Netflix’s Iron Fist is the ultimate TV recommendation for anyone you hate.
The series is the final element in a string of Marvel-Netflix superhero specials (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil) that have been released over the past two years.
Iron Fist was meant to amp audiences up before all three heroes come together in one action-packed, super-series called The Defenders.
It didn’t.
Listen to Laura Brodnik and Tiffany Dunk explain what is so wrong with Iron Fist.
Instead, fans are offered the story of a man who returns to New York after ten years training with a league of elite warrior monks.
He’s back. He’s the ‘chosen one’. He’s incapable of proving to his childhood friends that he is their long lost pal Danny Rand in ten words or less.
He can’t prove it in an episode. He can barely prove it in two.
Watching the character repeatedly shout, “but I AM DANNY RAND,” without immediately listing memories the three would share is the most infuriating television you will see this week. Unless you also watched Married At First Sight.
But it gets worse.
Top Comments
Iron Fist was absolutely woeful.
But why should a character that was created caucasian be changed to fit some social agenda? There are plenty of Asian heroes who were and still are being created in Asia, by Asian cinema, manga, anime and so on. And long may they prosper.
Should Beowulf be reinterpreted as a Muslim to better represent modern Scandinavia?
Should Black Panther be a white South African female because a violent black male character from Africa is cliched?
Should Mary Poppins be recast as a Hispanic male because they perform so much domestic work in the US?
If you have an agenda, you are completely free to grab some note paper or a sketch pad and create your own fictional character that fulfills all the ideals you hold dear. And no doubt in 30 years time it too will be looked upon as hopelessly naive.
Asian people are also living outside of Asia these days, and many of them don't speak their heritage languages anymore, so it is reasonable to assume they should also be represented in Western media as they make up part of the population of the Western world.
With that said, if the program is a mish mash of appropriated culture, I don't know how they would convince and Asian guy to embarrass himself by taking the role.
I couldn't take it seriously that this guy has any martial art skills. My husband and I would end up laughing every time he fought, it looked so terrible!! He can't even stand on one leg without shaking like a geriatric lemur. To be honest, I would rather someone who is a gun martial artist regardless of race.