Friday, June 21, 2013
What if China enlists, incorporates the American film industry into the PRC's propaganda industry in exchange for allowing the American film industry into the walled off Chinese marketplace? In other words, what if we start doing propaganda and speech control for the politburo so as to gain access to their burgeoning class of indentured consumers? This is a weapon, and I see it as a weapon, that the USSR could never threaten us with - and the threat is real and potentially quite devastating. Think about it, China has no soft power of its own to wield and quite likely never will have - American popular culture is probably the most lethal soft power weapon ever deployed and at the centre of it is the film industry - why wouldn't you try and co-opt it if you're China? They steal everything else - and remember, they don't see it as stealing, they see it as justified payback for colonial depredations - so appeals to rule of law or a sense of fairness are ludicrous. Besides, is it stealing when we willingly give it away? You can call it blackmail I guess, but what movie producer is gonna turn his back on the money over 'principles'? Hell, Hollywood's full of limousine socialists as it is anyway - so, you need the villain in my new blockbuster action film to be changed from a PLA general to a Russian general? Sure, no problem! Christ, I'll make him American if ya want. And throw in a few nice words about Mao? Absolutely. And we got our special effects people working on that Beijing smog too. As far as Hollywood's concerned, there are no dead pigs floating in the river: this town sold lies to dumbass Americans for decades, you want us to perform the same service for you, I say why not - we're all friends here, right?
