Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu recently responded to comments made by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who seemingly criticized huge superhero franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In his response, Liu praised Disney and appeared to lambast Tarantino's films, as well as those of Martin Scorsese, going further and linking the auteurs to the "white as hell" Hollywood Golden Age. That's not an inaccurate description of that period of cinema history, but all things considered, Liu is still backing the wrong side.

Yes, Hollywood's Golden Age and the decades that followed were overwhelmingly "white," but Disney is not some champion of minority voices. In fact, at times, it has been a worse gatekeeper than Tarantino or Scorsese have ever been. Take the Tibetan community as just one example. The fact that there are few mainstream Tibetan-focused films out there is not for lack of trying, and Disney helped make it this way.

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Disney Has Stifled Plenty of Diverse Voices

Kundun

Under former CEO Michael Eisner, Disney refused to properly promote 1997's Kundun, a film that happened to be directed by Scorsese and told the story of the 14th Dalai Lama, just because it upset the Chinese Communist Party. Even in recent years, Disney has continued to erase Tibetan characters where they would have appeared. Audiences can look no further than Doctor Strange's Ancient One to see that.

Even if viewers just take a look at Marvel Studios and the MCU and assume that's what Liu is trying to defend, there are so few films placing people of color front and center. Of the ones released so far, there has been Black Panther and Shang-Chi, the latter of which has been heavily speculated -- with good reason -- to have been produced, along with Mulan, in the hopes of allowing Marvel Studios to break into the Chinese market, rather than to raise Chinese-American voices.

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What Have Scorsese and Tarantino Done?

Martin Scorsese standing center of frame

Meanwhile, Scorsese has actually aided cinema all across the globe through his World Cinema Project, which seeks to restore and/or preserve films that would have otherwise been lost to time, kept forever from the spotlight. For countries like Taiwan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and countless more, their loss might have been devastating. Not just because of the loss of the films themselves, but what they would have represented or entire cultural movements. Even Tarantino has done his part to share the spotlight with filmmakers who might have otherwise gone unnoticed by Hollywood.

South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho rocketed to international fame after the release of Parasite, which went on to win four Academy Awards. This major success followed several smaller films, including Snowpiercer and Okja, and along Bong's journey, Tarantino helped raise his voice, either by speaking about him in the press and comparing Bong to the likes of Steven Spielberg or by screening Bong's films at his New Beverly Cinema.

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Can the MCU Tell the Right Stories?

Simu Liu in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

But even if moviegoers were to overlook every shady thing Disney has done in the past and focus on everything coming in the future, what would they see? The Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Disney-owned properties are fantastic pieces of cinema for many, regardless of what Scorsese and Tarantino might think. They may not be masterpieces, but they're an engaging form of escapism, which is what a lot of the audience is looking for at the end of the day.

But those films do not function as adequate forms of representation, as Liu seems to think they do. In fact, they need to be pushed by the kind of films that Tarantino and Scorsese have supported throughout their careers in the industry. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings doesn't tell a Chinese-American or Chinese story. It touches on themes and cultural markers that have been more adequately depicted in films like The Joy Luck Club -- to the chagrin of many Asian-Americans -- or even Awkwafina's more recent The Farewell. Huge media conglomerates like Disney only suppress these stories and offer scraps of representation in their stead.

Catch Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, available for streaming on Disney+.