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Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific
Hollywood and China as Adversaries and Allies
By Wan Jihong and Richard Kraus
Abstract
Analyses of the politics of film in China typically stress the tension between film-makers and the Communist Party. Although United States film exports to China have not eliminated this conflict, Hollywood's entry into the Chinese movie market has reconfigured the political economy of film production and distribution. Chinese film-makers and Party leaders each have reasons to view Hollywood with hostility; film-makers are staggering from the new competition for domestic films and Party leaders want to use movies to promote nationalism. Yet the Party and the film industry each have strong motives to accommodate Hollywood and learn from their new rival. For the film industry, Hollywood can offer technical advance and commercial savvy. For the Party, Hollywood can offer a model of operating in a mixed economy and insight on how to produce more appealing propaganda.