NS: Why Dr. Strange's Ancient One is a woman

[lucean]

I just wanted to share this writer explanation as I honestly found it kind of hilarious. So, as some of you may be aware, there has been some dislike about the fact that Tilda Swinton was cast as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange, as the character in the comics was a Tibetan man. The interview can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/world/asia/china-doctor-strange-tibet.html?_r=0

It is a really interesting summary of the interview. Something that baffled me in it was that the writers argument about the Ancient One being an oriental stereotype is true, but what I continue to struggle with is that if they decided to change the ethnicity of the Ancient One because of that, why did decide everything is Tibetan. So in an attempt to avoid racial sensitivity, they decide to have a white person have teach another white person to be the bestest magic while dressed in Tibetan clothes in a Tibetan building surrounded by Tibetan people in Tibet.

The comment that killed me, though, was how insulting the writer considered casting a Chinese woman to act a Tibetan character.

Comments

[owlbrigade1]

Then it is erasure of other cultures.

Sometimes you just have to roll with it and accept the realpolitik of the situation and acknowledge Real Life[trademarked] is inherently full of problematic stuff. I think they did the best they could in squaring the circle. It was either do this or do not use the character, and the same group who have been screaming about the problematic problems are the same ones who were demanding the character show up.

[sadoeuphemist]

??? Very little that happens in Dr. Strange corresponds to Real LifeTM. The Ancient One is not a remotely accurate portrayal of Tibetan culture and mysticism, that's precisely why it's offensive. Frankly, they seem to have taken the worse of both worlds, by keeping the pseudo-oriental mysticism, while at the same time denying an employment opportunity to an Asian actor.

[lilacsigil]

It would only be "erasure of other cultures" if there was Tibetan culture there to begin with, which there wasn't. It was 1960s imagination Tibet. Real Life is indeed full of problematic stuff, and there's plenty of movies about that.