The Cracks of the World
China’s growing economic clout and rising prominence in world affairs can help illuminate some essential if unflattering traits of the business we call show. Not even a decade ago, any mention of China was usually made in relation to the draconian censorship filmmakers there had to face, often at the expense of their own artistic freedom, if not worse. As the country’s finances improved, and its box office became something to be courted at the cost of self-censorship, the word “China” in trade magazines started being associated with much nobler notions. Suddenly, what had once been a veritable hellhole for freedom-loving directors became the dream co-production partner, a place where the inauguration of the Qingdao film studios in 2013, a mere $7.9 billion project, attracted the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, and John Travolta, who apparently had no qualms about lending their liberal star power to a totalitarian “communist” regime. While the irony may have been lost on many, or at the very least conveniently downplayed, China’s case is nothing but a cheerful reminder of what reallypurposes, projecting the idyllic image of a prosperous land of happiness and economic opportunity. Which is where independent filmmakers usually come into the picture, with the vital intent of ruining it completely.
