REPUBLIC PICTURES:

China Is Warming to Hollywood's Glow (RICK LYMAN, September 18, 2002, NY Times)

Nothing stirs Hollywood's covetous soul these days quite so much as the mention of China. With 1.3 billion people and only 5,000 movie screens--North America, with one-fourth the population, has more than six times as many screens--China looks to Hollywood much like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge must look to the oil industry: vast, untapped and potentially fat. But the potential for profit is undercut by the flood of illegal DVD's into Chinese homes.

Many believe that the recent trickle of Hollywood films into Chinese theaters, along with those illegal DVD's, has played a role in spurring yearnings for accelerated change among ordinary Chinese citizens. Images of prosperous, independent Westerners--if not explicitly standing up for their rights, at least dressed in cool style and living it up--might have a fundamental impact on this huge, complex society as it emerges from its cocoon.

"I don't think there is any doubt that Western films have had a fairly large, popular impact," said Nicholas Lardy, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He pointed to obvious changes in everyday dress and slang, as well as to what may be more subtle shifts. But others fear overstating the case.

"To the extent that there are hidden messages in popular culture, that is possible," said Catharin E. Dalpino, another China expert at Brookings. "But the problem with buying this argument is that it will be distilled into saying Hollywood is helping to democratize China. And the truth is, I don't think the Chinese people are relying on Hollywood to help them develop a social conscience."

How ya' gonna keep 'em down on the (collective) farm, once they've seen Porky's? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 26, 2002 12:41 PM