There is a flip side to this idea of China blackmailing Hollywood into running pro-Middle Kingdom glorious land of Mao O look at the miracles we've wrought you see communism really can work [as long as you're willing to steal away from the bedraggled West a few of the things it actually does well] propaganda for them - what if some cunning malcontent director/producer decides to make a movie designed to be both popular and a bloody big thorn in China's exposed flank? There are any number of future war scenarios could easily fit that bill - but the Chinese consumer on their own might reject such a thing without the police state having to step in and deny it to them - so let's imagine a love story, set in Beijing, between an American businessman and whatever winsome Chinese lass and it ends tragically because of let's say some communist party intrigue - what happens then? Let's say the movie is wildly successful, like Titanic big - does the politburo say no and deny their consumers the right to consume it? They'd pretty much have to ban it I think - it's a corner the police state culture creates for itself and that just sits there waiting for someone to back into it - but what happens then? Does the Chinese citizen consumer complain, rebel, march in protest, riot, demand change? Or do they just quietly comply and wait for the bootlegged DVDs?
Which leads to another interesting question about China - what will it mean if the oppressed citizenry never rises up against the repressive system? What if the powers that be in China have figured out the perfect balance between taking freedoms away with one hand while giving specific freedoms back with the other, their version of bread and circuses? Or what if it's simply in the nature of Chinese culture to submit to authority? After all, we've misjudged cultures before, convincing ourselves that Muslim polities must want to be free of oppression under the Islamic state - and of course a minority does, but it's a minority - most seem to act as if they wouldn't have a clue how to comport themselves without instruction from Allah's clerisy - very feudal these cultures - sure, we saw riots in Turkey, but again, that was a minority - the majority seems fine with Erdogan lecturing them about the evils of beer drinking - so it wouldn't be surprising at all to see us misjudge Chinese culture.
I'll say this, if twenty years from now China's economy has surpassed America's and yet it remains an oppressive oligarchy, entities which do have a tendency to create mischief, I gotta imagine that wouldn't be a good thing - hell, the PLA right now has a mind of its own and is increasingly strident in its ways, what will it be like then? If I'm Japan and I see America in decline - which a few more years under leadership like Obama has provided will surely be the case - and I'm looking across the sea at a muscled up behemoth that has long wanted a go at me, I'm feeling a wee bit uncomfortable - and probably getting the urge to join the nuke club.
