White Privilege: When You Blame Your Shitty TV Show on Trump Haters
Sunny afternoons are meant for hikes and people-watching at the newest installment in Downtown LA — but as luck would have it — I was in the mood for Vietnamese food and my steady companion for all these months — Netflix.
I peeped the arrival of Iron Fist when I came across an interesting assessment from the lead actor Finn Jones. Unlike most anticipated shows that are slotted in the roster of the top streaming giant — this latest addition is not performing up to expectations.
The critics haven’t been kind to this one — of course that peeked my interest.
The Atlantic summed it up perfectly:
“The new Netflix show suffers from a blank, unsympathetic, and entitled central character.”
Ouch! I tend not to give into the wiles of critics that are too often swayed by the current climate of demand. I liked Hidden Figures but it definitely wasn’t the movie of the year — but I get why there was the need to make it so.
After enduring four episodes of Iron First — I have to say that the critics are right on the money.
The show is excruciatingly bad to the point of disbelief. Maybe, I’m exaggerating or maybe I’m just being passionate about the fact that I hate watching shit that thinks it’s the shit when it’s so far from that shit.
Iron Fist boasts a cast led by Finn Jones who is the kind of actor that needs to rely on his youthful good looks, bushy blond locks and lean physique — in order to bamboozle his way through awkward lines and the less than stellar homage to the martial arts montage — that he engages in with co-star Colleen Wing, played by Jessica Henwick.
The real buzzkill is the fact that the acting on the show is shallow and weird — as each of the characters go through the motions with a level of emptiness that leaves viewers wishing that acting classes actually produced reliable talent.
I hung in there long enough to herald actress Carrie-Ann Moss who I adore. She plays the attorney who tries to bail out the misunderstood hero from the threat of being regulated away from his destiny.
Jones plays the role of Danny Rand, a guy who lost his billionaire parents at a very young age and was forced to hustle like a regular “G” — until he reappears to reclaim his life. Obviously he encounters mountains of obstacles that he tries to scale above with movements that are supposed to wow us but only end up suffocating any hopes that this show will elevate much needed interest.
Once it was understood that Iron Fist had fallen short of its predecessors on Netflix’s Marvel schedule — the lead actor, understandably bereft and desperate, set out to construct the ideal theory explaining why he and the cast are the victim of the times:
“I think the world has changed a lot since we were filming that television show. I’m playing a white American billionaire superhero, at a time when the white American billionaire archetype is public enemy number one, especially in the US.
“We filmed the show way before Trump’s election, and I think it’s interesting to see how that perception, now that Trump’s in power… how it makes it very difficult to root for someone coming from white privilege, when that archetype is public enemy number one.”
Nice try, Finn Jones, you almost had me at:
“We filmed the show way before Trump’s election.”
The truth is that Iron Fist sucks ass. And, yes, it is fair to assume that most people of color will yawn themselves back to the nostalgia of Luke Cage in order to recover from the first or second episode.
Life happens, and sometimes the best of intentions never quite realize — due to rubbish editing, stilted dialogue, and a superhero that isn’t relatable or even fascinating enough to garner our approval.
Donald Trump should be blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong in this sweet nation of ours — including TV shows that could thrive without his overbearing presence — but alas, we can’t honestly assign him this one with a straight face.
No, Danny Rand doesn’t resonate because he is a White guy who enjoys his shady disposition a little too much for his own good. He likes to dress in rags, he rustles his unkempt hair with pleasure and you can tell from the start that he doesn’t have to be a homeless wrecker but chooses to be — for the time being.
How very White of him! The notion that you can link up with the unfortunate ones with the quiet comfort of a bloated bank account and a name that owns the streets.
He is a rich bastard with a bright future and the disposition of an ungrateful bastard, saddled with the immense responsibility of astutely navigating the “White Man’s Burden.”
That’s precisely what pisses us off.
So, we can conclude that Finn Jones eloquently summarized Rand as “someone from privilege.” He’s “public enemy number one.”
That’s why it doesn’t take Trump haters to hate what is so easy to dismiss with the blink of an eye.
Sorry Netflix, try again.
