Doctor Strange and a Critical Viewing Lens Checklist

by Rita Sinorita Fierro, Ph.D

Benedict Cumberbatch Stephen Strange on the set of Doctor Strange. Prishank Thapa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia. (2015)

I know, I know I know, Doctor Strange is an OLD movie! I only saw it recently, prompted by a spiritual guide who I deeply admire and love, Latoya Zavala. She has a phenomenal program called the Phoenix Goddess Collective, and I'm quite proud to say, it’s been “growing me pretty hard” for the past six months. I know, the prior sentence is grammatically incorrect. If you’ve had a mentor or spiritual leader prompt you to grow bolder than you usually do, you’ll know what I mean by “growing me hard.”

Doctor Strange has already been heavily critiqued for the typical Hollywood way it holds on to white supremacy: 

1. White savior – Both the old “ancient one” and the new one are white

2. Erasure of the complexity of Tibetan spirituality – The white dude becomes a leader in oh so, so little time, bypassing people who have been studying and practicing longer than him. This strengthens point one too, in the idea that white people were “destined” to lead.

3. “Defensive Diversity” a term coined by Keith Chow highlights that casting a woman to avoid the old Asian sage stereotype did not solve the issue of misrepresentation. They argued they were trying to avoid the stereotype of an old Asian wise man on a mountain, but instead they fell into another stereotype that is equally harmful. They used a white woman as a shield to deflect from the systemic refusal to hire Asian actors for complex, non-stereotypical leading roles.

I must admit, maybe because I see very few movies these days, maybe because I turn my brain off when I watch TV, or maybe just because I’m still waking up white and haven’t sharpened my lens in this area, I missed some of these dimensions. Here is my personal critical viewing lens checklist to equip myself to see them next time: 

1. Check the cultural context of the film: Every time someone travels, make explicit how the cultural context is shifting. Sometimes it’s to another country, sometimes it’s regional. Gaps expose privilege. Pay attention. 

2. Look for gaps in representation and cultural context: I was surprised when the wise one was a bald white woman; I needed to not glide over my surprise and sit in the discomfort of it. 

3. Look online for the controversies and apologies: Though five years later, Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige later apologized for the whitewashing of the Asian character. 

Now, with all the racial limits of the movie, there are some pieces that are truly profound. There are some spiritual truths that are made explicit in this movie: 

1. We are not our physical bodies. There are other, non-visible aspects to humanity.

2. We create our reality. When we shift our perception, what we see changes.

3. Resentments are a prison. When we lead from resentment our lives become smaller. 

4. Time and space are one. 

To me, the real lost opportunity is missing the chance to apply these principles to the world we are building. The groundbreaking view of the world we gain by deepening our spiritual practice with the possibility of actually transforming how we handle, interact, and notice cultural differences around the world. 

Think about the groundbreaking moment in which the teacher says to the student, 

“Forget everything you thought was true.” 

What would be possible if we envisioned a world from a deeper sense of spirituality and truth? What would be possible if we truly embraced our full power as collectives of transformational change? When we see systems of oppression, we often feel powerless as a result, because we believe deep down that they cannot be changed, but they can be changed.

What would happen if we related to the walls of power the way the Ancient One relates the walls and stairs of the buildings moving through time? What would we seek to move, shift, change? What would we invest in, if we truly knew that everything is created? 

And specifically to my white siblings, what would be possible if we took full responsibility that we created US institutions to serve us and people who look like us, and in the end, they don’t serve anyone truly except a very, very, selected few? What actions are we moved to when we take responsibility in this way?