One of the most anticipated films in China this year, Chinese-U.S. coproduction The Great Wall found itself roiled in controversy in both China and the U.S. after releasing a trailer in which white actor Matt Damon is portrayed as a savior figure.
The film's first trailer, it has sparked discussion about whether making a white male the lead character of a period film set in ancient China was the best move for the film.
Directed by veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou, known for classic Chinese films such as Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and To Live (1994), The Great Wall takes place in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and recounts how a European mercenary (Damon) joins the Chinese army to protect Chinese after discovering a secret involving the Great Wall.
In addition to Damon, other popular international actors are also in the film, including Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau and Zhang Yanyu. While this is a common way to attract audiences in both countries, this market driven behavior, however, can sometimes end up shooting a film in its foot.
"We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that a only white man can save the world… Our heroes don't look like Matt Damon. They look like Malala. Ghanaian. Mandela…" Constance Wu, a Chinese American actress known for comedy series Fresh Off the Boat, posted on Twitter.
"Money is the lamest excuse in the history of being human. So is blaming the Chinese investors…"
Wu's opinion has been echoed by many moviegoers in China.
"Though I like Matt Damon…but the film The Great Wall… It's China's Great Wall. I cannot accept the lead hero being a white man rather than a Chinese," Shirley Ren, a Chinese netizen posted on Sina Weibo.
"It's like a film about the Versailles Palace having a British hero or one about Mount Fuji led by a Korean," Ren told the Global Times.
While people in both China and the U.S. have expressed their dissatisfaction with the choice to cast Damon as the lead hero, the reasons for their disatisfaction are different.
Anger over films such as Gods of Egypt and Ghost in the Shell in the U.S. has mainly dealt with the whitewashing of these film's characters, something for which Hollywood has been criticized for years.
Yet in China, audiences are more concerned with poorly made attempts to incorporate Western elements into Chinese stories.
As coproductions with U.S. and European studios have become more common in China, an increasing number of Chinese films have found themselves facing a dilemma: While famous overseas star power can be an effective way to attract audiences into theaters, but very often the introduction of these roles into a Chinese film stand out like sore thumbs.
The 2015 action adventure Outcast is one example. The appearance of Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen did little to improve the film, instead they were merely distractions in what could have been an original Chinese story.
Another issue is that many audiences find that when a Western CGI crew takes part in Chinese productions the architecture and monsters tend to be too westernized.
For instance, although many admitted that the CGI in this year's The Monkey King 2 was very good, they felt that the Chinese demons being depicted were far too Western looking. When the currently in theaters League of Gods depicted Western-styled buildings in ancient China, many audiences complained that it took them out of the film.
The trailer for The Great Wall also seems to imply that some sort of monster will be in the film. Chinese netizens have already become worried, asking the filmmakers, "please don't make the monster too Western."
