By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, April 28: The makers of the upcoming Marvel Studio’s superhero movie ‘Doctor Strange’ found themselves in a controversy for casting Tilda Swinton as a Tibetan character, the Ancient One.
Owing to the fear of losing and offending China and its government, one of their biggest and most lucrative markets after the US, the makers had scrapped the Tibetan origin of the character. The Ancient One played by Swinton was based on a Tibetan master who becomes Doctor Strange’s mentor and teacher in the original marvel comic books.
The C Robert Cargill, the Screenwriter of the movie, in an interview explained, “The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people.”
He also added there was the risk factor of Beijing banning the movie if they cast a Tibetan for the role. He said that the China may go, ‘Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We’re not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.’
Although the writer acknowledged the character was indeed a Tibetan and that the titular character does hone his sorcery skills in Tibet. However, the trailer shows Doctor Strange in what looks like Nepal searching for the Ancient One.
Gelek Badheytsang, a Tibetan based in Canada wrote in his article on Vice, “The very fact of my existence is a sore point for the Chinese government. Cargill and his ilk would like you to believe that their hands are tied on this matter, but I don’t buy it. Their influence over our (and the Chinese audience’s) decision to buy tickets to their shows extends beyond just cold hard economics.”
The Oscar winning actress playing a character who was originally a Tibetan male said that the script that she was presented with did not feature an Asian man for her to play, so that was never a question when she was being asked to do it.
“It all will be revealed when you see the film, I think. There are very great reasons for us to feel very settled and confident with the decisions that were made,” said Tilda Swinton.
