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(CHINADAILY) Filmfans in China were elated on Monday after Leonardo DiCaprio's first Oscar win — forBest Actor — at the coveted Academy Awards.
While not many of them have seenThe Revenant, which will be screened on the Chinesemainland on March 18, they had been rooting for "Little Li", an affectionate nickname for thestar, since coverage of the Oscars became routine in the country.
Chinese fans share with their peers from other countries their love and support for DiCaprio,but what sets them apartis their exclusive focus on him.
Issues such as "white dominance"at the Oscars, and even the nominated movies, receivedlittle attention in China.
DiCaprio's image as a teen heartthrob from the blockbuster movieTitanichas been indeliblyetched on the minds of many fans.
They saw his later movies that were nominated, which had much narrower exposure, asoutright attempts to win Hollywood's biggest honor. This reached fever pitch when he wasnominated forThe Wolf of Wall Street, unleashing a barrage of appeals, both online and inmainstream media, for the Academy's recognition.
The reason DiCaprio attracts tidal waves of sympathy is his star power.Titanic, released in1998 in China, was the nation's box-office champion for many years, and even a rerelease in3-D in 2012 earned 982 million yuan ($150 million), more than the latestStar Warsmovie.
The red wristband DiCaprio wore at the awards ceremony was instantly copied and madeavailable at online stores for 15 yuan apiece, supposedly "for turning around fortune".
Before nominations were announced in January, all three Chinese-language submissions forBest Foreign Language Film failed to make the cut.
The mainland submission,Wolf Totem,was a commercially successful but controversialchoice.
When the Academy turned it down, alleging that Chinese had too little artistic control as it hada French director and some non-Chinese behind-the-scenes talent, the news did not gainmuch attention in China.
But the replacement,Go Away Mr. Tumor, had many scratching their heads. Both titles failedto make any top-10 lists on home territory, and their selections were widely considered not torepresent the country's best achievement in the art of film.
