Well then, maybe they’re seeing stuff that I’m not. As far as I know there isn’t that much marketing that’s unique to the Asian market at least in Korea. I’m seeing mostly the same posters, the same trailers etc. that I see through Western social media, other than maybe these exceptionally unfortunate character posters:
If you must know, the Korean in the margin reads: Cold-blooded [upper left-hand corner] Jedi [vertically down the left side]
Relatable/evil [smaller red lettering above crossguard] character [line change] realistic [in the space formed by crook of elbow] Villain [lower right-hand corner]
The VILLAIN [large lettering, we get it] who killed his father [upper right-hand corner] son [fainter letters below ‘villain’]
Kylo Ren [lower right-hand corner]
The one with hidden power (Force) [upper left-hand corner] change and growth [below]
Rey [lower left-hand corner]
A time OF chaos [upper right-hand corner. Yes, ‘of’ is done in the largest lettering for some godforsaken reason]
The light and the DARK [large lettering, lower right-hand corner]
Then there’s this poster, which reads, “The fierce battle* of characters that cross over between GOOD and EVIL”
*I put an asterisk next to “fierce battle” because there are a few different meanings that can attach to this Korean word depending on the Chinese characters it stands for: “series biography(列傳),” “biography of a martyred hero(烈傳),” or “heated battle(烈戰).” I thought the last is the likeliest given the type of movie we’re talking about.
If you’ve recovered from the awful photoshop job on the character posters, there isn’t a whole lot in the promotion over here that’s different. We already know the movie will explore gray arieas of morality. We know Kylo and Rey are going to stand for the Dark and the Light, and even Luke showing up on both the “dark” and “light” sides of the poster is consistent with Rian saying Kylo and Rey are two sides of our protagonist.
As for Reyno-like dynamics being common in Asian stuff: yes indeed, the romanticization of stalking and assault is an unfortunately common trope, at least in Korean media. It’s why I don’t generally bother with KDramas (which shippers often compare their ship to), because a lot of them are so misogynistic and formulaic.
The thing is, the Asian region isn’t even the franchise’s best market. The Force Awakens did well but not great in China. So even if we assume Star Wars makes plot decisions for the Asian market, it doesn’t seem like a good financial decision to alienate large sections of the much-larger Western market to boost sales in Asia. Basically shippers have been claiming absolutely everything is proof of their ship becoming canon, and this appears to be more of the same.
Tbh from that last poster it looks obvious that Rey is going to be spending a lot of time with Luke, meanwhile Kylo is going to be hanging around Bigger Luke (who has turned to the dark side and become Snoke) for most of the movie.
ONE MONTH TO GO!! Here’s something I’ve cooked up “for fun”. Fitting that it’s almost been a year since my first Ep. 7 fan art. I’ve gotten much better reference since then 🙂
L.J.'s Obsessions 