang-Chi being that they are able to give young children dreams. “If they’re interested in becoming someone who does animation or an actor, to be able to know that there’s somebody who looks like me. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” Similarly, this is important to the Asian community in large. Carpenter says that much of the Asian community live in multi-generational homes, which leads to lots of influence from family, such as parents and grandparents. If parents and grandparents don’t see Asian Americans in the field of politics, sports, or the arts, they will try to steer their children away from those industries because they don’t see the potential.

One of the major hurdles or barriers of entry in any industry can simply be, knowing whether or not success is even a possibility. For many Asian Americans growing up in the US, Hollywood and entertainment in large may have seemed like lofty goals because there simply weren’t that many Asian faces in successful positions. Hopefully, the recent growth in Asian-led content, and stories about the Asian American experience will change this for the generation of children growing up today.