SHANG CHI (P2)
SHANG CHI
DIVERSITY
- The film industry has been accused of being too white, too straight, too male and too American.
- Representation and diversity have become huge issues for the film industry and Disney in particular in recent years
- To enjoy the film industry, people need to know that they are being represented in from of and behind the camera, that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone.
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- The Marvel cinematic universe (MCU) is the name given to a set of franchises, which arose from the Marvel comic books.
- Some characters, such as Spiderman, are owned by a different company (Sony). This is for copyright and legal reasons.
- An example of cross-media convergence doesn't have to be films, but can also be TV series, comics etc.
- The MCU is planned out into different phases of their interlinking series.
- Shang Chi and the legend of the ten rings belongs to phase 4 of the MCU, often referred to as the multiverse saga.
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- Shang Chi is the 25th film in the MCU
- It made $432 million worldwide
- The budget was about $150 million
- The font has a slight hint to past kung-fu films in south east Asia
- Mostly Asian cast- diversity
THE MANDARIN- SHANG CHI COMICS
- The character Xu Wenwu was casted by Tony Leung- one of the most respected actors in China
- Super-villan
- Enemy of Iron Man and other Avengers
- The ten rings that gave him his power were taken from a crashed alien spaceship
- The negative stereotypical presentation of the character would have gone down badly in China and other Asian countries
- The mandarin became a new villan- Xu Wenwu. Disney did this in order to avoid racist accusations
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Disney is a global conglomerate, so production is different for them compared to smaller companies.
The advantages Disney would have from this when it comes to make a company these days:
- Bigger budget
- Film would most likely be more popular, so more money made.
- Bigger team of camera man, writers, editors etc and higher production values.
- Worldwide connections such as cinemas, filming locations, marketing advantages, merchandise production etc.
- They are able to pay for good actors and voice actors.
- Sets
Disney evolution- Awkquafina
- Plays Katy in Shang Chi, as well as the bird from the new Little Mermaid (Scuttle Butt)
- She began by creating a song called 'My Vag', and later Disney casted her as Katy.
TONY LEUNG
- Actor and singer from Hong Kong
- One of Asia's most successful and well recognised actors
- Names by CNN as one of 'Asia's 25 greatest actors of all time'
- Shang Chi was the only Disney film he acted in
AWKQUAFINA
- Awkquafina made her breakthrough into stardom with her comedy rap 'my vag' in 2012
- She then released more music videos and raps until 2014 where she began to appear on TV, having roles in films such as 'crazy rich Asians', 'Jumanji: the next level' and then eventually winning a golden globe award in 2019 for her starring role in 'The Farewell'.
- Since then she has continued to act in disney productions such as 'shang chi', 'raya and the last dragon' 'bad guys'.
SIMU LIU
- Canadian actor
- also a writer and producer (meeting mommy which was a semi-finalist for NBC universal shorts
- Trains extensively in marital arts and stunt work
- Also starred in Barbie
BEN KINGSLEY
- He is an English actor, born in Snainton in December, 1943.
- He is married to the Brazilian actress Daniella Lavender.
- He has worked in other films such as Gandhi and Shutter Island (alongside Leonardo DiCaprio).
- Kingsley portrayed Trevor Slattery in the movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
MICHELLE YEOH
- She did ballet since the age of 4 and moved to London as a teen to study at the royal academy.
- Her first on camera work was a 1984 commercial with Jackie Chan.
- In 1985, she began making action films with D&B films of Hong Kong.
- She returned from a break in acting after divorcing her ex-husband and became very popular with Chinese audiences and then became popular with Western audiences after playing a role in the James Bond film 'Tomorrow Never dies'.
PRODUCTON OF SHANG CHI
- The Australian film industry supported the filming of Shang Chi by allowing the set to be built there.
- Started filming principal photography in Sydney in February 2020, so the filming and release was delayed. The delayed filming pushed everything back so this was inconvenient.
- Huge amounts of computer generated imagery (CGI) and visual effects (VFX) were used for Shang Chi.
- They use green screen and blue screen as they aren't colours that occur naturally on the human body. Colours such as red could get confused by rosy cheeks.
- Filmed in IMAX, so it was an expensive production, especially considering it was a new entry to the MCU
- However, it wasn't even as expensive as the less successful film 'Eternals'- so it represents good value for money
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MARKETING
- Many Disney films include 'easter eggs' for fans to spot within the films. An example of this is in Wanda vision where her kids are watching Snow White.
- Different posters are made to appeal to different demographics.
- Awkquafina as Katy will widen the target audience because she is a strong female character that some people may already know.
- Disney released a 101 guide to the characters so people would be more familiar with them
- Promotion through adverts, talk shows, soundtracks, Simu Lui's instagram
- In the cinema for 45 days- a bit of an experiment for Disney
- Critical and commercial success
- Didn't go very well in China as many people couldn't forgive them for the 'Mandarin' character
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Nominated for best Visual Effects Oscar, but lost to Dune
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D23
It was named D23 because of the year the company was formed (1923)
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FIGHT SCENE
Intertextuality- uses some character from Spiderman, linking to other MCU films. A Disney song is also used in the karaoke scene.
Camera shots- outside of the bus to get the whole perspective.
Martial arts- links to culture
DJ snake soundtrack
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Disney has huge advantages when it comes to budgets. Being able to spend $150 million on Shang Chi (which in itself is small compared to the Avengers series or even relative flop The Eternals). Most other companies cant compete with this level of spending, especially for the 25th film in a series. As a comparison, Fish Tank had a budget of $3 million, however ended up gaining back only $373k. Disney had an advantage because they had a much larger budget, meaning that they were able to cast different celebrities, such as Awkquafina. Fish tank didn't have as high of a budget so wasn't able to cast as famous people. This could be part of the reason as to why the film didn't do as well, as well as Disney being an obviously more well known company.
Shang-Chi has opened up its potential target audience to groups of people who may have felt under-represented in the film industry in the past. The predominantly Asian cast and crew and director Destin Daniel Cretin, for example are new role models. This wasn't just a Disney problem though- other films have also not had enough diversity such as Little Shop of Horrors. The move has little to no diversity and has a predominantly white cast. However, the movie was released in 1986 when diversity wasn't really something that directors considered.
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