The thesis focuses on analyzing and discussing Hunanese audience members’ receptions of three of his films – Rocky IV (1985), Cliffhanger (1993) and The Expendables (2010) to reveal the audiences’ motivations of admiring him and his movies. The analysis is based on Hunanese male characteristics because Hunanese culture is a male centric culture. In the Rocky IV film, Hunanese fans like his manhood, nature of soldier, and determination. In the response to Cliffhanger, some audience members appreciate his manhood, family value. Some members think his character is a coward, some of them even support the bad guys. In the audience’s reception of The Expendables, audiences have different opinions for different action actors. For example, Barney Ross (Stallone) was perceived as an extraordinary military leader. The thesis is divided into six chapters, and conducted upon Stuart Hall’s Encoding & Decoding theory.

Nationer är komplexa varumärken i kontrast till organisationers eller företags varumärken. De omfattar en rad aspekter såsom exempelvis turism, näringsliv och politik. Trots det, är det minst lika viktigt för ett land att skapa ett gott rykte kring sitt varumärke. Att sponsra en film är ett av alla tillvägagångssätt att nå ut med sitt varumärke till omvärlden. Det gjorde Singapores turistnämnd, när de sponsrade filmen Crazy Rich Asians. Hollywoodfilmen släpptes år 2018 och blev en succé i många länder. Denna studie har undersökt på vilket sätt en geografiskt distanserad publik tolkat landets varumärke genom filmen. Syftet med studien är att framhäva på vilket sätt en geografiskt distanserad publik tolkar ett nationsvarumärke i film. Fem svenska studenter deltog i en fokusgrupp. Studien kom fram till att (1) Singapores varumärke uppmärksammades tydligt av en geografiskt distanserad publik genom filmen, men att (2) vissa singaporianska kulturer och traditioner som framhävs tolkades på ett icke-önskvärt sätt. Studiens resultat understryker vikten av vilken kulturell kontext som filmen presenteras i. / Nations brands are complex in contrast to corporational- or organizational brands. There are numerous different aspects that need to be considered when building a strong nation brand for example within sectors revolving tourism, politics and infrastructure. Sponsoring a movie is one way for a nation to market themselves and reach out to a larger audience worldwide. In 2018 Singapore Tourism Board, STB, sponsored the movie Crazy Rich Asians, a movie that became a Hollywood success worldwide. This study aims to examine in which ways a geographical distanced audience responded to the movie and how their interpretation could help to construct Singapore's brand image. The purpose of the study is to highlight in what way a geographically distanced audience read a nation brand trough film. Five Swedish students participated in a focus group discussion on this matter after watching the movie Crazy Rich Asians. The study reveals that (1) a geographically distanced audience did create a brand image of Singapore through the movie. (2) Some of the Singaporean cultures and traditions that exposed in the movie were not read in a desirable way. The result of the study highlights the importance of which culture context a movie is presented in.