Before Finn Jones was cast in the title role, a small minority of fans were hoping that Marvel would use this opportunity to diversify the role by casting an Asian-American actor for the upcoming series, Iron Fist. Now, less than two weeks away, this vocal minority recently took to twitter to air their grievances with the Jones, eventually forcing the latter off the social media site. Read on to find out more.
The conflict first came about earlier today after Jones shared Rogue One actor, Ruiz Ahmed’s recent speech to the British parliament about representation. This was swiftly picked up by Geeks of Color Creative Director Asyiqin Haron who replied with disbelief, tweeting:
………….. Are you for real
This prompted Jones to attempt to explain the situation in a diplomatic way, something which eventually led to another response from Haron before the Game of Thrones actor finally decided to delete his account:
https://twitter.com/FinnJones/status/838533828654346242
https://twitter.com/FinnJones/status/838534011022639104
https://twitter.com/FinnJones/status/838534067289264129
https://twitter.com/FinnJones/status/838539262987489280
https://twitter.com/FinnJones/status/838540179384193024
To which Haron said:
“I don’t doubt it. I’m just saying an Asian Danny Rand could’ve made an even bigger impact but sure.”
Haron’s Twitter account is now private.
The actor has since returned to the site, explaining that he left to focus on filming for the upcoming crossover, The Defenders. You can check out Jones’ full statement below.
“There is a huge benefit to engage and help shape conversations on social media, especially when it comes to giving a voice to social matters. My original intention was to amplify a speech made by Riz Ahmed at the House of Commons. It was a very articulate and important speech on representation that I wholly agreed with. After posting I was inundated by people accusing me of not being allowed to share his voice based on an assumption that our show is going to play into the problems of racial inequality on screen. I engaged politely, diplomatically and attempted to bridge the divide. I’m currently in the middle of filming and I need to stay focused on bringing to life this character without judgment, so I decided to remove myself from twitter for the time being.
I am very proud of the work everyone has done on this series and I’m excited for people to see how we’ve adapted the story. We have gone to great lengths to represent a diverse cast with an intelligent, socially progressive storyline. I hope people can watch the show before making judgments. In times, as divisive as these, we need to stay unified, compassionate and understanding in our differences.”
Whilst it is true that Asian superheroes are sorely lacking, I don’t believe that changing Rand’s origin would be the way to go about it. Marvel would be better suited bringing Shang-Chi into the fold with his own series or film. Many fans credit Marvel’s success to their accuracy to the source material (Trevor Slattery and Aged Hank Pym not withstanding). It’s this ability to see the characters they love brought to life on the screen that makes this film so magical.
You can check out an interesting article written by Asyiqin Haron, where she explains the benefits of an Asian American Danny Rand over here. It’s obvious that she is very passionate about the character and she has stated she was merely trying to have a discussion about the character with Jones at the time.
We’ll be able to check out Finn Jones’ Danny Rand when Iron Fist hits Netflix March 17th.
What do you think? Was Jones right to leave Twitter? Would you like to see an Asian American Iron Fist? Let us know below!
Source: Twitter (via Deadline.com)