Illustration: Liu Xiangya/gt
Captain America: Brave New World (Captain America 4) came across a Chinese theater on Friday, shaking at both box office and audience reception. As of Sunday night, the film had sold only 76.39 million yuan ($10.53 million), according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. Critics reflected the disappointment of the audience. The film only has a rotten tomato score of 51% and a score of 5.3/10 on the Chinese review platform Douban.According.
This overwhelming performance reflects Marvel’s emphasis on political correctness and individual heroism is not compatible with the world’s second largest film market.
Zhang Peng, a film researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told Global Times that Captain America 4’s lukewarm tide in mainland China is a centralised manifestation of multiple issues facing in recent years. He spoke.
“The decline in quality, scattered plots and character tooling have resulted in a widespread sense of aesthetic fatigue among viewers around the world,” he said. A film that captures the same level of interest.
One of the main issues with Captain America 4 is its disorienting narrative and character values, exposing the muddy quagmire of Marvel’s “political correct” approach.
Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie), a new portrayal of Captain America, has been criticized for being unattractive. His “Everyman Hero” arc – a serum-free veteran from Super Soldier – may have been a compelling quest for relevant resilience, but instead, the forced nature of the political thriller element The film came across as empty due to integration.
Furthermore, the film’s attempt to give Sam the torch from Steve Rogers appears to be unnatural and unconvincing. Sam fails to rival the character depth and emotional resonance of Chris Evans’ portrayal of Steve.
The film attempts to respond to multiculturalism using a story of a black hero who takes over the white icon, but the character development is ambiguous and lacks emotional connection.
Film critics about Deuban argue that political correctness becomes the slogan of the sky when separated from character development and narrative logic. The audience longs for characters with depth and substance, not merely symbols of “identity politics.”
Another important issue is the fatigue of Marvel’s individual heroism and Hollywood’s industrialized narrative.
Marvel films have long relied on narrative models of individual heroism, which appears to have lost traction in the Chinese market.
In Captain America 4, new Captain America Sam fails to meet the expectations of the audience in terms of charisma and combat ability. The simple depiction of the antagonist film also reveals the fatigue of the creation of industrialized line of assembly.
This singular focus on individual heroism is an increasingly diverse aesthetic of Chinese audiences tired of the expansion of the universe, losing patience with stylistic representations that simply rely on connectivity and special effects and elicited dialogues. It no longer meets the demand.
In contrast, the success of the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 is its separation from the singular framework of individual heroism. Based on Chinese mythology, the film combines the spirit of Nexa’s “reverse fate” with modern youth values, and is a multi-character emotional through balanced portrayals of supporting characters like Shen Gombao. Build resonances.
Its domestic box office revenue shows that a population of over 10 billion yuan is stronger than a “cultural identity” than a “universal cliche.”
Zhang pointed out that Chinese audiences are no longer embracing the stories of individual heroes in the US style and prefer collectivist storytelling. The implicit value of Marvel’s work, somewhat alien to Chinese culture, exacerbates market rejection to some extent.
In fact, not just Captain America 4, but also the previously released Ant-Man and the Hornets: Quantumania, The Marvels, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. All three suffered from inactive performances in mainland China.
“Faced with this challenge, Marvel needs to return to the essence of storytelling, reduce reliance on abstract concepts such as the “multiverse” and focus on character development and emotional resonance.” Chan said.
He noted that Marvel’s plight is a result of a combination of quality, culture and market strategy issues. If Hollywood wants to regain the favor of Chinese audiences, it should prioritize high-quality content and balance cultural sensitivity with market adaptability, and simply make the issue “heroism is outdated” It’s not due to it.
“The good story doesn’t know borders, but the way it is said has to continue walking through the times. If Hollywood continues to rely on a “superhero universe,” then in the end, it will be a more innovative story from China. It’s going to be replaced by Telling,” he said.
The author is a reporter for the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn
