I really should be writing an 8-10 pg paper on Posthumanism as I rot here in the computer lab; but sometimes, procrastination is joyful relief.

Both David and I saw Iron Man (David opening night; I last night) and we love it to pieces. If you haven't already done so, watch it, because you will definitely find something to love about it too. Critics have picked up on this fact; but one thing I noticed (and which critics will probably never point out) is that Yinsen, in the film as a Muslim doctor from Afghanistan, was originally Chinese!



When he first appeared in the Iron Man comics (created in the 1960s), Ho Yinsen was imagined as a pacifistic Chinese physicist, engineer, and professor from the fictional city of Timbetpal whose work was greatly admired by Tony Stark. Throughout the entire comic book series, Yinsen remained of East Asian descent, until the film re-imagined him as a native of Gulmira, a fictional village in Afghanistan. In the film, Yinsen is portrayed by Shaun Toub, an American actor of Persian Jewish descent.

When I think 1960s, I think post-Red Scare and spotlight on the Chinese.
When I think 2000s, I think War on Terror and fear of the Middle East.