I won’t deny that Age of Ultron has some problems when it comes to its characterization of women. (I’m looking at you Black Widow.) But I’m not here to argue about that. I’m here to tell you about Dr. Helen Cho, South Korean geneticist who’s lab near instantaneously rebuilds tissue and practically 3D prints organs but better than 3D printing.
Nicole Soojung Callahan at the Toast gives us a list of why Helen Cho is important:
With Helen Cho in Age of Ultron, we get an Asian woman in a big-budget major motion picture who:
- has a name,
- gets more than thirty seconds of screen time,
- does not die immediately after being introduced,
- has no apparent martial arts skills,
- is neither a math tutor nor a geisha,
- gets to talk and say smart things — even in a roomful of white characters, who actually shut up for a minute and listen to her when she is explaining her science and why she’s a boss,
- does not exist solely to give some white lady no one cares about questionable relationship advice, and
- is not a crime lord and/or running a shady as fuck business out of a big scary warehouse.
When you put it like that, it really does seem like Asian women aren’t very well represented on-screen.
Well, yeah, duh.
Dr. Helen Cho doing her science thing, doing it well, and doing it without having to justify her presence and expertise to white men who don’t know anything about the field in which she’s the leading expert.
So, I consider it a small victory that Dr. Cho exists in such a blockbuster film that, as of this morning, grossed $1 billion. Does she actually get very much character development? Unfortunately not. BUT, she is pivotal to the plot of the film and she isn’t immediately killed off once she’s “outlived” her narrative usefulness. Even better, she’s played by actual South Korean Claudia Kim. Another point for realizing that Asian women are not interchangeable.
Which is a lot more than I have come to expect with women, especially women of color, in major film.
It isn’t much, but it’s a step in the right direction. So here’s to hoping Helen Cho and her awesome organ printing cradle will be a part of the future of the MCU, and that she’ll be joined by more ladies somewhere in this line-up.
