#this didn't touch on the weird replies ive read of ppl saying shit like simu liu isn't attractive or they just don't care abt shang chi

[thorstday]

so! i've seen a lot of stuff regarding shang-chi on my dash that i just wanted to vent about

there's a lot of claims that it isn't being promoted enough by disney, and i can't say it isn't true that it's not being promoted as much as other mcu films, but i have definitely still seen tons of ads for it. from the huge ad in times square to the constant pop ups on fandom.com to the trailer being played literally every commercial break on the canadian tv channels i watch... while i wouldn't be suprised if someone showed me that there's a drastic difference in how much was spent promoting shang-chi compared to, say, any of the three spidey movies, i really do think there was still quite a large amount of money put into advertising. the fact that maybe mcu fans/blogs aren't talking about it is a different matter lol

another thing! while i do not and cannot speak for other east asians, speaking from my own view as a chinese canadian, i really hate the sentiment of "you should support the movie in theaters for the sake of representation." i am not paying disney because they're "giving" us representation. it's true that this is a huge step and an amazing first for the franchise, but at the end of the day, this is just another way for disney to make profit. if you don't want to go watch in theaters, then don't. i will side-eye anyone doesn't watch shang-chi but will financially support anything else the mcu puts out, but like... that's their personal problem.

on a personal note. i've been asked to see it in theaters, but i'm not going because there's still a pandemic going on? idk about how it is everywhere else, but there has been a surge in cases where i am and our healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. i'm not going to pay money to risk the health of me and everyone in the theater so i can send a message to hollywood about how profitable it is to make movies about marginalized groups or whatever <3

marvel will continue to make movies regardless. even if shang-chi gets record breaking numbers in the box office, that won't change whatever plans they already have in place, which is more white people as main characters, because that's safe and that will guarantee they will make money. sounds pretty pessimistic, i know, but how could you not be when looking at anything regarding disney?