Disney has been on the receiving end of much criticism for a lot of its decisions lately. Beginning with choosing to cast actress Halle Bailey in the role of Princess Ariel in The Little Mermaid. While many have claimed that this has been Disney pandering to “woke” audiences, the casting has also seen a lot of support. Disney has also been receiving backlash for their upcoming Peter Pan and Wendy, which has a Disney+ straight-to-streaming release in April. Now, another fan has shared that they’re worried Disney will ruin this upcoming feature of a beloved fan favorite.
Disney has been making the favorite graphic novel American Born Chinese into a tv-show. The graphic novel is by author Gene Luen Yang and was first published in 2006. It tells the story of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy who struggles to fit in at school; the Monkey King, a legendary figure from Chinese folklore who seeks acceptance from the gods; and Danny, a popular white boy who discovers that his cousin is actually the Monkey King. The novel explores themes of identity, assimilation, and the challenges of growing up as an Asian American.
Fans are worried now that Disney has ruined the whole graphic novel by turning the tv-show into a “dumb action show” and have “stripped away the book’s whole tone and identity in the name of sanitizing it.”
Per an article from the Huron Daily Tribune, “My fear is that by striving to be more progressive and push more social commentary, Disney will ironically ruin one of the smartest social stories I’ve ever read.”
Fans of the book are passionate about seeing the book given its due:
I know this is late, but if they ruin American Born Chinese by making it a generic, save-the-world fantasy, we riot. The only hope I have is that because Gene Luen Yang is an executive producer, it'll carry over the pathos he brought the original
— Kylar (@KylarMerrell) March 22, 2023
Disney+’s American Born Chinese stars the recent Academy Award winners Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan, comedian Ronny Chieng, Yeo Yann Yann, Ben Wang, Daniel Wu, Chin Han, Sydney Taylor and more among a star-studded cast. It’s directed by Lucy Liu and Destin Daniel Cretton.
