The movie ‘Spider-Man, No Way Home’, which was released in December last year, received a great response from the cinema fans. This film raised flags at the box office and made a business of around 1 trillion 55 billion rupees. Audiences thronged outside the theaters to watch this film and this film proved to be a new hope for the film industry affected by the Corona epidemic.
But the audience in China could not watch the film as the film was banned there. China has long banned any content that, according to China, challenges its sovereignty.
But there was nothing in this movie of ‘Spiderman’ that would hurt Chinese values. There was not a single reference to China in the film, nor did it depict China. After that, the question arose that what is going on between the Chinese government and Hollywood?
Why did China ban Spider-Man? The BBC spoke to a few film industry experts to find out the answer to this question.
China and Hollywood
Before 1949, China’s film industry was very limited. Its scope was limited to films made in China, with the exception of a few Hollywood films. But everything changed with the rise of Chinese leader Mao Zedong and the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Since 1951, films made in Hollywood and Hong Kong have been banned from showing in China. In China at that time, the cars used to show cinemas used to travel all over the country. Through which stories of peasants and workers were shown in which they spoke about their loyalty and commitment to the Communist Party.
Similar films dominated China for three decades.
Wendy Xu, the author of the book “China’s Encounter with Global Hollywood”, says that “in these 30 years, only one American film was shown in China.” Hardly anyone has heard of this movie. This movie is ‘Salt of the Earth’.
The story of ‘Salt of the Earth’ is based on the life of miners in New Mexico.
Hollywood had blacklisted the makers of the film for alleged links to the Communist Party. This was one of the main reasons why the film reached Chinese audiences.
After the death of the Chinese leader Mao in the year 1976, the situation changed in the Chinese film industry. The film industry, which had been the government’s propaganda machine for decades, now had more freedom. But due to the cessation of financial assistance from the government, their condition was deteriorating.
“China’s film industry was in dire straits,” says Wendy Xu. Many film studios went bankrupt. The number of theater goers had reduced.
The Chinese filmmakers did not have the money to make the film and then the authorities came up with a new proposal.
Wendy Sue says, “They suggested to the government’s film bureau that we should buy Hollywood films that have become hits.” People in China will also like these movies. If she goes to the theatre, we will be able to earn money. And with this money we will be able to help make films in China. This is where the idea of bringing Hollywood films to China started.
In the year 1994, the Hollywood blockbuster movie ‘The Fugitive’ was released in China. It is the story of a man who is accused of murdering his wife and is trying to disprove the accusation.
Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Johns played the lead roles in this film. He left a wonderful impression on the Chinese audience.
“Filmgoers in China had no idea that a Hollywood blockbuster could be so exciting,” says Wendy Sue. A fast paced action packed movie. You can imagine how thrilling and surprising it was for them. Because they had no contact with the international world for more than thirty years.
It was the beginning of a new era. Not only for Chinese moviegoers but for the country’s entire film industry, China had decided that only 10 Hollywood films would be screened each year. Hollywood received a tenth of the total box office revenue from each of these films, but these films were priceless to the Chinese people.
He was eager to see the outside world, but the government only wanted to make money by showing films that did not challenge the Chinese regime.
Constraints and Reconciliation
In the year 1997, three Hollywood films were released. Their stories led to a ‘break-up’ in relations between China and Hollywood. Two of these films were ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ and ‘Kandan’. It talked about the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.
The third film was ‘Red Corner’. It showed the shortcomings of China’s legal system. None of these films were made to be shown in China, but their stories so angered Chinese authorities that they banned the three studios that made the films. As the big three banners Sony, MGM and Disney were suddenly shown the way out, Hollywood was on the back foot.
Stanley Rosen, a professor at the University of Southern California, says that the Chinese film market was not big for Hollywood in those days, but China bullied them from the beginning. They told all the Hollywood studios that if you If you make a movie, it won’t be shown in China and they won’t just ban that movie, they’ll ban all your movies. China has tried to tell Hollywood from the beginning who’s boss. ‘
At the time, China’s film market was small, but American filmmakers had thoroughly explored its potential. Now some veterans have entered the scene.
Disney boss Michael Eisner and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger devised a plan to restore China’s confidence. After that, the doors of the three Hollywood studios were reopened for Chinese fans. But the situation in China had started to change.
Stanley Rosen explains that ‘at that time Chinese newspapers were reviewing Hollywood films. Movies like Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Star Wars were very successful in China but newspapers were writing that Hollywood movies would help the world to think of them. If he makes a Russian film, there will be a lot of spice, if he makes a film about Africa, there will be a lot of people.
Despite this, the number of Hollywood films shown in China continued to increase. In 2001, the number of Hollywood films shown in China increased from 10 to 20. In 2012, this number increased to 34. Hollywood’s earnings from China also increased from 10 to 25 percent, but after a while it seemed that Chinese moviegoers’ love for American films was waning.
“To some extent this is true,” says Stanley. There are many reasons behind this. One is that Chinese people are making their own films with special effects. Which have a big budget. Among them are stars. There were no big movies in China before. No movie stars. There were stars like Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger from Hong Kong. Now China has its own movie stars. The same is repeated in other Hollywood films and Chinese moviegoers are no longer as surprised as before.
The preferences of Chinese moviegoers may be changing, but the problem for Hollywood is not Chinese moviegoers but the Chinese censor board.
The choice of China is important
“When I was researching this issue, one person told me that half of the issue is related to China’s censorship and half is due to American capitalism,” says James Tager, director of research at the New York-based organization Pan America. is from.’
James explains what kind of deals Hollywood is making to reach Chinese moviegoers.
China’s box office became the biggest in the world in 2020, he says, and gaining access to China can make or break the financial fortunes of major Hollywood films.
“There are economic benefits for these big companies to keep China’s censorship board in mind,” says James. These days we see Hollywood studios self-censoring. They want to fix it. The films made by him can be shown in China.
James says it’s hard to know whether Hollywood is crafting stories with Chinese moviegoers in mind or whether controversial scenes are later removed based on Chinese censors.
But a small glimpse of it came out in 2014. When the emails of Sony company representatives were hacked. Through this, the conversation about the science fiction comedy film called ‘Pixels’ became clear.
The film showed aliens attacking the Taj Mahal and some important monuments in Washington. Wall China was also involved. The Sony bosses were wondering whether to remove the scenes related to it and eventually they were deleted.
“Such things rarely come before us,” Maz says. It showed us how common it is for studio reps. They will argue among themselves whether the film should be released in the Chinese market or not. Which part will have to be replaced? I mean, the studio reps are writing to each other that the censors are strict about it or if there’s a problem with the scene getting through the censors, it should be cut.”
The changes were also of a different nature. For example, the dialogue of gay or bisexual characters was changed. James says that many people can feel what a big deal it is.
But this means that the world’s best center gets permission for its stories from the Propaganda Center of the Communist Party of China. James says that in such a situation, many political messages can also be inserted into the story of the film.
China’s Censor Board and Hollywood’s Trouble
“For a big-budget blockbuster, a successful release in China can double the US box office earnings,” says Iain Cox, associate professor at the University of Virginia.
In 2020, China overtook the US as the world’s largest viewer of Hollywood films.
Here it must be remembered that behind the glamor of Hollywood there are people who are pressured by investors to make money in different ways.
Talking about a company like Disney, you will find that they try to enter the Chinese market through their films, says Iain Cox. Their aim is not only to earn from the film. They also want to create such intellectual property. Which has power. Which can be used to sell goods, create theme parks, video games, clothes and toys and other products.
However, no one can say anything with certainty about China’s censor board.
Last year, Marvel’s superhero film ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ was released. The film was not released in China. The main reason for this was that the main cast of the film had criticized the Chinese administration in the past.
A similar minor reason was given for the ban on the recent Spider-Man film ‘No Way Home’. Worryingly, Hollywood is unable to predict what China might object to.
This is a new facet of the challenge, says Ian Kokas. Not that there will never be a superhero movie next. It’s an ongoing struggle where studios have to see how their film will be perceived in China. For the people who communicate and give instructions to the studio, then the studio has to think about how what they’re doing is going to have an impact in the future?’
Lessons learned since 1997 are also in front. The studio was then punished for making films that were not supposed to be released in China.
“There is certainly no clear answer to this question,” says Ian Kokas. I think one thing that is important to understand is that there may come a time when Hollywood studios will consider relying on the Chinese market for big budget films.
“A sound business decision but it seems that despite all the uncertainty, they are continuing their efforts.”
Coming back to the same question, why did China ban ‘Spider-Man’?
The short answer is that it created an image of America as a proud and powerful country that was intolerable to China.
Secondly, the Chinese government wants more space for Chinese films promoting the country’s ideology. Now the question is that if Hollywood continues to run after Chinese fans, what will be the impact on the story of the film?
Our third expert, James Tagger, says that if a writer wants to tell a story about a concentration camp, permission is rarely granted because no such film can be shown in China because they currently put Muslim Uyghurs in concentration camps. have been. That means such a film will never be made.