Hollywood Marketing Adopts “Chinese Characteristics” To Cater To Domestic Audiences
Movie poster uses Chinese nostalgia
Charles Liu, June 6, 2016 11:54am
The Chinese box office has become an incredibly lucrative market for the few hollywood blockbusters lucky enough to screen in the country. Accordingly, the big studios will do pretty much anything to capitalize on the market. Case in point, the recently released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
Four of the film’s promotional posters depict characters from the film in an ancient Chinese setting. And while they appear to be authentically made in the style of Chinese watercolors, they contain a number of anachronisms that give them a goofy charm.
Ninja turtles Leonardo, Rafael, Michelangelo and Donatello are depicted sporting flowing Chinese robes. However, they are also eating pizza, riding skateboards, and playing electric instruments (albeit a traditional Chinese pipa).
The biggest Chinese reference is a poster depicting the ninja turtles as the four main characters from the beloved Journey to the West. Elements of both “franchises” fuse together to show green-skinned Tripikata riding a white horse while eating a pizza.
It’s a jarring mash-up, but it already seems to be working. Chinese media are reporting that the promotional material demonstrates how these “Western characters” (who are themselves partly based upon Japanese folklore) have adopted Chinese characteristics.
Source: Tibet, NetEase, Weibo
Photos: NetEase
Charles Liu
The Nanfang's Senior Editor
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