“Black Panther” earned $63 million in China. (Marvel)
Chinese movie fans visited theaters in droves to catch “Black Panther,” and while the film’s $63 million opening overseas helped push it past the $1 billion mark globally, many couldn’t handle the film’s overt blackness.
According to reviews on the Chinese answer to IMDb, Douban, many slammed the film for being too politically correct when it came to representation.
“Maybe the Chinese are still not used to a film full of Black people,” wrote one reviewer as translated by Quartz.
He added he needed to pinch himself several times to keep from falling asleep while viewing 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 comment reflected on the Black people on-screen in a similar way, albeit with more racist leanings.
“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,” they wrote.
When another reviewer remarked on taking in the 3D experience, they said the Black actors combined with its dark colors made it “nearly a torture for the eyes to watch the film’s 3D version in the theater.”
In response, other fans have sounded off on the Chinese reviewer’s POV.
https://twitter.com/kinqtan/status/973276172648894465
Chinese folks are saying Black Panther is too black. I was expecting nothing less 😆
— Imperator Funmiosa (@funmzire) March 12, 2018
The Chinese thought it was too black, but #BlackPanther still got their money so 🙃. I get it cuz they don't have a lot of black people there but we also know how anti-black/racist a lot of them are pic.twitter.com/wEAFfbFw28
— 🇳🇬 Jr 🇳🇬 (@IgboPrinceKachi) March 12, 2018
