Simu Liu CALLS OUT Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese versus Simu Liu, this has the movie geek world going nuts. Oh my gosh, this is new school versus old school. It's Asian versus Italian. There are so many layers and there's like 30 subreddit threads about it right now. So let's just break it down, Andrew. Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese were getting that Marvel movies. Simu Liu is a Marvel star. He got back at them. People are taking sides. They dug their feet into the ground. Let's go rewind to the beginning of the discussion, Andrew. Do Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino make a point when they say, you know, cinema's dead. It's really just all sequels and, you know, the characters are bigger than the movie stars. And now they're putting people who aren't even movie stars in there. They're right. Are they wrong? Are they just bitter old men? Well, first of all, disclaimer, we do know Simu Liu personally. So I think a lot of people might be like, oh, you guys are just going to side with Simu. Listen, I actually think Quentin Tarantino and Scorsese, they have a point, but their point comes from the old school. Like for them to say and talk about Marvel movies in the sense, first of all, I don't know why they're focusing on them because Marvel movies to me are like pop music, like Taylor Swift or something. It's good music and it's entertaining and it can hit you in the feels. You can cheer for it. It does share a message. Like a lot of people like it, but also like there's always going to be more like purist form people from the old school that want to criticize it. It's kind of like NBA players from the 80s being like, oh man, this new school game, all they do is shoot threes and try to shake each other and do. And then they only shoot threes and do layups. That's not how basketball was supposed to be played. It's the same argument. It would almost be like Nas criticizing 21 Savage instead of 21 Savage criticizing Nas. But in here there is like a racial representation element, which is where Simu took it to. Now, some people would say, why'd you take it there? They were just keeping it about art and characters and storylines and the unexpected. But he's not wrong either, because at the end of the day, Andrew, I think the Quentin Tarantino was referring to Simu. Maybe not like specifically, specifically, but in a bucket he was, even though on the podcast that he gave the interview, he tried to hedge. He was like, yeah, I'm more talking about Thor or Captain America. Because can you imagine the controversy if he would have been like, yeah, Brie Larson, Simu Liu, you know, they definitely would never have made it to my movies. I just mixed the two accents of Scorsese and Tarantino. Anyway, this is what Simu said. If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I never would have had the opportunity to lead a 400 million plus movie. I'm in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs, but they don't get to point their nose at me or anyone. No movie studio is or ever will be perfect, but I'm proud to work with one that has sustained efforts to improve diversity on screen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I love the Golden Age, too, but it was white as hell. And this is what ended up causing the crazy like movie geek wars of just at least the next week. Yeah, that last bar, I think, was the one that really triggered people. But I will say this, you know, I read Scorsese's response opinion on New York Times from 2019 when he tried to clear up his comments about Marvel movies. And he was like, well, you know, cinema is about the unexpected. And I was like, well, you know, what is unexpected is seeing an Asian superhero, you know, or what is unexpected is seeing these stories of of Miss Marvel, right? The girl from Jersey, the Black Panther one. And I'm just saying, like, these are technically unexpected. What you're talking about, I guess, is a more like societal unexpected versus like the plot line of the movie, right? Yeah. And, you know, obviously, I support Simu in speaking up because that is who he is. He is on Twitter. And he does. He did step up for all Marvel people. Because Quentin, in his interview, he didn't name Simu specifically. He said, Quentin is very smart. He could have been hedging. I'm not saying he is or not. I'm just bringing that point up. Andrew, Simu was right for being able to clap back. Would I have clapped back with those choice of words, that tone specifically, if I was like making that read? Probably not, right? I would have tried to like say it more in a jokey way. But Simu, you know him, man. He takes things. He's a passionate person. He took it to heart because I have heard other people slander him before saying, dude, this guy was like a stock photos guy. And he just got elevated for diversity reasons. If you feel like you're being attacked, you can pop off at somebody else. You know what I mean? Well, you know what, guys? The numbers say what it is, guys. I mean, Shang-Chi, it didn't even have all the Avengers in it. And it still did really well at the box office. And it did not rely on China. So if you're always saying this thing about Simu Liu, they only got him because he's Chinese. He's Chinese. Obviously, Chinese falls in line with the Shang-Chi storyline, of course. But no, they didn't make a billion dollars over in the Chinese market. And I think that that's really my third point, Andrew. It's like there's something so wrong nowadays where everything became tribalistic. This almost became a right wing, left wing issue. Of course, all the right wing commentators who happen to be white or some more like movie geek types, they more took Scorsese and Tarantino's side. You know, I would say people who are definitely pro-hyperdiversity and woke, more quote unquote woke, took Simu's side. And they were both right. Like Tarantino and Scorsese, they're making the right read from their perspective as, you know, old Italian guys who just grew up in Little Italy. And I make great films. I don't know anything about these other diversity things. I just know what I know. That's actually not wrong of Scorsese. To put like all Italian mafia characters in his movies. Because like he's just being who he is. But he also is not taking into consideration the societal benefits that Disney is having now for like underrepresented groups. So they're both right. Like Simu's right. And Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino are kind of right too. But obviously, I'm more rolling with Simu ultimately. But even though they're talking about two different things. Also, who would have thought Tarantino, this like amazing filmmaker, right? Who made a lot of some amazing movies. Some of the greatest movies. He's going to be dissing on Disney and Marvel. Like I just don't even, to be honest, I don't think they're in the same lane. And if you agree, and I agree from like a filmmaking aspect that I don't put their movies in the same lane. So for Tarantino's sake, you don't need to compare yourself to Marvel. Like I said, it's pop music. There was some element of like, even though what they said in a vacuum was true. Some people were saying, well, clearly it's motivated by them not feeling relevant anymore. Or Tarantino feeling like, you know, Tarantino, he's a lot younger than Scorsese. He technically could make a lot more films. But they're saying he's feeling like Hollywood became too woke for him. It became too commercialized and like taking global markets into consideration. Because it's true. When you make artsy stuff, it's hyper like localized to that country, to those like neighborhoods. When you market something for global consumption, a lot of people just like, they don't get those type of movies. Right. I feel like Scorsese is like, yeah, it's just I feel like the Italian mafia movies just don't do as well as they used to. We have a hundred great ones. And you made a lot of them. And not only that, the Irishman was like super boring. Oh, and by the way, Scorsese didn't even give the most proper shout out to Infernal Affairs, which is the actual story that he took that departed from, where he just goes at the Oscars. Just shout out to Asian cinema. It's like, if you're going to copy a movie like seven out of 10 shot for shot, you don't even like the angles. Like what, you know what I mean? Like you got, you owe it more than that. And I think here's the thing about having podcasts and interviewing the old guys. They always end up saying something that is just from a different generation. Like if me and you got interviewed about TikTokers, Andrew, we would end up saying something that was kind of true, but bitter, right? Bro, every generation looks at it, guys. People looked at YouTubers this way. YouTubers looked at Viners this way. And then we're all looking at TikTokers this way. Let's be honest. Let's be real. When you feel like that your generation is, that people are, once you feel like that people are past your generation. They're pushing you to the side. It is natural to feel this way. So that's why I don't really hate them for it. But I will say, let's be honest and let's be clear here. I'm not saying they're the most racist dudes, right? I'm just saying they're old school guys and they did not care about diversity or representation, especially when it comes to Asians. So now people are extra mad that it's Simu, who's Asian, stepping up for everybody. And it was crazy to see some of the white movie geeks. To be honest, I do think most movie geeks are probably white, right? Because Hollywood was dominated by white people for so long and they want to see representation for themselves, which is logical. They were pointing out seven years in Tibet. They were pointing out just ridiculous examples of why. They're like, look at Bong Joon-ho. He gave Scorsese a shout out. That's diversity. It's like, no, it's not. That's just him admiring his incredible filmmaking talent. We're talking about two different things here. Filmmaking talent, morality, societal diversity, and how diverse in your mind and your heart you are, are all completely separate compartments that have almost no correlation. Yeah, I do think that you can make an argument. Oh, cinema was more pure back in the day when I would just tell a story and everybody was forced to watch it. But now people can choose. Quentin Tarantino is working on a new movie or a new show. I mean, he can make it. And I'm sure a lot of people are going to tune in. But if- He's not entitled to make it like a thousand percent exactly from his brain and have society react the exact same way they did 30 years ago. Yeah, I mean, no one's arguing that Marvel movies deserve Oscars. Trust me, Tarantino, you're still going to win the Oscar over the Marvel movies. I get it. And that's fair. I'm not even arguing that. So that's why it's just like a weird thing to get at them and whatever. But you know what? A Seymour Voices opinion and what he said, actually, a lot of people agree with, although people wouldn't agree with the tone. I would have used a different tone, but I think I would have even brought out more receipts. I would have brought out how Scorsese didn't show the Hong Kong cinema love, proper, you know, allocated love. I would bring out how Tarantino has never had a strong Asian male character. And he played out Bruce Lee. Yeah, Lucy Liu killing a bunch of people. And like, I guess like 6,000 crazy 88s dying and like kill Bill. That's not good representation for Asian dudes. I'm not saying he doesn't like, you know, all the samurai movies and all the, you know, he didn't help hero. But it's like, as far as like Asian American representation, Asian guys in Western films, his reputation of both those guys. It's not that good. Yeah. I mean, overall, to wrap this up, like, I don't hate Quentin for this comment. Like, this is not the worst thing I even think Quentin Tarantino has done, to be honest. I mean, there's been controversy of him on set as a director with Uma Thurman, all this stuff. And he is a great director. I remember the first time I saw Dust Till Dawn when I was young. It like, first of all, I don't know why I was watching that movie as a kid, but like, it was, it's seared into your mind forever. He's an incredible artist. So just for all you movie geeks out here that are about the brigade in the comments section, just letting you know, he's incredible as an artist. We have friends who go to film school and they talk a lot about Scorsese and Tarantino. No, it's true. They're not using Marvel movies as the example. And no, Marvel movies don't necessarily inspire the next Tarantino to make movies. Maybe I guess Tarantino would inspire the next Tarantino. I get that. But I just think that they're almost different types of movies. And movies is one big thing. And then maybe if you want to, and I'm not like a cinema geek, but if you want to narrow down cinema to a certain specific definition, then it's different. But I just don't think comparing the two makes any sense. I really don't think so. Long story short, man, they were both right in their own ways. I support Simu's ability. You know, I noticed that the comments were getting kind of racist against Simu. Calling him like a plant from the CCP, saying he got a small weenie. Every time an Asian guy steps up and says something, people are going to call him out for being Asian. People are always going to make fun of him. And that's just very normalized, to be honest, right? Yeah. I mean, because it's just like, yeah, Asian dudes is still coming up in the Western game. And like I said, I wouldn't have said it how we said it, but let's just let it be there. You know, I just had no idea, Andrew, that the movie geek world was this polarized. But actually, apparently, people just act like it's like a war. Well, you know, I think movies reflect the times and people's kind of cultural space. And they feel like, oh, the world's moving on without me or my perspectives going outdated. That means people aren't going to like me. And oh, are white guys getting called out for every single thing that we ever say? I mean, the world is changing, guys. So I'm just saying, I don't know. I don't know how to deal with it. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Like I said, I'm thinking this is going to dominate the internet debates for the next week or so. And yeah. Shout out to Simu. Obviously, shout out to Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, great filmmakers. But perspective, a little outdated. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for watching. Let us know in the comments down below. Hit that like button. Until next time, we out. Peace.