Chiny w Hollywood. Wpływ wzrostu chińskiego rynku kinowego na treść współczesnych filmów hollywoodzkich

Abstract

In this article I analyse the ways in which contemporary American movies are altered due to the growing influence of the emerging entertainment media market in China. For the first time in history, 2020 saw Chinese box office overtake its American counterpart in terms of yearly income. This milestone illustrates how significant the Chinese market has become. The At the same time, being an authoritarian regime, the PRC has a robust, refined and strict system of censorship at its disposal. In order for a foreign film to be admitted into the Chinese cinemas, it has to pass domestic censorship. In some decades, particularly in the 1970s, American movies were able to promote values which were not adhering to the mainstream, or were even a platform for criticism of the domestic establishment. Currently, the US film industry is predominantly driven by capitalist logic — box office appears to be the main factor dictating the content (and outlook) of fiction films. This model is exploited by China through imposition of numerous restrictions and regulations. In my analysis I show how “forbidden” topics, plots or even small details become altered in order to satisfy the regulations introduced by the Chinese government.