Marvel Cinematic Universe has slowly begun. After Marvel CEO Kevin Fitch announced the planned film for the fourth stage, the first Chinese superhero movie "Shangqi" was also announced. Casting matters. The protagonist Liu Simu is a Chinese Canadian who was born in Harbin, China but grew up in Canada. The heroine is played by a little-known Chinese 18th-line actress, whose appearance is not outstanding enough. Both the image of Liu Simu, the actor of
, and the image of the heroine are more popular in the eyes of Westerners, and conform to the mainstream Western cultural values and aesthetics. In the eyes of Westerners, Asians are men with thick eyebrows, single eyelids, and a strong body. They are both knowledgeable and connotative, but also stronger and energetic; women have thick eyebrows and eyes, and the more exaggerated the facial features, the better, and they appear to be more public. In the eyes of Westerners, the images of Asians are very friendly and enthusiastic, and they are naturally optimistic who smile when they see people. Many Chinese who go abroad do have a very polite and high-quality aspect. They are open-minded, lively and "say hi" when they meet people.
However, this has also become a cognitive barrier caused by Westerners to Easterners to some extent. This cognitive barrier has to a large extent caused the narrow perception of the image of Asians by Westerners. The casting of this movie "Shangqi" may seem to be a failure for Marvel fans in the mainland, but in the eyes of Marvel or Westerners, this is in line with the aesthetic standards of Western culture, and we can’t say anything. , Exists objectively, and exists is reasonable. Because this kind of biased cognition is entirely caused by the lack of cultural exchanges between China and the West, or in other words, the deviation caused by the malicious promotion of the image of Asians in European and American countries in history.
Westerners have a big deviation in the image perception of Asians. In this movie "Shangqi", the setting of the villain Manchu is related to the perception of Westerners. The setting of Manchuria in the Marvel story comes from the image of "Fu Manchu" in popular culture in the Western world. Fu Manzhou was born under the creation of a British novelist, Sax Romer. At that time, the "yellow peril" theory spread in the Western world affected people. Based on this, Sachs Romer created this image.
In Sax Romer's novel, Fu Manchu is a sinister, cunning, and evil man. He has a mortal enemy, a white detective, just like Sherlock Holmes. But the difference is that this novel is about Fu Manchu appearing as a very clever villain who does all the bad things, while the righteous detective relies on brute force and Fu Manchu's toughness because of insufficient IQ. Just to the end, All that was left was Fu Manchu's devastation and the detective's inability. Through this form of compassion, to promote Fu Manchu's viciousness.
Therefore, under the influence of this subconscious mind, Westerners have a very bad priori perception of the image of Asians, and this perception has been affecting it until now. Later, the image of Fu Manchu was filmed, "Fu Manchu's Drum", "Fu Manchu's Bride", "Fu Manchu's Secret", "Fu Manchu's Mask", "Fu Manchu's Trick", "Fu Manzhou's Revenge", and "Fu Manzhou's" Blood" and so on. The "XX of Fu Manchu" series has become a popular element in the eyes of Westerners. Until the image of Fu Manchu was introduced into Marvel comics, he became a "man of Manchu". The image of Manchuria also came from this.
Throughout the history of Westerners’ perception of the image of Asians, the image of Fu Manchu largely humiliates China. The image of Fu Manchu portrayed by Sachs Romer was an official of the Qing Dynasty. He said in his memoirs: "At that time, Fu Manchu was created in the image of a "Chinese villain." In fact, as early as before, Fu Manzhou's Dissatisfaction with China's image has been met by many Chinese in the United States. Chinese Americans once launched a campaign to boycott the image of Fu Manchu, and later the United States blocked the image of Fu Manchu.
In fact, the image of Manchu in Marvel comics is a perfectly copied image of Fu Manchu. He is sinister, cunning and full of scheming. In "Shangqi", He Shangqi has become an incompatible enemy from the relationship between father and son. If the image of Manchuria designed by Marvel this time still has a lot of Fu Manchu's shadow, on the one hand, we cannot be sure whether "Shangqi" can pass the trial in the United States, because the United States once blocked the image of Fu Manchu on the entire Internet; On the one hand, Marvel fans in the mainland are not able to accept this kind of insulting China. Some fans of
said: "This kind of insulting China still wants to make money in China. Radio and television can't pass the trial first, let alone be shown in theaters."Fans even directly said: "The villain's image is suspected of insulting China. I would rather not watch it than pay for this movie!" However, the villain in "Shangqi" is played by Tony Leung, and Tony Leung's image is also more popular. Westerners welcome. If Marvel will ease the relationship between the characters, do subtle handling, delete the image of insulting China, I think it should still be possible.
Marvel's "Shangqi" game is too risky. If they offend the fans of the blockbuster Marvel in mainland China, they will lose more than half of the box office source of the entire global film market; and if they can take advantage of the opportunity to make good use of Tony Leung, this actor may bring them new vitality. . I don't know what you think about the image of the villain Manchu in "Shangqi" that is suspected of insulting China? Welcome everyone to leave a message below the comments and discuss together!
