(Getty Images/Universal Pictures)
Matt Damon’s upcoming film, The Great Wall, features the movie star battling monsters that attack China, but Constance Wu feels an Asian actor would be better equipped at saving the nation. See below the actress’s full statement accusing the film of perpetuating “the racist myth than only a white man can save the world.”
Wu co-stars on ABC’s “Fresh Off The Boat,” the first-ever sitcom revolving around an Asian-American family, and has been open in the past about Hollywood’s handling of race. After watching the recently released trailer for Damon’s upcoming action epic, Wu posted her adverse reaction in a lengthy Twitter message.
“Our heroes don’t look like Matt Damon,” notes the Taiwanese-American actress. “They look like Malala. Ghandi. Mandela. Your big sister when she stood up for you to those bullies that one time.” As for the notion it’s harder to finance a film starring a lesser known actor of color as opposed to a big name movie star, Wu contends, “Money is the lamest excuse in the history of being human. So is blaming the Chinese investors.” She continued, “If white actors are forgiven for having a box office failure once in a while, why can’t a [person of color] sometimes have one? And how COOL would it be if you were the movie that took the ‘risk’ to make a POC as your hero, and you sold the sh*t out of it?!”
Wu goes on to condemn what she sees as Hollywood’s “repeatedly implied racist notion that white people are superior to POC and that POC need salvation from our own color via white strength.” The actress further argues, “When you consistently make movies like this, you ARE saying that,” adding, “We don’t need salvation. We like our color and our culture and our own strengths and our own stories.” See Wu’s full statement below, as well as the trailer for The Great Wall.
(Twitter)
