Black Panther reviews from China call the superhero movie 'too black' and 'a torture for the eyes'

Black Panther has undoubtedly been one of the biggest movies in recent time. The Ryan Coogler-directed Marvel superhero movie has already raked in over $1 billion globally. The movie’s performance in international markets has been impressive. In China, Black Panther, the first all black superhero movie, has made over $66.6 million . In fact, China has played a key-role in propelling Black Panther over the 1$ billion mark. But all may not be good for Black Panther in China as the movie has been receiving some harsh criticism and insensitive backlash from movie-goers. [caption id=“attachment_4388225” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The Chinese poster for Black Panther/Image from Twitter.[/caption] Now, it is not a secret that China struggles with identifying with people of other races. In the recent past, Chinese television and advertisements have created a fair amount of controversy by showcasing what many viewers think is racist content. In one such advertisement for a detergent, which went viral on the internet back in May, 2016, you can see a black man transform into a fair Chinese man after being pushed into a washing machine. In another separate incident, John Boyega — who plays Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi — was removed from the Chinese version of the poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This, too, sparked a controversy and called into question the ability of the Chinese to watch black people in big Hollywood movies.

Star Wars' Finn (who happens to be black) and Chewbacca (happens to be Wookiee) get shafted in China. HT @asmuniz pic.twitter.com/ATpvcd51L6

— ray 鄺羡華 (@raykwong) December 1, 2015

Now, despite Black Panther showing decent opening at the Chinese box-office, the movie is being criticized for being “too black”, and “too dark”. These reviews are being posted on the Chinese website  Douban — the Chinese equivalent of IMDb — where Black Panther scored a 6.8 rating out of 10. On Rotten Tomatoes, Black Panther is currently running at 97%, which indicates nearly universal praise for the movie. Some of the reviews on the website, which have been translated into English from Chinese by the websites  Hip-Hop Wired and  Quartz, read as follows:

“Maybe the Chinese are still not used to a film full of black people. 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.” “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.” “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.” “Even if the screen with the highest brightness is selected, the movie still looks dark.”

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