8
Korean People Seem To Prefer Asian People On Their Superhero Movie Posters
Some people don't seem to know that the Jay Chou, the Taiwanese person who plays Kato in the new Green Hornet movie is actually somewhat of an Asian megastar! This might be why on the Korean version of the posters (which is the same version that's being used in other Asian markets), Chou is featured front and center, with Seth Rogen's big face hiding in the shadows (compared to the new US poster released today, which is just a car). Cameron Diaz, also pretty famous with Koreans, gets a more prominent placement in comparison to the American poster, where she's not featured at all.
From now on, I'm calling Sicha Chouire.
OUR MAN IN SEOUL …you mean a SEOUL MAN?
This is what happened in Hong Kong with Bruce Lee when he played Kato. They didn't even call it "The Green Hornet" in HK, they called it "The Kato Show." Because let's face it, the Green Hornet is alway played by some zaftig white bag of wet high fructose corn syrup and Kato is always played by a badass.
Whenever I see one of the previews for this movie, I really am left wondering why Seth Rogen's character is included at all. There's a strong impression that they would become a vastly more effective crimefighting team if the "sidekick" ran over the "hero" in an "unfortunate accident" and then left him at the hideout for the remainder of the film.
Granted, I don't know the comics, so it's possible there is some redeeming value to the white guy that isn't immediately apparent. Knowing a little bit about the general era of the story's origin, though, I'm skeptical.
That is not how I'd transliterate Seth OR Diaz. However, I realize I'm in the minority. Taegu should not be spelled with a D.
OMG I'm so pro the D for "Taegu" etc. That character does not sound anything like a hard, aspirated "t" sound in English. And I'm very curious as to how else you'd transliterate either "Seth" or "Diaz". There's no character that makes a sound like the "th" in English and that's the longstanding tradition of how to transliterate "z" sounds, hence the j/z confusion by Korean speakers but I don't know how else you'd do it.
I'm not sure that this poster represents the totality of the movie's poster/marketing strategy. I was at a South Korean cinema a few days ago. Many Green Hornet posters were on display, each of which seemed to prioritize a different character from the movie.
There are more at the theatre itself, but this seems to be the one that's hanging up the most in random places and also on the big signs outside of the theatres.