The Audience’s Perspective: Decline of Mythical Elements in Films

Myths have always been a source of inspiration for literary and artistic creation because of their surreal image and idealized vision. To inherit the national culture and the spirit, many films eastern and western take mythical elements as a medium of meaning. So, has the appearance of mythical elements in the films received a positive response from the audience? Based on the films (n = 919) released in mainland China cinemas from September 2015 to September 2018, this article uses the method of regression analysis and Latent Dirichlet allocation topic model to verify the relationship between mythical elements and audience acceptance. The results show that (a) mythical elements have no significant impact on the box office revenues; (b) and have no positive impact on the film ratings; (c) there is no significant mythical topic in the film reviews of mythical films, which shows that the public in modern society does not show sensitivity to the mythical elements in films. Finally, we discuss the possible causes of the results and put forward corresponding suggestions for the producers of mythical films.