Hollywood's growing fascination with Chinese elements
- Source: Global Times
- [17:40 November 13 2009]
- Comments
A lack of exposure to China is in evidence in American movies and TV shows. Due to cultural and geographical differences, Americans view China from their own perspective and values. The movie Mission: Impossible III was filmed in Shanghai; and Transformer: Fallen of the Revenge used a Chinese steel mill as background. Both films turn a blind eye to skyscrapers, focusing on the slum areas of Chinese cities which sparked controversy. In G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the antagonists plan to destroy four cities, including Beijing, which provoked anger among Chinese viewers. In the popular Desperate Housewives, a main character adopts a Chinese girl who grows up lacking morals and even has an affair with her adopted father. This television drama humiliates China.
However, the Chinese favor domestic elements in cartoons. Disney's animation film Mulan which features an ancient Chinese heroine in accompanied by an American interpretation of a dragon as her sidekick. The film Kungfu Panda sets a panda, a national Chinese treasure, as the hero. Traditional Chinese architecture, splendid kungfu performance and the lines "Master, Master" impressed Chinese audiences. The film grossed $600 million in box offices globally, with more than 100 million yuan made in China. But the giant panda is still shaped into an American hero with American-style humor to achieve the "American dream."
With the increased cultural exchanges, Chinese elements in US film and television programs are becoming more objective, gradually shifting from single and specific objects to spiritual and cultural elements blended together.
For Westerners, Chinese elements are always wrapped in mystery. Chinese roles in American movies tend to be something of surreal: a white-haired master in Kill Bill and the key maker in The Matrix, supernatural or immortal beings in Chinese culture. In the drama Lost, Chinese people can even communicate with the deceased.
The film Astro Boy is also has Asian characteristics: the robot hero's new friends are Chinese, the scenes look Chinese and he even gets a Chinese girlfriend in the end. Their relationship is not outwardly expressed which is more common in Chinese films and shows, compared to Disney's Mulan.
For westerners, Chinese images in films fall into two categories: one is authentic Chinese films, such as Heroes, directed by Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in which the characters play a dominant role; the other is Hollywood's interpretation, like The Last Emperor directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are the real representation of Chinese culture which transmits Chinese family values, Confucian culture and the pursuit of chivalry. These qualities can strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the westerners. Mulan has a shell of Chinese culture, Kungfu Panda a shape and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the essence.
In the "profit-first" Hollywood, more Chinese elements mean not only content for creation, but also a way to gain more of the Chinese market. Chinese audiences should be rational; after all, benefit is the main goal of producers. The Himalayas in 2012 is only shelter on the plateau, not the focus of economic and cultural attraction.
What the Chinese should profoundly consider is why Chinese elements can be easily recomposed by Hollywood but the Chinese themselves cannot make good use of them in their own films? How can Chinese filmmakers gain a leading role in international cooperation? How can the Chinese express their own culture rather than give it to foreigners to use? Chinese filmmakers should learn marketing techniques and special effects technology from Hollywood to create China's own sci-fi blockbusters. In this way we can be more confident in promoting Chinese elements in a Chinese way.
