This is going off into a pretty big tangent compared to the film as a whole, but I like discussing it, so a mod may want to separate this stuff into a different thread.
If there are Caucasian-looking Kryptonians, then why not Asian-looking Kryptonians?
I, personally, have a passion for stories being scientifically plausible in their own internal ways. Not everyone has to do this, but this is what I almost automatically do with fiction. That's what this whole issue is always about to me. With that out of the way:
Usually, the fact that Kryptonians look exactly like humans is specifically treated, in-story, like a HUGE deal, and is one of the reasons that Jor-El picked Earth out of millions of other planets to send his son to in the first place. Since the "human look" does not have a set assortment of variations(eg. white look, black look, asian look, native american look, etc) and are in fact the product of years of both conditional and unpredictable evolutionary successes and coincidence, other Kryptonian races do
not have to look exactly like other Earth races, or really
anything like them.
In the specific case of the traditional east-asian look, which to my knowledge(correct me if I'm wrong), comes from a much narrower strand of the evolutionary timeline and gene pool than the traditional white look or black look, it's
particularly implausible that one of their races would look also like that.
Ergo, unless there need to be asian-looking Kryptonians to serve a purpose in the story(like how there currently needs to be white, blue-eyed, black-haired Kryptonians because Superman currently looks that way), just drawing a bunch of them that way because we have them on Earth is, by default, either "politically correct" or just unimaginative.
If you can forgive things like Kryptonians speaking with "British" accents or even speaking "English" at all, then can't you overlook an Asgardian having an "Engrish" accent?
I've never overlooked that, even as a 5-year-old. It makes no sense at all when the villains come to Earth in
Superman II and can speak perfect English. When they're actually on Krypton, though, I assume it's just the audience hearing a "translation" of their language a la
The Hunt For Red October. A lot of the time they even make a point of this.
And if Hogun's homeland is unknown (which it is), then why can't he have an accent that sounds nothing like anyone else in Asgard?
They didn't really set him up in the film as coming from somewhere different from the other Asgardians, but even so, why does his "different accent" have to be Japanese just because that's how he looks? It would be like making Heimdall not just black, but giving him a thick African accent as well. It's awkward an unimaginative to me, and pulls me out of the film because I'm aware he only speaks that way because of the actor's limitations, not because it serves the story.
Sure, all of this stuff is unlikely, but why then so is the idea of a guy who wields thunder.
This tactic, to me, should have its own Godwin's Law-esque name and be banned.
The Asgardians have nine planets they can visit, and on our one planet, we have a variety of different racial types and accents. Why can't Hogun come from the Asian part of Asgard or the Asian-looking Kryptonians come from their Asian-type continent? And why is it that they're the odd looking one when all the white people are more out-of-place? Everyone is blond or red-headed except for Sif and Loki (and Loki's a frost-giant), yet that's okay? You don't know the ethnical background of where these people come from and the topography, nor the culture. Hogun could come from the "Chinatown" in Asgard which is why he's asian and has a different accent.
Most of this is addressed in what I said to Langsta, my problem(as someone who, again, focuses on realism and internal logic in stories like this, which not everybody does, and that's okay, but I still advocate my way and find it rewarding) is the sheer unlikelihood of a genetically separate society of "humans"(from Asgard or Krypton)
just happening to develop all the traditional east-asian features in a single race the same way we did on Earth, let alone that race also speaking with a specific accent its members are associated with on Earth(did Heimdall have an African accent, or any of the characters have Norwegian ones?). When you go out of your way to do that and don't have it serve any purpose in the story or even talk about it, it just seems like diversity for the sake of "political correctness", or a way to artificially give his character a "notable" trait like you mentioned in another post, which isn't the best either.
And yes, varying hair colours within a single race are much, much, much more likely as far as I know.
And they can visit anywhere on Earth, so why not Japan or China or someplace? They don't need to explain this; it's implicit by his presence that Asgard has multiple cultures within it.
I agree with the bolded part - it's actually how I've been defending Hogun's asian-ness to detractors of the film in real life - but I still would've liked some dialogue or something discussing different Asgardians visiting, becoming myth in, and mingling with multiple Earth cultures over the years.
Hogun being Asian, and Sif having black hair, and Heimdall being black, all give an aesthetic diversity to Asgard so not everyone looks alike.
Yep. And the purpose, to the film, of not everyone looking alike and having the same accent is.... ?
(third post to actually discuss the film overall, if the other stuff gets moved)
NEW MEXICO: Another thing people fail to understand is why it is in New Mexico. Someone mentioned it was cos of the end of Iron Man 2. Did you ever ask yourself why they put it there in the first place in Iron Man 2? Because in The Incredible Hulk we see Thor's banishment. It's during the scenes with HULK and Betty during the rain storm after the battle on the campus while they are in the cave in the desert. After Hulk bangs his head and chucks the rock, in the background you see a strike of lightning and the rainbow bridge opens and something shoots out of it. A few moments later the hammer comes. Blu Ray is the best to see this with and you have to go frame bu frame to catch it.
....
wat
The after credits "TWIST": View it a second time and Skellig's reactions to everything make sense. Damn Brannagh pulled an M. Night/Usual Suspects on us. heh heh! I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. Come on - who waffled more in this movie than a Clinton? Skellig. Who pointed out every negative then did about-faces right away? Skellig. Who "talked" to SHIELD to get Thor out of custody (and yes, I know that Coulson knew he was lying, but that's the fun of it!). Skellig. Who seemed to have the same mannerisms as Loki? Skellig. Loki was with us the whole movie.
I didn't think it was implying that Loki had always been manipulating Selvig, but this is interesting. I'm hoping to see the movie again this week and will definitely keep this in mind.
Anyhow - something irked me about this movie: why New Mexico? I was thinking about this because it actually looks kinda dull and stupid to set it there. Perhaps they set it there to contrast the splendour of Asgard. I can get that. But, if they're Asgardians... why not have Thor be banished... to Norway? Wouldn't that make more sense? That's where they go, and it would've given the film something more, I think. New Mexico seems really arbitrary.
Agreed. Maybe it was to have it feel more connected and coherent with the other Avengers films, and to contrast not just its dullness with Asgards' splendor but its super-realism and relatability with Asgard's alien-ness, but having at least some of the movie take place in Norway would've been awesome.
(
