Eh he's fine as Loras on GoT, making Danny Rand asian american would've been an interesting dramatic choice. Screw the source material, it's license that you can do whatever you want with. And lawls at people complaing about PC culture and what not.
I'm torn because as you said it could fit well and we are lacking minority representation. But the story is also already unique as it shows a white person out of place/as the minority in a dominant culture. Which is also very unexplored in mainstream culture.
(This is assuming he's in K'un Lun not New York for most of it).
I also read an interesting article saying that specifically race changing the martial arts hero would reinforce stereotypes. Not sure what my thoughts are on that.
Avatar, Last of the Mohicans, and other white-man-becomes-adopted-savior-type stories already do plenty of that. Honestly, it'd be cool to see a native rise up and save his own culture in Hollywood for once.
I think that making Danny an Asian-American would be perfect for that one reason you speak of. An outsider learning about, and embracing a different culture than his own. As an Asian-American, I grew up feeling as white as my classmates, and really felt a disconnect with 'my culture', or basically, my parent's culture. It was only when I grew up, and went for an extended stay my parent's home country, did I really get to learn about, gradually understand and adapt to my heritage/ancestral culture. It was hard, and initially, I really came at it from the perspective of an outsider, a foreigner, but in the end, I came out of the experience with a greater understanding/appreciation of my heritage.
Having Danny Rand as a white guy, strips a precious chance at having such a narrative told(Asian-American reconnecting with his roots + an Asian-American as a lead character!!! Wasn't the last Asian guy in H-town who did that Bruce Lee?? Been too long in the coming!), and also, kinda reeks of elitism/racism(I don't like the whole 'white man learns native's skills, and becomes the best/their champion in the end' narrative).
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