From the perspective of origin, "Transformers" is actually a product of the cooperation between the United States and Japan. In 1984, Hasbro of the United States and the Japanese company Tacala developed and sold this series of toys. Marvel was responsible for the creation of comics. It has a history of 30 years. However, by the time of "Transformers 4", a large number of Chinese businesses and capitals flocked to the film, and a large number of them began to penetrate into the film from the content level, thus making the film present a strong "Central American" feature: the protagonist's food and clothing costs are always flashing. With the logos of Chinese products, even in the interior of the United States, the packaging of those products are magnificently exposed in simplified Chinese. When Chinese audiences watch "Transformers 4", counting Chinese advertisements has become a last resort for watching movies. Bian Lei laughed and entertained himself, the situation is completely different from the first three "Transformers"; in the second half of the plot, the film directly replaced the main scene to China, from Beijing and Guangzhou all the way to the past, and finally even more Hong Kong is the main battlefield of the duel. It is not counted that Hong Kong has been beaten up. The alien spacecraft flying over the Great Wall, as well as the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and the high-rise buildings in Guangzhou have made Chinese audiences have a great sense of intimacy; in addition, Chinese actors such as Li Bingbing and Han Geng Also appearing in the film one by one, Li Bingbing even has quite a long role, and has a lot of rivals with a main character in the film-all these make "Transformers 4" full of Chinese style, making the film pure from the past. Hollywood products have become "Central America" manufacturing.
The origin of "China and the United States" has also brought about a subversive change in the ideological strategy and worldview setting of "Transformers 4": in "Transformers 4", basically only China and the United States have ties to aliens. , The setting of the world view is framed in the "Central America", as if other countries have been ignored (the "drift" as a member of the Autobots is transformed into an image of a Japanese samurai, which can be regarded as a tribute to the original Japanese work); and a large number of China The implantation of businesses and Chinese elements has also made "Transformers 4" no longer have too close a connection with the Pentagon like the first three movies. Almost all the major military services are dispatched to cooperate with the filming, flying in the sky, swimming in the water, and running on the ground, but all the US military equipment that can be shown off are all appearing in "Transformers". Optimus Prime and the Hornet also even more. Many have undertaken the responsibilities of the US military's super robots. In "Transformers 4", when the story was transferred to China, not only was the U.S. military disappeared, the Hong Kong police directly asked the central government for help, so the Chinese Minister of Defense, surrounded by a group of senior generals of the People's Liberation Army, made a decisive decision. The phone expressed his full support for Hong Kong (but the Chinese Minister of Defense is a military officer and should not appear in a suit).
In general, "Transformers 4" is like a screen combination of the upper body of the United States and the lower limbs of China. A Frankenstein-style super blockbuster, extended according to the plot of the first half of the United States, seems to be a qualified one. The popcorn blockbuster film, but after the Chinese elements dominated the audience, the film began to develop in a chaotic and strange direction, and it had to end in a lively but hastily.
If the bleak contrast between "Pacific Rim"'s high box office in China and North America is unintentional, then "Transformers 4"'s overall production strategy focusing on "China and the United States" is already obvious. From the current point of view, "Transformers 4" has a good box office in North America but not as surprisingly popular as China. However, the strong box office in China (and the placement of advertisements by merchants) has long been enough to support the profit prospects of such a huge film-China The rise of the film market is also a top priority in the world film industry coordinates. It changes not only the appearance of Chinese films, but even Hollywood films.
Following this development, it is not uncommon for Transformers to gradually become a co-produced film or even a domestically produced film. By then, this Frankenstein will be completely deformed.
(Published in "China News Weekly" 2014 Issue 24)
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