日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Culture

Will ‘Star Wars’ be a hit in China?

By Raymond Zhou ( China Daily ) Updated: 2016-01-07 07:40:05

Will ‘Star Wars’ be a hit in China?

Chinese actor Donnie Yen (far right) with cast and crew members (from left to right) producer Kathleen Kennedy, director J.J. Abrams, actress Daisy Ridley and actor John Boyega at a promotional event in Shanghai for Star Wars' latest installment Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[Photo provided to China Daily]

For historical reasons the world's foremost sci-fi franchise has a gigantic blind spot. But a new venture could relaunch it into the hearts of Chinese filmgoers, says Raymond Zhou.

When my American friends talk to me about Star Wars, it usually takes me a long time to explain to them why their favorite sci-fi franchise has not caught on in the Middle Kingdom the way it has in the rest of the world.

The biggest piece of the puzzle lies in 1977, the year the first installment debuted. That was right after the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). There were sporadic mentions of the runaway hit in the Chinese press as I remember, but I did not get to see the film until the early 1980s when it was screened for a limited audience as part of an American film festival. There was a palpable feeling of disappointment-or ennui at best-among college students and teachers.

The reason was simple: The 1980s was a time of reckoning and reflection. Most Chinese who went to see foreign fare at the cinema wanted serious drama that dealt with grave social issues. We were not ready for entertainment and we did not care much for the then revolutionary special effects. In other words, we were the polar opposite of what Chinese filmgoers are today.

The Empire Strikes Back was aired on some city channels in 1988, but television sets had not yet reached every Chinese household and the most popular shows back then were Hong Kong kung fu series, which had mammoth fictional worlds of their own, such as adaptations of Louis Cha novels.

The 1990s changed the equation when video discs introduced a century of world cinema to a huge audience base. When Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace was released in China in 1999, it was exactly 22 years-approximately one generation-after a global whirlwind was whipped up by the original movie. Film attendance in China was at the peak around 1980, but Star Wars was not available to make the all-important first impression, and even if it had, judging from public reaction to other Hollywood sci-fi movies that found their way to China then, it would probably have been met with a lukewarm reception. And when China emerged as a market juggernaut in the late Noughties, the new wave of moviegoers showed little interest in a franchise that should have wowed their parents-had their parents been living in another country, that is.

The mismatch between a cultural product's timing and its audience's mentality could not be more poignant if you study the popularity of Hollywood franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Transformers, The Avengers, X-Men and other superhero series. They all arrived in China in the new century. Though Transformers can trace its roots to the television cartoon shown on the Chinese tube in the 1980s, nostalgia-oriented viewers make up a fraction of today's growing audience, which has an average age of 21. To sell Star Wars to this demographic would be like selling them their grandfather's Oldsmobile.

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

 
Editor's Picks
Hot words

Most Popular
 
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: WWW国产亚洲精品久久久 | 福利视频在线免费观看 | 91天堂| 99re视频 | 一区二区三区四区国产 | 99超级碰碰成人香蕉网 | 久久机热综合久久国产 | 欧美一级永久免费毛片在线 | 免费a视频在线观看 | 国产精品久久久99 | 久久精品小短片 | 成人全黄三级视频在线观看 | chinese18 xxxx videos | 东京不太热在线新视频 | 一级成人毛片免费观看欧美 | 性夜影院爽黄e爽在线观看 苏晓晖个人简介军衔 | 中文视频在线 | 另类视频在线观看 | 日韩欧美亚洲 | 亚洲精品福利一区二区三区 | 国产视频资源在线观看 | 97在线观视频免费观看 | 欧美日韩一区二区三区在线观看 | 久色视频在线观看 | 夜夜夜操操操 | 精品一区二区三区免费视频 | 久久精品成人免费国产片桃视频 | 中文字幕在线一区 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品一区 | 亚洲黄色片在线观看 | 国产成人免费高清激情视频 | 伊人久久艹 | 精品亚洲一区二区三区 | 九九资源站 | 亚洲成人黄色 | 亚洲成人精品久久久 | 亚洲精品国产自在久久出水 | 日本jizz | 日韩加勒比 | www.日韩av.com| 亚洲视频 欧美视频 |