https://blackgirlnerds.com/why-black-movies-fail-on-the-big-screen-in-asia/

Black culture is often appropriated in Asian countries, such as China and South Korea. On the other hand, actual Black representation in media is not embraced in these regions, as we are witnessing with films like the recently released The Little Mermaid.

For example, Black films just don’t do well in China. China is still one of the most racially homogeneous nations in the world. It’s dominated by one ethnic group, the Han Chinese, which accounts for 92 percent of the population. Together with the fact that the country is highly nationalistic, natives of China haven’t always made it the best at embracing faces that don’t look like theirs.

An academic study found that since 2012, when the Chinese government began allowing more foreign films into the country, Hollywood has cast more light-skinned actors in starring roles. The study concluded that U.S. film studios were casting to fulfill the aesthetic preferences of Chinese moviegoers. The study called this phenomenon a “light-skin shift.” In other words, colorism is a universal issue.

In an essay from her 1983 book In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, Alice Walker introduced many readers to the term “colorism” and explained it as “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color.” Closely connected to racism, colorism is more nuanced, and it’s important to acknowledge the differences between them. The reason is that we all exist in a world that has taught us that whiteness is ideal. Colorism evolved out of the racial categories and hierarchies created by white colonizers and slave owners.

To be clear, Hollywood’s ongoing issue with colorism is its own fault. The movie industry is perpetuating the belief that Black people, particularly Black women, can’t be cast in leading roles. The fault also lies with Hollywood producers and casting directors who refuse to push the boundaries and cast dark-skinned Black women in important movie roles, even when the story centers them.

The Little Mermaid performed poorly in China because moviegoers couldn’t get past Halle Bailey portraying Ariel, who has been depicted as white since 1989. Even though Ariel is a fictional character who lives under the sea, they couldn’t get past Bailey’s brown skin.

But there’s still a gap as to why Black films do poorly in Asian markets. In terms of racism, perceptions feed into a larger debate on multiculturalism in Asian markets. In Korea, nationality-based preferences and skin color define access, acceptance, and integration. It’s an issue of classism. Unlike the racist beliefs that are a direct result of slavery, colorism in Asia comes from the idea that lower-wage workers had to work in the fields and had darker skin as a result. Lighter-skinned people were able to stay out of the sun. So, having white skin is not only about being Western. In Asia, there is a deeply rooted cultural perception that associates dark skin with poverty, whereas white skin reflects a more comfortable life and, therefore, a higher socioeconomic status. When Asian markets saw Halle Bailey on screen, all they saw was poverty and a lower social class.

In 2018, Black Panther’s unremarkable performance in China confirmed studios’ concerns about whether Chinese audiences would embrace a film with an all-Black cast. In the Chinese marketing of the film, the Blackness of Black Panther was tempered. Instead of featuring the whole cast, as the U.S. poster did, the official Chinese movie poster showed Chadwick Boseman alone, with his face completely covered by his Black Panther suit.

Yes, China is problematic when it comes to the portrayal of Black people. A prime example of this is the 2016 laundry detergent commercial that had a Black man being shoved into a washing machine then rising out as a “clean” Asian man. Whether you call it racism or a limited understanding of race, it was tone-deaf.

The U.S. gets it terribly wrong too. In 2018, H&M had a Black boy modeling a hoodie with “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” The company issued an apology, saying that “unintentional, passive, or casual racism needs to be eradicated wherever it exists.”

It’s easy to dismiss this conversation as just being cultural. Hollywood begins to take closer notes on colorism only after the issue starts to significantly affect its bottom line. We are talking on a global scale now, but education and sharing on the topic are still warranted. I believe that by studying the history of Black internationalism in Asia through the lens of Hollywood, issues of access and acceptance can be reflected in a new context. Colorism has to be dismantled from the inside by letting go of these centuries-old ideologies that have kept our cultures bound to such a degree that we can’t even enjoy a movie without colorism, racism, or classism becoming the main attraction.

Now more than ever, the screen, stage, and even commercials must be spaces where a variety of races and shades are not only acknowledged but also embraced.