Yahoo News Iron Fist star dismisses criticism of his casting
Iron Fist has been overshadowed by the controversial casting of Finn Jones - but the Danny Rand star insists that the series is not guilty of having a 'white saviour' narrative.
Many people believe that lead character Danny should have been played by an Asian-American and subvert a number of offensive tropes. Danny is white in the comics, but the source material is problematic - with arguments of cultural appropriation.
Asian-American representation in the media is also severely lacking, and Iron Fist could have been an opportunity for Marvel to counter that.
Although he is playing the role, Finn Jones says that he "gets the need for diversity" and "stands up for people across all borders".
"I get where that frustration comes from," he told BuzzFeed. "I get the need for diversity and equality in television and film and, well, actually in every aspect of life. Right now, we live in a culture and a world where we are very unequal in politics, in economics, and in culture.
"We are being f**ked over massively by the top dudes. I stand up for people. I stand up for people across all borders."
Jones claimed that people are being too quick to judge, saying that Danny is the "complete opposite" of a white saviour.
"There needs to be more diversity in television and film, especially for Asian actors," he said. "With this instance in particular, what I struggle with and what frustrates me is that people are commenting on the headline without understanding the full picture, without understanding the full story.
"What you'll find with the way that we're telling this story is, we're addressing the issues that people are very concerned about in a very intelligent and modern way.
"Danny Rand is not a white saviour. Danny Rand can hardly save himself, let alone an entire race of people. He is a very complicated, vulnerable individual. He doesn't just show up like, 'Hey dudes, I've just learned martial arts! I'm going to save the world'.
"Actually, it's the complete opposite. He's gone through and suffered immense trauma, and he is struggling to claim his own sanity and identity back."
It will be interesting for sure how the writers will tackle this - and the fact that Colleen Wing appears to be Danny's Asian love interest. Although Jessica Henwick, who plays Colleen, says that the scripts will be 'inspecting' that particular stereotype.
"When they approached me about Colleen, I was a bit like, 'Huh, do I want to play an Asian woman who does martial arts who's a love interest?'" she told Collider.
"I had some concerns, and [executive producer] Jeph Loeb rang me and he said, 'We're going to take the stereotype and we're going to - we're not going to avoid it, we're going to inspect it'."
Iron Fist launches on Netflix on March 17.
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