![]() ![]() ![]() Then there’s the fact that series and films produced in Hollywood were a large part of my media diet growing up. It’s partly because I experienced such a drastic shift from regularly seeing faces and stories like my own on the screen throughout my childhood and adolescence, to barely seeing any in the past eight years since I moved to the U.S.-just one of many reasons I find comfort in watching Korean dramas and Japanese anime now. I’ve been thinking about why representation in entertainment matters so much to me, as someone who grew up in Asia where I was not part of a minority group. What I didn’t anticipate was that the movie’s distinctly Chinese details would connect me to Shang-Chi in a way I’ve not experienced with any other blockbuster made in Hollywood. Heading into the movie, I knew from teasers that it would celebrate Asian culture through martial arts-inspired fight sequences and a soundtrack featuring artists of diverse Asian descent including Jhené Aiko, Rich Brian and Niki. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton ( Just Mercy), Shang-Chi follows the titular character, played by Simu Liu, who leaves an ordinary life as a valet parker in San Francisco to confront the family legacy built by his estranged father Wenwu (Tony Leung)-both the leader of the Ten Rings crime organization and the owner of the ten rings with supernatural power to which its name refers. It was just one of many knowing moments I experienced throughout Marvel’s first Asian-led superhero film, out in theaters Sept. As silly as it may seem, Jon Jon’s exclamation made me feel like I was in on an inside joke with the filmmakers. I did not expect to hear it on the other side of the world, in a New York City theater, much less in a major production from Hollywood, whose projects centering Asian stories have been few and far between. This Mandarin word does not have a direct translation in English, though it could be likened to “damn.” It’s a term I grew up hearing in Taipei, Taiwan-where I spent the first 18 years of my life-and one I was told to use sparingly. ![]()
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