Simu Liu - "(Not) Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting"
This week's theme is a special twofer: We're tackling the martial artist stereotype, and its close relationship to portrayals of Asian masculinity in Western pop culture. Our special guest is none other than Simu Liu (48:33), star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, out exclusively in theaters on Sept. 3. To kick off this episode, I've invited my friend Keith Chow, editor-in-chief of the pop culture blog The Nerds of Color, to talk about how the pervasive martial artist trope has affected Asians growing up in America in real life, and also to discuss how Hollywood's martial arts projects have employed Asian and Asian American performers from narratives inspired by their own cultures of origin.