Why the Mongolia Scene in Loki (2021) was "Low-Key" Racist
Disclaimer: I'm not Mongolian, but I am Asian. If I make any mistakes here, please correct me
In episode 1 of Loki, we see the titular character grab the Tesseract and escape to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia before being promptly arrested by the Time Variance Authority.
The scene lasted about 3 minutes.
In the scene, Loki is approached by, presumably a group of Gobi Desert nomads, is asked by them in Mongolian who he was and why he was there, before being interrupted by the TVA. After a scuffle with them, he is arrested.
Altogether, the Mongolians had a screentime of less than a minute.
This scene follows a trend in the MCU and the greater movie industry where Asian cultures (or more broadly, any non-white or non-Western cultures) are used for aesthetic purposes, treated as props and set dressings, and nothing else.
As of episode 5 (the penultimate episode, so we're very close to the end of the show), this group of Mongolians and Casey (played by Eugene Cordero) are the only Asian people to be seen in the entire show, and neither of them have been seen to have any significant impact on the plot.
Casey had a brief moment to shine in episode 1, but he was never seen again after episode 2. The group of Mongolians in episode 1 didn't have even that.
For some reason, the show went through all the trouble to dress Asian actors up in traditional clothing, only for their only contribution to the show to portray a language barrier between them and Loki. At this point we can probably safely say that All-Speak does not exist in the MCU, however that did not prevent Thor and Loki from communicating with Americans and Germans (Stuttgart). Loki is even seen in the show to be speaking classical Latin! Yet, somehow, when it comes to Asians, Loki is at a loss.
Too often, POC are shown to be less intelligent due to inability to speak English or else their English speaking ability is mocked, and this scene seems to just play into that. Everything, from the clothes (even though realistic) and the language barrier seems to be an attempt to "other" the Asian characters from the white passing, English speaking (at least to the audience watching undubbed versions) alien.
Furthermore, the Mongolians have no impact on the show's storyline nor any agency in the scene itself. Not only do they make no decisions that can possibly drive the scene forward, they don't even get the privilege of at least reacting to the decisions of other characters.
Once the TVA arrive, they miraculously disappear from the scene. No seconds were spared to see their reaction to the TVA agents arriving through a portal. When the TVA agent set down a reset charge, we briefly see the Mongolians again, but they are expressionless. The audience is given no chance to empathize with them as they and their timeline are about to be wiped from existence. It sends a message that these characters are nothing more than props and their reactions and emotions are completely irrelevant to the show's creators and audiences.
The show chose to land Loki in Mongolia. And for what reason? Loki has never shown any connection to Mongolia before. Why not go somewhere where he is familiar with? There is no reason for the character to go to Mongolia, and so I can only assume that the only reason the show landed Loki there is so they can disrespectfully play around with the culture and language, treating it as nothing more aesthetic for their show's background and the people as nothing more than props that the main characters can interact with for fun, not affording them any agency to have an impact on the scene itself.
Yes, extras are a thing in movies and they are not supposed to have an impact on the storyline, but it's problematic when most of your Asian characters are extras and Asian countries are always used for brief fight scenes and quickly discarded like trash (South Korea in Black Panther and Madripoor in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which despite being a fictional island supposedly located in Southeast Asia, did not contain any Asian characters).
I'm excited that we're getting Shang Chi and more Asian representation in the MCU, but it is clear from this that Marvel still has a long way to go.
everyone who isn’t mongolian in the notes shut up!!
hi i'm mongolian i was adopted from there into a russian family but i've been there and studied the culture. i claim it as mine. i speak the language too the people are dressed in rather typical nomadic clothing, albeit slightly stylized. i looked at the credits for this episode and found this:
it was and this individual who is simply known as "gobi villager" while the other two are left uncredited, has a mongolian name which is more than what i expected. they also clearly speak mongolian dialect.
but i 100% agree with u, @willow-of-stars. it may not be intended as racist but it exotizices the country without any payoff or real recognition. the actors don’t even get named parts and to me come off as more of a “u know what wouldn’t be fun and exotic and cool? mongolia.” there’s so little rep for my country that i honestly was thrilled to see the inclusion, but the country only seems to be featured as an exotic destination for american and british audiences rather than just a humble country with a rich history.
i feel like the characters are more like ornaments, there for show and nothing more. it’s aesthetic and is undoubtedly racist.
