The Value of Diversity

Last week, Marvel’s Doctor Strange opened to the world with critic acclaim and astounding box office numbers. The Benedict Cumberbatch-helmed superhero movie beat the box offices of its comps like Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger with an incredible $84.9M…and that’s just domestically. If anything is clear, it’s that Marvel has an unbelievable power to draw people into the theaters — even if there has been bad press surrounding the diversity situation with the casting of Tilda Swinton as “The Ancient One.” I’m not going to lie, I saw it opening weekend because I cannot deny the fact that aside from being Benedict Cumberbatch’s #1 fan, I was curious to see how Swinton’s character actually played out in the narrative. In other words, how valid were the excuses made?

The film was great and Tilda Swinton preformed well, like expected. The race of the character is never addressed in the film, which I believe gave those involved with the film to argue that as a result, casting a white lead is not going against the diversity agenda. But what is bothersome is that they disregarded an opportunity for diversity when the comics very-well featured a minority character. Furthermore, what was concerning to me was not how her character was handled or treated in the film, but how the cast and filmmakers addressed the diversity misstep in the days leading up to the film’s grand opening. By days, I mean days before, which is pretty late entrance into the entire debate about the situation. To summarize the many interviews and soundbites that have circulated the Internet the week prior, they basically say that “we casted an older-woman, so it still counts as diversity.”

False. Casting a female is not diversity, it’s common sense. It’s a seemingly obvious choice considering that 50% of the population is, well, female. So how can they justify the fact that an Asian character is played by a white female? The answer is that they can’t, and that’s why we always run into the same problems regarding representation. And then of course, the same excuses follow.

I will say that I do appreciate the fact that Marvel filmmakers did not try to make Tilda Swinton look Asian or be something that’s she’s obviously not as previous filmmakers have been seen to do. Refer to Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or James D’Arcy in Cloud Atlas for some iconic examples of Hollywood racism. Tilda Swinton defends Marvel’s casting decision by saying,

“You just have to wait and see, because it’s not an Asian character.”

This excuse is troublesome on two-fronts. First, all they’re saying is that we should go to the theaters to decide for ourselves, so in the end, they get the money from the box office but don’t really care to address the inherent problem. Second, it doesn’t acknowledge the fact that the comics that the movie is adapted from featured an Asian characters — so what happened to him?

Now that I have waited and seen, I think I can still conclusively determine that I wish Marvel had done the proper thing and casted an Asian to play the character (as was intended). If not, at least apologize for the mistake they had made and vow to be active advocates and enforcers of diversity like they claim to be.