Why Star Wars Failed In China
- Thread starter Captain Trekkie
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For the same reason the Brits didn't do a "Why Doctor Who failed in America" circa 1989?
The video wastes a lot of time with a token history lesson about the merchandise and movie ticket sales. And how could the prequels not be related to the OT?! (The video being way too often US-centric given its title, and two minutes are needed before China gets delved into at all and was quick to say why the OT was never shown there but then went back to more irrelevant and commonly known figures as to how the sequels got made. By 3:30 we finally get back to China, hence the prequels there. TPM being the first SW movie showed there was met with questions by Americans and the Chinese were not aware of Episode I having an existing relation, coupled with the fact TPM itself was anemic as a movie. The video's host tries to suggest there's no connection, which makes no sense. Though along with presenting the content, reception and interpretation of content is the other issue (meaning obviously I misinterpreted the sentence spoken)... But the video hopping back and forth between pointless West statistics versus what's involved in the video's title... )
Interesting point about the bootleg market, DVDs would be sold there for $3 in an attempt to combat it by the mid-2000s.
The video does explain why ANH was not shown there. Fine and dandy. Would showing that before the lackluster TPM have done the franchise any better? There's something a bit more unique about the franchise's origins and being ahead of its time (but then looked outdated by 1997, which the special edition didn't do any favors for) that isn't as cookie cutter when compared to today's outings.
1977's movie did reinvent f/x and marketing. That may have been why it caught on in the US, which was the biggest market and still is until we quadruple our population. Star Wars, as a ground-up legacy, started under a different set of circumstances. Try showing some random kid an episode of Doctor Who from 1970. Chances are they won't be able to relate to it unless they're a genuine geeky nerd.
Maybe the rehash of ANH was done for China's benefit? Still didn't do much good, for the same reasons. A new market needs not a rehash but something new, tied into the franchise name or it being its own franchise AND capturing the audience. The conflux of events did not exist the same way in 1977 the way they do now. Had China been shown there in 1977 it's clear the future would have been different for this fantasy movie series.
Even then, the passage of time and improved f/x and other issues - it's still obvious the established fanbase is far more important to the franchise, circa 1977, 1997, or 2017. Maybe the new trilogies coming about will do what wasn't possible in 1977.
The video wastes a lot of time with a token history lesson about the merchandise and movie ticket sales. And how could the prequels not be related to the OT?! (The video being way too often US-centric given its title, and two minutes are needed before China gets delved into at all and was quick to say why the OT was never shown there but then went back to more irrelevant and commonly known figures as to how the sequels got made. By 3:30 we finally get back to China, hence the prequels there. TPM being the first SW movie showed there was met with questions by Americans and the Chinese were not aware of Episode I having an existing relation, coupled with the fact TPM itself was anemic as a movie. The video's host tries to suggest there's no connection, which makes no sense. Though along with presenting the content, reception and interpretation of content is the other issue (meaning obviously I misinterpreted the sentence spoken)... But the video hopping back and forth between pointless West statistics versus what's involved in the video's title... )
Interesting point about the bootleg market, DVDs would be sold there for $3 in an attempt to combat it by the mid-2000s.
The video does explain why ANH was not shown there. Fine and dandy. Would showing that before the lackluster TPM have done the franchise any better? There's something a bit more unique about the franchise's origins and being ahead of its time (but then looked outdated by 1997, which the special edition didn't do any favors for) that isn't as cookie cutter when compared to today's outings.
1977's movie did reinvent f/x and marketing. That may have been why it caught on in the US, which was the biggest market and still is until we quadruple our population. Star Wars, as a ground-up legacy, started under a different set of circumstances. Try showing some random kid an episode of Doctor Who from 1970. Chances are they won't be able to relate to it unless they're a genuine geeky nerd.
Maybe the rehash of ANH was done for China's benefit? Still didn't do much good, for the same reasons. A new market needs not a rehash but something new, tied into the franchise name or it being its own franchise AND capturing the audience. The conflux of events did not exist the same way in 1977 the way they do now. Had China been shown there in 1977 it's clear the future would have been different for this fantasy movie series.
Even then, the passage of time and improved f/x and other issues - it's still obvious the established fanbase is far more important to the franchise, circa 1977, 1997, or 2017. Maybe the new trilogies coming about will do what wasn't possible in 1977.
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