Paul W. S. Anderson’s latest movie, Monster Hunter, has received significant backlash from Chinese audiences due to a joke in the film that has racist undertones. Monster Hunter was released in China on December 3, 2020, and will soon hit theaters in the U.S. on Christmas Day. Based on one of the best-selling fantasy video games by the company Capcom, the film follows an American military unit led by Milla Jovovich’s Lieutenant Artemis as it falls through a portal to a magical world inhabited by dangerous creatures. After enlisting the help of a local Hunter played by Tony Jaa, the soldiers must defeat the monsters and find their way home.
With many cinemas open in major Chinese cities and the country’s proven interest in Hollywood’s outlandish, fantastical stories, China seemed to be a prime location to promote Monster Hunter. Anderson worked with Chinese technology company Tencent Pictures to distribute the film, and released a unique Monster Hunter trailer specifically tailored towards Chinese audiences after the American preview angered long-time fans of the franchise. Video game movies have found success in China in the past even when they disappointed fans in the United States, so Monster Hunter was prepared to be a surefire hit for the Chinese market.
Nevertheless, Monster Hunter finds itself in trouble after Chinese audiences spotted an insensitive joke in the movie. Analyst Daniel Ahmad called out Monster Hunter writers for including a pun in a conversation between two soldiers that viewers believe references the outdated, racist phrase “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees”. China is known for its censorship and scrutiny over the media, so many fans were surprised that the pun was even included in the first place. Take a look at the post exposing the offensive joke below:
Interestingly, Anwar explained that the subtitles for the English dialogue did not directly translate the controversial joke. Instead, it uses an old Chinese idiom that roughly means “gold can be found under knees”, which refers to a man’s need to have dignity. Still, Chinese audiences took to social media to express their anger with the spoken joke, and left many negative reviews for both the movie and the video game that it was based on. As a result, Monster Hunter has reportedly been taken out of Chinese theaters only two days after its release, possibly for further editing, and Capcom Asia issued a statement assuring Chinese fans that the video game company was not involved in the creation of the film adaptation.
Though Anderson and the film’s production companies have yet to comment on the racist pun, it’s no surprise that Chinese audiences have reacted sensitively to the dialogue. Hollywood films, especially those targeted towards China like Mulan, have not done overly well in the country in the past year, and Chinese viewers are now slowly finding more resonance with movies made by Chinese directors rather than Western creatives. Monster Hunter seemed to feature all the elements for success in China: impressive magical creatures, a mythical setting, and an Asian central character -- but still managed to fare badly just because of an insensitive joke. With a population of over 1.4 billion people, China is still a crucial market for Hollywood movies, so Monster Hunter’s controversy may encourage filmmakers to be more careful with any hint of racism that can be found in their international blockbusters in the future.
Source: Daniel Ahmad/Twitter
- Monster Hunter (2020)Release date: Dec 25, 2020
December 05, 2020 at 10:04PM
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Monster Hunter Movie Racist Joke Causing Controversy In China - Screen Rant
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