The Story Behind the Racist Responses to 'Black Panther' in China

By Jeff Yang

In the run-up to the release of Marvel’s Black Panther in China last weekend, pundits warned that the movie could only hope to, at best, match Ant-Man’s opening in the region ($43 million). “The themes of most films with largely black casts will not be of interest to Chinese audiences,” USC professor and China specialist Stanley Rosen pronounced, assuring Deadline that the film would underperform.

And yet when Black Panther finally made landfall in China, it blew past all predictions, with a $67 million opening—up there with some of Marvel’s long-running, well-established cinematic franchises, such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

This “surprise” success came despite a persistent media narrative with ugly implications, both for China and Hollywood: That Chinese racism will destroy any chance for success for a film with black leads.

China is now the world’s second biggest theatrical market, but this assumption has given Hollywood a rationale to largely avoid releasing films with black protagonists there. It has also led to egregious acts of “decolorization” in how Hollywood films are marketed, including Lucasfilm’s decision to minimize John Boyega’s face in Chinese posters for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Despite healthy advance buzz and an explosively positive response in China to its early trailers, Black Panther wasn’t spared these shenanigans. Early Marvel posters for the film’s release in China showed the superhero, played by Chadwick Boseman, fully masked, in sharp contrast to the US posters, which featured Boseman with his chiseled features dramatically exposed.

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Source: Quartzy