Shang-Chi, the Kung-Fu Master who was cast aside by the Chinese

Joel

Marvel's most recent release, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," received extraordinary comments and booming revenue worldwide. A blockbuster is the first Asian superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that intends to bring the Chinese culture into the spotlight. Its arrival was even boasted to help relieve the hostility towards Asian Americans due to the pandemic. It seems everyone was fascinated — even a Beijing film producer, Jin Yang, heaped praise on the depiction of Chinese culture.

However, personally speaking, Shang-Chi is no different from other marvel superheroes; only he is wearing tangzhuang but not a cape. The hero was born to fulfill the expectation of the west's stereotypes of Chinese culture, randomly constituting a fantasy story of dragons, martial arts, and bamboo.

In short, the story circles at the mysterious ten rings — an artifact that empowers the owner with immortality and strengths. Xu Wenwu (Shang-Chi's father) has invaded everywhere for over a thousand years until he met Ying Li. Unfortunately, Li died, and Wenwu soaked himself into hatred and cruelty again. So our hero Shang-Chi, with his bestie Katy, must stop his pa from slaughtering and unleashing a horrible monster from a dimensional portal. *pfft*

The character design of Shang-Chi was awful, honestly. Quote to Matt Lynch, a famous movie reviewer, Shang-Chi is only a Justice enforcer with no unique personality and mental conflicts. He's never struggled between the Chinese-emphasized family value and antagonizing his pa. Everything came so hasty and unexplained — From his sudden pursuit of liberalism and fled from his birthplace to insisting on righteousness and extermination of his father.

In an act, Wenwu reached the spirit tablet of his wife and worshiped her with sorrow, respect, and missing. What got my mind blown is, Shang-Chi chased and blew him up with no hesitation in the next second. I mean, a son just tried to butcher his dad in a solemn place meant to show filial piety, with not much concern about destroying the ancestors' tablets on the back.

It’s all about the money.

Argh. The failure of "Shang-Chi" just fitted in Martin Scorsese's criticism, a well-known filmmaker who believes superhero movies were no artworks but only theme park rides that earn money.

The stereotype never changes, but only repacked in epic battles between giant CGI dragons. We all know the Marvel studio could have avoided some nonsense scenes with the budget. There are a couple of decent fights, but boasting Shang-Chi as a symbolic milestone might be a bit disingenuous. Hiring Asian actors to do wirework flips is still far away to represent the beauty of Chinese culture.

To sum, Shang-Chi is only a bland product designed to enter the international market in a risk-free way. Adjustments were only made to retcon the accusations about racism in comics' history to introduce the movie to China. The capitalism is too obvious; no wonder China has hesitation in approving "Shang-Chi."