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

(frozen comment)

[long_silence]

I pretty much lost all hope for this movie when they cast the most milquetoast mayonnaise whitebread actor they could find for Stephen Strange.

The Marvel movies are practically printing money, they could have cast an actor of literally any ethnicity and it wouldn't change the character at all, and they'd still make bank. And they still went with the safest option possible.

And then they chose Tilda Swinton for the Ancient One and I knew I'd made the right decision not to watch this movie.

Say what you will about the DC movies but at least they're taking a chance with Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller

[md84]

I almost feel sorry for the people who have to make casting decisions. I'm sure most of them have good intentions, but they have to deal with their own prejudices, the prejudices of their superiors, and the prejudices of their target audiences.

If it were me, I'd just stick with using an old Tibetan guy so I could at least claim that I'm just being true to the source material if someone tries to call me out on it (and I say this as an Asian American).

I also think it's kind of hilarious that their attempt at racial sensitivity ended up playing into the old 'Mighty Whitey' trope.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, I think they really, really don't understand the objection to the entire Orientalist premise and are trying to get around it by changing the trappings but not the story. If they had understood, there wouldn't be faceless mystical ninja hordes in the Netflix Daredevil series, either!

[freezer]

Much like The Mandarin, the Ancient One was pretty much a no-win. Change the character, you're whitewashing. Portray the character faithfully, he's one "Confucius Say" away from the whole "Mysterious Oriental Stereotype" bingo card.

I find it interesting that, as least to my perception, more nerds have been up in arms about this than of the whole ScarJo/Ghost In The Shell incoming fiasco. At least, I haven't seen the think pieces and YouTube videos defending Swinton-as-The-Ancient-One yet.

[bj_l]

And where's the link to the producer (or was it director?) who explained a few days before this that "nope, the Ancient One is not Tibetan because we'd really like to see this movie do well in China, thanks"?

[cainofdreaming]

Next: Amistad remake with all white cast to avoid stereotypes.

[janegray]

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

Why would that kill you? It makes perfect sense.

China has been doing horrible, horrible thing to Tibet. And in fact, the article you linked to outright says that the real reason they changed the race of the character was that they didn't want the movie to be banned in China.

It turns out that the filmmakers wanted to avoid the Tibetan origins of the character altogether, in large part over fears of offending the Chinese government and people — and of losing access to one of the world’s most lucrative film markets, according to one insider account.

China is so determined to erase Tibet as its own country with its own people and colture, they would ban a movie for having a Tibetan character in an important role. They absolutely would.

If I were Tibetan, I'd be infinitely more offended by the idea of changing the race of a character from Tibetan to Chinese than from Tibetan to white.

[informationgeek]

It's an interesting issue and I personally thought the writer explained the reasons behind the casting very well to where I can understand why they made the decision.

Now, here's the full interview with the guy. It's an interesting watch, showing the thought process behind writing the movie, how the guy got the job, what Marvel's plans are with Phase 3, and so on:
Click me please

They start discussing the casting choice at 17:55 if you just want to hear that. While I roll my eyes at the SJW comment, I thought he did explain things very well.

[shadowpsykie]

easy solution to this?

The Ancient One has no gender or ethnicity, and appears to Strange in a form his mind would understand.