Marvel’s new movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings brings Asian representation to the big screen. The movie tells the origin of Shang-Chi, a martial-arts master who must confront his past and reconnect with his roots to unravel his abrupt involvement with the mysterious Ten Rings organization. Shang-Chi takes place after Avengers: Endgame and is set to be another blockbuster hit.
This movie creates a positive subject for many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at a time where they’ve experienced many negative events. Shang-Chi grants them a time of celebration as they experience a culturally significant movie. Minorities have a history of being underrepresented for years but as movies realize their profitable growth, more and more diverse casts are shown. Marvel’s decision to produce this movie shows how they’re aware of a need and interest in the representation of minorities. They’ve built off of their success with Black Panther, a movie that showed black representation.
Asian communities have experienced a huge rise in representation due to the movies Crazy Rich Asians, Parasite, and Minari. More representation of people of color greatly affects the younger generation. We grew up with less diverse casts, but the younger generations are able to see diversity firsthand in blockbuster movies. Marvel’s movie is a bigger leap in representation since we get to see an Asian superhero. Asian kids and even adults now have a superhero that they can relate to.