Hollywood In China

Thursday, June 2, 2022
Hoover Institution, Stanford University
The Hoover Project on China’s Global Sharp Power invites you to Hollywood in China on Thursday, June 2 from 10 - 11AM PST.
Professor Ying Zhu charts a century of relations between Hollywood and China against the backdrop of shifting U.S.-China dynamics. She teases out competing political and economic interests as well as cultural values that have played out in the art and artifice of filmmaking on a global scale, and with global ramifications.
SPEAKER
Ying Zhu is professor emeritus at the City University of New York and director of the Center for Film and Moving Image Research in the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. She is the author to four books including Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World’s Largest Movie Market (2022) and Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television (2013), and co-editor of six book volumes including Soft Power with Chinese Characteristics: China’s Campaign for Hearts and Minds (2019).
MODERATOR
Glenn Tiffert is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs the Hoover project on China’s Global Sharp Power and works closely with government and civil society partners to document and build resilience against authoritarian interference with democratic institutions. Most recently, he co-authored and edited Global Engagement: Rethinking Risk in the Research Enterprise (2020).

[@andrewlm5677]

It is interesting that movies like Transformers and Fast and the Furious do okay in the US but are largely allowed to continue due to their popularity in China. The tastes of the US and Chinese audiences aren’t necessarily in great alignment so an attempt to produce an American blockbuster that also appeals to China isn’t an easy task.
The idea of film being a mix of art and entertainment is a fairly important thing for US audiences. When it is clear that a film is being made where the primary purpose seems to be as a cash grab the movie typically does badly with critics and people tend to stay away. Movies designed to do well in the world market are more at risk of this fate. I think there is a large segment of the US population that enjoys seeing poorly made, cynical, cash grab movies like these bomb in the US box office. It is kind of a brutal business and it is trending more and more in that direction.

[@davidkimel4559]

Interesting topic. The audio could use improvment, sounds like I'm listening under water

[@TheMegaMammoth]

Why is the intro music ripped straight from American Beauty