The Takedown | Anti-Chinese racism explored in Warrior as television show mirrors modern life
- The Cinemax show, picked up by HBO Go, showcases how far, and how little, modern society has progressed since the 1870s
- ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s brutal portrayal of Bruce Lee stands in contrast to a fulsome, layered show about racism
Season two of Warrior opens with, no surprise here, a fight. Ah Sahm, played by British actor Andrew Koji, is scrapping for cash at the Barbary Coast fight pit.
Sahm, modelled after Bruce Lee – who originally wrote the treatment for the show decades ago – finds himself the scorn of anti-Chinese racist taunts as he defends himself from his combatant.
It’s the late 19th century in San Francisco and the violent Tong Wars are in full swing. Sahm, a martial arts prodigy, has come from the motherland to the American frontier looking for his sister. He finds a time and place eerily similar to the present day.
The country is filled with warring factions, divided by colour as the gritty show dives deep into issues of class struggles, immigration and outright racism.
Anti-Chinese sentiment is a major theme of Warrior. White characters openly call Chinese racist names to their face, taunting them, telling them to go home and that America is no place for them.