Cigarettes on the Prayer Table and Karaoke: How ‘Shang-Chi’ Nails Representation
‘Shang-Chi’ tackles growing up Asian in Western society with brevity and humour in between some very beautiful martial arts scenes. (*Mild spoilers ahead*)
*:・゚ ₍ᐢ•ﻌ•ᐢ₎*:・゚
I’ve been talking about this since the start of this club — But I’ve finally seen ‘Shang-Chi’ now that restrictions have eased in NSW and I FEEL REPRESENTED AND SEEN.
It’s been said a lot, but growing up ABC (Australian/American-born Chinese), you don’t get to see a lot of Asian characters on screen, and when you do it’s often secondary roles like a doctor or the IT guy. (Please stop doing this, you’re giving our parents too much hope!!!). So it’s VERY refreshing to see an Asian lead in a superhero tentpole film. It is indeed very historic.
🍿 The story follows Shaun/Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and his bff Katy (Awkwafina) who both work as parking valets at a hotel, leading lady of leisure lives - hanging at bars and doing karaoke. They’re RUDELY attacked on a bus by henchmen sent by his father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), the leader of an organisation called the Ten Rings. After telling Katy about his daddy issues, Shaun, Katy, and Shaun’s sister Xu Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) are forced to help Wenwu search for a mythical village and his apparently missing mother, Ying Li (Fala Chen).
🍿 The film, made in New South Wales and directed by Destin Cretton is beautifully shot, funny, relatable and is the kind of story that’s so underrepresented in modern Hollywood.
It’s clear a lot of thought has been put into it — the bus fight sequence for instance, took over a year to choreograph and includes a homage to Jackie Chan’s ‘Rumble in the Bronx’, where both fights involve the use of a jacket!
The mating dance - I mean - fight between Wenwu and Ying Li in the opening scene is very beautiful and tender and a very different kind of meet cute. It’s wuxia inspired, full of smouldering gazes, and Fala Chen said this about staring at Tony Leung in which I really don’t blame her at all!!!!!
“I was blushing and it was like my heart was racing. I mean, it's impossible to just stay calm and cool. I remember that my first day on set was already that scene with Tony. And I asked the production to have someone to basically calm me down.”
Leung as a villain is great, he’s multi-dimensional, and though he does heinous things (like being a Disappointed Father and killing people), there’s certain side to him where you’re kinda like, wow he is doing this for love, even though it’s crazy toxic. (Pls Break the cycle!)
🍿 The representation of Asian culture is accurate and thoughtful. Everything from the bowl-style hair cuts, struggling to respond to family in your native language so you switch back to English, taking your shoes off in the house, karaoke, inquisitive (invasive) grandmas and aunties, and prayer table offerings that include cigarettes and Hennessy. Using or having an English name (Shaun vs Shang) is quite common (though tbf my dad refused to give me an English name!)
🍿 My only gripe is the final third falls prey to Marvel theatrics - with very CGI heavy sequences and fights. I much prefer the film when it’s pared back and more intimate, but totally get they want to deliver something bigger for the finale.
🍿 Awkwafina’s Katy was my favourite character. She works as a parking valet, wears a bumbag, and doesn’t really know what she wants to do in life. It’s super relatable. Nora Lum, aka Awkwafina, previously said Katy is going through a kind of conflict a lot of Asian-Americans face. “It’s a mixture of, ‘What do I want to do? What am I supposed to be doing? What do my parents want me to be doing? What does the world want me to be doing?’”
Honouring your parents and being obedient is a key tenet of Asian upbringing, and a lot of that can spawn feelings of obligation and guilt. It’s SO NICE to have a character who is like it’s OKAY to not know what you want.
🍿 ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is the kind of story and representation that’s been missing a lot in mainstream movies. Having this movie will no doubt change a lot of Asian kids’ lives because you really need to see something to be able to dream it. This movie would have changed my life as a kid, and arguably it has to an extent now, as its so empowering for me. I hope it is for everyone else too. Honestly, if I had this during my teen years it would have solved a lot of growing pains!!!
Thanks so much for making it to the bottom!!!
Love and warmest virtual regards,
frankie’s MILKSHAKE CLUB