They do a bit more with it in the 1990 movie, sure he does the martial arts master thing but his philosophical leanings are more about encouraging the bonds between the turtles as brothers, as family. A tact he also takes with a wannabe Foot ninja who used his connection to April to get Splinter abducted and held hostage by the Shredder by reminding him that (ideally) all fathers care for their sons. And somehow, the idea that he mimics Hamato Yoshi is on the surface less stupid that the book of Ninjitsu.Batou667 said:I'm in the same boat. At best this raises a "meh" from me - Shredder never struck me as really being any distinct enthnicity back when I watched the cartoons, all you can see are his not-particulary-Oriental eyes and a bit of not-particularly-tanned skin.Uriel_Hayabusa said:I want to make one small remark regarding the racebending Shredder would have had if Fichtner had played him.
Is it really that big of a deal?
I mean, when there's similar outcry regarding movies like Argo I can understand it since it involved an existing person; but from what I remember being Japanese has never been a big part of Shredder's character.
The only really "Japanese" character in the cartoon I remember was Master Splinter, and that was in the most clichéd, "Ah so, Daniel-san" vein of stereotyping a martial arts master. Hardly a deep and accurate minority character worthy of "celebration"...
So yeah, I'm not surprised that Bob yet again noted this "whitewashing", but I'd have to ask - does it really matter every time? Especially when other characters in various movie/comic franchises are getting race-swapped and gender-swapped with some regularity now?
As for Shredder having to be Japanese, in the Turtles universe it seems that the Foot Clan exist in place of the Yakuza and since we're using Nnjas as set dressing, it's a courtesy we should extend. Also, since Yoshi didn't bail because of a moral objection or a sudden attack of conscience: he left because the act of beating Oroku Nagi to death, regardless that he found him beating his wife (possibly after raping her), was an act like unto the unauthorised killing of a Made Man in La Cosa Nostra - he was happy to be an assassin/gangster until he ran afoul of the rules himself.
The idea that a line of indiscretions and fuck ups made by members of the Foot Clan over what is essentially high school bullshit led to the creation of the greatest force of good to fight against them is also very funny.