California’s Asian American and Pacific Islander politicians were surprisingly quiet about the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to our big screens. Although the film reportedly made over $250 million on a $150 million budget, very few California AAPI assembly members and senators commented on the movie. Rep. Evan Low 
was an avid fan. In April, he tweeted to celebrate lead actor Simu Liu’s birthday 
upon the release of the trailer. He hosted a viewing event with the API Legislative Caucus on September 23rd, and asked to “give us more.” It’s hard to contradict his enthusiasm.
Historically, Hollywood has been terrible at casting Asian Americans in films, let alone as leads. In 2019, while the AAPI made up 6% of the American population but only represented 1% of lead characters. Of the 44 top-ranked movies with Asian American leads, The Rock, who is part black and part Samoan, made up a third of them.
On the weekend of the premiere, California State Treasurer, Fiona Ma, 
tweeted: “Great to see API @Marvel Super Heros #RepresentationMatters in @shangchi and see #SanFrancisco once again on the Big Screen. @SimuLiu, @awkwafina, 
@MYeohNews 
& cast rocked it. Thanks to @EdLeeDems for keeping Mayor Lee’s memory alive.”
Alicia Wang, 
former California Democratic Party Vice Chair, had a birthday screening of the movie with thirty of her closest friends and family. It was sponsored by her husband Andrew Sun and daughter Selena Chen, scheduling gatekeeper for San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Al Muratsuchi 
tweeted on October 22nd that he attended a special Shang-Chi screening, but he deleted the post soon after; maybe because the screening was sponsored by Disney.