Sunday, November 10, 2013

So much for crossing cultural boundaries . . .


One has to laugh at the mishaps that can occur when marketing Western entertainment to other cultures. The most recent mixup occurred in China, where the film 'Thor: The Dark World' has just opened. Here's the original poster for it.




Unfortunately, there seems to be something called 'erotic fan fiction' in existence. According to Yahoo! News:

A hilarious mix-up at a Shanghai, China cinema has resulted in a fan-made image being used as the official poster for “Thor: The Dark World.” The digitally altered image ... Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in an uncharacteristically tender embrace -- it's likely the work of erotic fan fiction enthusiasts. Why the theatre opted to use the fan-made poster and not the official Chinese “Thor: The Dark World” poster is unknown.

. . .

Erotic fan fiction is a little-discussed element of fandom, but one that has had a surprising impact on the literary world and in Hollywood.


. . .

Thor and Loki are far from the only unlikely gay coupling to come out of the fan community. One of the most famous fan-fiction tropes is called Kirk/Spock, an entire fan-made subgenre which depicts Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock of “Star Trek” fame as being in a serious romantic/sexual relationship. If you can think of two or more fictional characters, there’s a good chance that there’s a small but dedicated online community devoted entirely to writing about and/or illustrating a relationship between them.

There's more at the link.  Here's the 'gay' Thor poster.




Umm . . . yes, I'd say that poster certainly . . . er . . . redefines the relationship between them!





Peter

7 comments:

Murphy's Law said...

You mean the girls from Charlie's Angels might have been more than just co-workers?

Phssthpok said...

Somehow I don't think that was meant by the term 'Brotherly Love'...

Erik said...

Well, according to norse mythology, Loke was once disguised as a mare, and was impregnated by a stallion, which resulted in Sleipner, the eight legged horse of Odin.
I'll leave it a that...

Sendarius said...

I remain impressed by Tom Hiddleston (or maybe it's the make-up crew).

Chris Hemsworth playing Thor looks like Chris Hemsworth playing Thor, but Loki? Tom Hiddleston could walk into the local supermarket, and nobody would recognise him.

That's either a great actor, or great make-up, and since Loki isn't covered in a silicone face mask, I am going with great acting.

Borepatch said...

Murphy, LOL.

This reminds me of when we have a high tech schematic poster translated into Japanese (at great expense, 'natch). The translation was, err, "unique". This did not go over well with the team in Japan because they had to display it (or much face would have been lost).

trailbee said...

Remember the CBS finger gesture which meant to portray a CBS Logo all those eons ago? Well, in Europe it represented something entirely different and was removed asap. Now, it's just a matter of cultures. The Japanese wouldn't have given it a second thought-Kabuki, anyone? :)

Radagast said...

Yup. Some fan fiction is good enough to publish, think Eric Flint's Grantville Gazette.

LARRY Niven's Man Kzinn Wars could be considered similar although its more collaboration by invitation.

S.M. Stirling has an approved fan-fic site, he references some of the stories in his Emberverse series.

I'm a fan of Lois McMaster Bujolds work, but her output is glacial, so I went looking for some fan-fic to fill in between books. There is quite a bit out there, some of very high quality. I just wish the ladies who enjoy writing male homosexual porn would play in other universes. Or at least label their works better. *Squick*