4. Avoiding Racial Controversy
As co-writer Drew Pearce so astutely offered in
our interview with him ahead of the film's release, the original character of The Mandarin was designed as a racial stereotype - a product of a different time, informed by prejudices and open xenophobia. As such, to present him the same way could have ran the risk of inciting a debate and attracting the kind of negative publicity that is fatal to this sort of film. The clever reinvention of the character side-stepped the problem, and in fact in a way also turns a mirror back on Hollywood for continuing some of the same dangerous tactics. In a way, the way Pearce and Shane Black present this new Mandarin feels like a conscious nod to the continued demonisation of certain foreign groups, and national stereotypes in modern big budget film-making. Even in a supposedly informed world, it remains fair game to present "foreigners" as universally bad for narrative purpose with dangerous connotations (see GI Joe: Retaliation for proof), since the dynamic created between the key villains of the piece works to the same end. And speaking of which...