Can Shang Chi have the same impact Black Panther had?

[Tg11]

Do you think Shang Chi can have the same kind of cultural impact that Black Panther had for the black and African community but with the Asian and Chinese community?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Hard to say. It's important to note that while there has been a film industry in Africa it's reach and size has always and still is dwarfed by the film industry of China and the surrounding areas of East Asia. In other words for decades there were already many films showing Asian heroes of one stripe or another as main protagonists. Some of these projects even featured powers. So this isn't the same environment audience wise as BP had. There was a thirst among viewers of African descent to see something like BP. Shang Chi might just come off as another Marital Arts movie to the Asian diaspora and in the various countries of East Asia.

 

[Tg11]

I guess you do have a point but if the cast is primarily made up of Asians and Chinese actors then you might have a real hit on your hands

 

[Mike Murdock]

I don't think it'll have the same impact in the United States. The Asian population isn't as big as the African American population. One hopes the impact will be bigger than that, though, and people will respect Marvel just for what they're doing. Either way, though, I would not be surprised if the impact in East Asia will be much higher so there will be a comparable total boost similar to Black Panther, just not the domestic boost.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

It’ll have an impact, but nothing can compare to what we had for Black Panther.

Black Twitter can make or break you.

 

[terry78]

I mean there are some asian people on twitter already saying it can be the Crazy Rich Asians of the MCU but that's more than likely hyperbole.

 

[Flint Marko]

You never know, but my instinct is that Black Panther won't be repeated any time soon.

Some scrubs here gave me grief for saying it had the biggest pop cultural impact of any blockbuster in recent memory, but no one was able to bring up a decent counter-example. I think Black Panther is going to remain untouched for quite some time as it was decades overdue.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

Unlike African Americans who for the most part have no ideal of their tribal ethnicity so they choose one like Mr T and the Mandingo or go to pan Africanism the Asian American and global Asian population does know of their back ground.

Just being Asian in itself is not going to be the same level of a drawing card as an African from a fictional crossroads super nation was for the black people of the world. In fact if they go to far into pan Asian and don't localize the character to a specific ethnic group it may prove to be a turn off to the target Asian heritage customer.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

From what I heard from Chinese friends the movie will probably be really popular there, because although there have been many martial arts movies with Asian casts, one that includes some mystical elements with Hollywood quality effects that is also linked to other Marvel movies will be huge over there.

On the other hand, I feel like the reaction from Asians in the west will be very different from both Asians in Asia and from the reaction black people outside of Africa had to Black Panther. Unlike people who live in Asia, people of Asian descent in the west are wary of orientalism. They may not be that interested in a movie about Asians again being about martial arts masters and mysticism while there are barely any Asians in lead roles that aren't about romanticized Asian culture.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

I don't think that it was the cast that made Black Panther the cultural phenomenon that it was. Wakanda Forever!

It was that unencumbered by the colonizers that an African super state arose. I can't see how you build a pan Asian equivalent without stepping on the toes of actual Asian super states and favoring one over all the others.

 

[Iceman]

From what I heard from Chinese friends the movie will probably be really popular there, because although there have been many martial arts movies with Asian casts, one that includes some mystical elements with Hollywood quality effects that is also linked to other Marvel movies will be huge over there.

On the other hand, I feel like the reaction from Asians in the west will be very different from both Asians in Asia and from the reaction black people outside of Africa had to Black Panther. Unlike people who live in Asia, people of Asian descent in the west are wary of orientalism. They may not be that interested in a movie about Asians again being about martial arts masters and mysticism while there are barely any Asians in lead roles that aren't about romanticized Asian culture.

Good to know about the potential reaction from China. Hopefully it is handled in the best possible way to also keep everyone else happy.

 

[psylockolussus]

Maybe in Asian Countries, but not in America.

 

[ironman_rick]

Can't really tell. Crazy rich asians did not do well in china. Furthermore, their local productions are getting more and more on par with hollywood in terms of production value so you cannot just assume that by having an Asian Lead it will do well in china as their own movies are pretty damn good. In fact "the wandering earth" made $700M this year in china alone.

On the other hand, its a marvel film, so that alone will almost guarantee huge $$$ in china.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

Making money as MCU movie twentysomething is a different question than "impact". It may be partial factor be speaking culturally?

 

[Leo Zelinsky]

Unlike African Americans who for the most part have no ideal of their tribal ethnicity so they choose one like Mr T and the Mandingo

wtf?

 

[writer0327]

I guess it depends on what constitutes an "impact"? Is it box office? Is it social media? Oscar nominations? As long as it feels authentic and not pandering, it will be fine. BP didn't pander to its audience and Coogler did a great job researching and displaying African culture and Afro-futurism in a positive way. But where it really hit home was how it discussed some of the problems discussed often in the black community, such as the "haves" not reaching back to help the "have-nots". It also didn't hurt to release the film during Black History month, which heightened its impact. I'm not sure when Shang Chi will be released, but that could definitely help its impact.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

[QUOTE="Leo Zelinsky, post: 37536275, member: 155369"o]wtf?[/QUOTE]
Ever heard Mr. T's testimony? As a club bouncer he collected the chains and wore them as a lost and found and then later heard about the Mandingo or Manidika tribes of West Africa and claims to adopted them for his cultural look of the Mohawk hair and chains as he became a star of first pre reality TV. What we used to call junk sports, like Ninja Challenge and then Rocky III followed by the A-Team.

Like practically every other African American he could only place his actual heritage to the continent. Some took on a pan African identity learning Swahili, an East African language from Arabic slave traders, choose non traditional names to replace Anglo or Hispanic slave names. Something spoofed on the Martin TV show with the character Shanaynay. And put on a mix of pan African cultural items in their dress.

 

[metaphysician]

I don't think there's any way it ever could. On top of what has already been mentioned, vis a vis "there is no one Asian culture, and several of the Asian cultures are doing just fine in the movie space, thank you", there's also. . . Black Panther is, at its deepest narrative DNA, about "black-ness". Its not just a character and story and mythos about black people, starring black people. Its "spirit" was about all these social topics, from the very moment Wakanda was created as "an African kingdom never colonized". A movie adaptation could work well or poorly, but it couldn't help but be about cultural issues of race and colonialism and etc.

Shang-Chi? Does not have that. Its creative premise is no more "about" Asian cultural issues than any other story involving kung fu. Such could, in theory, be added in an adaptation, but it wouldn't be as integral and natural. Thus I cannot see it having the same impact, because its not just what you are about, but how you are about it. Shang-Chi might well be important in providing a lot of jobs for Asian-American actors in Hollywood, but that is not going to be the basis of some vast cultural movement.

 

[Xeno]

wtf?

My response exactly. Maybe that person only has weird, stereotyped views of African Americans, tbough that's no excuse for such ignorance. Taking "Mr. T's testimony" as epitomizing African American identity is ludicrous and insulting.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

But if course when you edit out half a sentence things do look different. The pan African movement from choosing non traditional names to replace Anglo and Hispanic "slave names" and adding pan African items to clothing waa a very real movement. Why pan African? Because a specific tribal group can not be identified.

Compared to most Asians from the family name on down they can identify exactly where both sides of the family claims as their cultural heritage. So to show Asian heritage someone who knows that link goes back to say China and Vietnam has no reason to add Indian or Korean items to their clothing. Or any other mixture of ethnic groups.

Thus we eventually have to find an Asian substitute for a Wakandan super state, and if you do the Chinese market, nor Korean, etc sees the big woop de doo. The folks who can not link to a specific group, black slaves brought to America went pan African, or choose an ethnic group to take a deeper more specific cultural dive into like Mr. T claims to have done to link to their historical past.

 

[jolldan]

With China being the mega market that it is now I see no reason as to why it can't have near the same levels of success if that side of the world really champions it.

But on the flip side Black Panther sort of transcended what it did in the movie to be such a big cultural event that people wouldn't really here that there was much if anything wrong was with it lol. Shang Chi will need to be something special for people to get as attached to it.

It's not as big a demographic so again I think the Asian market will decide if this is a relative success or mega bucks.

 

[psylockolussus]

Would be great if this is another billion grossing film!

 

[MbJ]

I think Shang-Chi will be successful, but I don't think it'll reach BP levels of success. China will be a wildcard since it could be a major boost, but I also think the significance of an Asian superhero isn't going to be as important in a country where all the films produced locally star Chinese actors to begin with.

It'll likely be a much bigger deal to Asian-Americans who don't get to see themselves as heroes in Hollywood movies than to continental Chinese.