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American Born Chinese (a new Disney+ series, based on the award-winning graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang) might be showing audiences Disney’s newest princesses and heroes when it premieres on May 24 on the streaming service!
In a recent interview, the author of the graphic novel made it clear that American Born Chinese characters need to be made just as big a priority as Disney princesses like Ariel and Marvel heroes like Captain America.
The new Disney+ series called ‘American Born Chinese’ is based on the graphic novel written by author Gene Luen Yang.
“I went to Disneyland on Friday with my son,” Yang said in an interview with Deadline. “It’s Captain America over here, Ariel over here, Moana. The Monkey King and Guanyin and these characters deserve a place on that shelf.”
The man responsible for adapting the novel (which focuses on the Monkey King and the ways that “ancient struggles are only exacerbated by modern culture”) into a TV show, Kelvin Yu, also compared the characters and the story that inspired American Born Chinese (a Chinese tale called “Journey to the West”) to “if Batman and Spiderman had a baby and that baby was named Jesus.”
While comparisons to Jesus might raise some readers’ eyebrows, the popularity of American Born Chinese as a graphic novel means that there might actually be a more significantly-sized group of supporters for Yang’s campaign to promote his characters.
Disney princesses ranging from Ariel to Pocahontas Credit: Disney
Do you think that Disney should be expanding its Character Meet and Greet library to include characters who don’t necessarily fit the standard Disney princess and Marvel superhero norms that its audience has become used to seeing?
Would you like to see American Born Chinese characters like the Monkey King (played by Daniel Wu in the new show) in the Disney Parks, greeting you and your family on your next Disney trip?
The Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Credit: Marvel
For the record, Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh (a martial arts legend who also starred in Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings in 2o21) is starring in the new Disney+ show based on the Gene Luen Yang graphic novel — but Disney probably can’t promise that she herself would portray her character in the Disney Parks!
