Hollywood's tact could open up doors, wallets
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Kelly Chung Dawson|? |
Earlier this week, Robert Downey Jr arrived in Beijing to promote Iron Man 3 following the announcement that the film's next installment would include extra scenes for Chinese audiences. It joins several other blockbusters in the works that are re-writing and shooting scenes specifically with the goal of enticing Chinese moviegoers, including World War Z and Transformers 4.
In 2012, China's box office sales jumped 30 percent to $2.7 billion, ranking only behind the United States in revenue. With a quota of 34 foreign films approved for the Chinese market each year, movie studios have moved to respond competitively. Transformers 4 partnered with the State-run China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises with the promise of hiring Chinese talent in exchange for help in marketing and distribution. The franchise's last installment grossed $165 million in China.
Iron Man 3 will release a Chinese edit that will include scenes with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing. The international version already includes a Chinese character called Dr Wu, played by Wang Xueqi. Additionally, Paramount Pictures cast Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, a villain that in comic books was clearly drawn to be Chinese.
The latter move is a clear concession to the cultural sensitivities of Chinese audiences, who have reacted angrily in recent years to Hollywood films that have portrayed China or Chinese characters in an unfavorable light.
The 2012 remake of Red Dawn was re-scripted and digitally altered to transform invading enemies from Chinese to North Korean, a foe deemed more acceptable for vilification. But as news has emerged of additional rewrites for the Chinese market, various media critics have raised questions about whether the power of potential Chinese ticket sales to directly influence filmmaking might set a dangerous precedent.
In 2012, a Chinatown sequence in which several Chinese characters were revealed to be vicious aliens was cut from Men in Black 3. A seemingly innocuous scene in which a Chinese security guard was killed was deleted from Skyfall, also at the behest of Chinese government agencies. The recent announcements are noteworthy because they signal a shift toward Hollywood studios preemptively shooting and writing for Chinese audiences.
The Atlantic recently argued that Hollywood's mindfulness of the Chinese market might lead to more nuanced portrayals of Chinese and Asian characters in film and additional opportunities for Asian-American actors, who have traditionally faced a scarcity of roles. Chinese audiences respond favorably to US films that include Chinese characters, so the net result for Hollywood might be increased diversity and a less whitewashed industry.
The director M. Night Shyamalan faced a major backlash from both Chinese fans and the US media when he cast white leads in 2010's The Last Airbender, a film adaptation of a comic book about Asian characters. One might speculate that he would have jumped to include Chinese characters if the film was in production today.
The racist backlash that emerged on Twitter in the US after the opening of Olympus Has Fallen earlier this month underscores the need for culturally sensitive filmmaking. Featuring a North Korean villain, the film prompted a wave of anti-Asian tweets. One user, Armando Corella, wrote: "Just saw Olympus Has Fallen. I wanna go buy a gun and kill every Asian".
Although directors like Ang Lee and Wayne Wang have enjoyed international success, the demand for culturally sensitive perspectives will also likely lead to increased opportunities for filmmakers. In Beijing, Robert Downey Jr said he believes Hollywood only risks venturing into tricky territory if business interests dominate their decisions in China. But if US filmmakers write to more accurately reflect the Chinese culture, "you can't do it enough", he said of the recent edits.
"I think Chinese culture just responds to good cinema," he added.
