March/12/2018
According to reports, the Chinese audience reviews are in and they believe Black Panther is just too black “A torture for the eyes” . Even though the Chinese audience helped the movie cross the billion-dollar mark globally by raking in $63 million over the weekend many of them seem not to like the movie.
Some believe Marvel was trying too hard to be politically correct. Others believe it was very uncomfortable being surrounded by so much blackness.
One commenter said he had to pinch himself more than 10 times to stay awake during the movie because “Black Panther is black, all the major characters are black, a lot of scenes are black, the car-chasing scene is black—the blackness has really made me drowsy.”
Another reviewer who came into the theater late made a similar observation: “When I entered the theater, a bunch of black people was fighting in the night… I’ve never been in a theater so dark that I couldn’t find my seat.”
Someone else said the experience was worse in 3D. “The film is filled with black actors and actresses. Also, because the film’s colors are a bit dark, it’s nearly a torture for the eyes to watch the film’s 3D version in the theater.”
China is now a world leader in making significant strides with business partnerships in many black countries. The Chinese influence in Africa is enormous. Many Chinese men marrying black African women and some even claim to be black. Many argues that China is now building Africa. The Belt and Road initiatives seen China now a major player in Jamaica. A writer for Jamaica Live believes China has now colonized Jamaica.
The Chinese are building beach resorts, they are building two schools, and what the Jamaicans have to give them in return is the right to certain lands and waterways. In short, China is literally building Jamaica. Yet this is another reminder of China’s limited mindset towards the black race.
The question is, should these black countries be concerned of having people who see them in such a negative light in their midst? Should black countries be concerned about being controlled by people who show so much insensitivity and ignorance towards them?
In October, a Chinese museum hosted an exhibition titled “This is Africa” that showed images of black people comparing to animals, including monkeys and cheetah.
China has 1.379 billion as of 2016 so one can understand that it will take time to educated all that amount of people. Nevertheless, in many cases, Chinese people seem to make every initiative to isolate themselves whenever they live in foreign countries. There are China Towns all over the world. The China Towns are fully controlled and managed by Chinese people so even when Chinese live in other countries they still have limited exposure to other races. Maybe governments should encourage China and it’s people who live in their countries to integrate.
Since China has such a huge influence around the world, maybe China should take the initiative to begin to educate its people about black people. The black race are already been dealing with racism for hundred of years and there is no doubt the Chinese reaction to Black Panther and black people is a remnants of that. But since China has now become a world leader and especially having significant influence in black countries it is full time for them to educate their people about diversity and acceptance of black people.
There is no doubt the success of Black Panther is due to its all black cast. Black Panther has definitely make history for just that. This is the first time an international mega Marvel Film had carried an all black cast. This is new for many of people and the buzz around it carried many positive and of course the negatives. But the Chinese reviews seem to be some of the most negative of them all. Many will argue that a few negative reviews should not be a catalyst or foundation for all the Chinese reviews but with all the negative headlines coming out of China in regards to their ignorance about black people, one could argue there are reasons for concern.
