China’s Censorship of Western Media
and Why It Should Be Concerning
Nikki Muggli
China, a hegemony on the upswing; the US and China have entered a Thucydides trap, where the USA has started to battle with the newcomer over becoming the top dog. This is very apparent with hard power moves such as the trade war, South China Sea escalation, and sending military equipment to India for the China-India border. However, one of the fronts the USA is losing is their battle in soft power such as film and media influence. Hollywood, for example, has turned to China for funding and money. China, with this influx of big money, is able to create itself a new image through its media influence as it tries to exert worldwide media control.
We all know about China’s censorship on its own media. China’s great firewall is widely known; an invisible wall which censors the media within China. For instance, it was used for simultaneously banning ‘Winnie the pooh’ for it being used as an internet meme, for mocking Xi Jinping. International films shown to an international audience may be a start. This couldn’t have been made clearer than by Disney’s “Mulan” which was launched earlier this year. The movie tried its hardest, yet miserably failed to satisfy the Chinese audiences and the Chinese government. Part of this included filming in Xinjiang, China, where the Ugyher re-education camps are located. Not only did they film in this area, but also took the time to thank the police officers in Xinjiang as well. The reason for why this is problematic is that in 2020, The United Nations had delivered a joint statement on behalf of 39 countries calling for action on the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. I believe that Mulan, a girl who fights against invaders to win honor for her family and all of China, might not want to film in human rights abuses hotspot, and moreover thank the people who are responsible.
Another example of China’s influence comes from Dr. Strange, one of the movies within the Avengers series. Dr. Strange's mentor was supposed to be a Tibetan monk, but it was changed to a female Celtic monk who happened to be in Kathmandu. China took issue with the fact that a male Tibetan monk could be a “chosen one”, a hero and a mentor to a superhero. This had too many great implications for them. China told Disney to get rid of it or there will be no more investment, so Disney decided that it would be easier to change the plot as well as the character to satisfy them.
What happens when you talk against China and stand your ground? Well, BTS seems to have learned the hard way. BTS’s leader RM said in a speech about the Korean war, that the war was fought between South Korea backed by the US and North Korea supported by China. This is a general fact, yet this statement got BTS in trouble; they were let go of many brand sponsorships and deals including Samsung, many Chinese companies, and those who were heavily connected to the Chinese market.
One of the key elements of censorship is suppression of the freedom of expression; making a public speech, communication or sharing information. Sure, you could boil down part of the censorship by adapting to the consumers’ choice; Chinese box offices attribute a lot to the grossing of a film, so making small changes to have the movie become more successful isn’t always a bad thing, and does not prove that China is influencing with intent to censor. However, when is the last time you have seen any Hollywood celebrity speak out against the Xinjiang camps? How many Hollywood celebrities are showing their support for democratic movements in Taiwan or Hong Kong? This implies that being able to control the film industry also comes with the ability to control celebrities and highly influential people in the related industries. This in turn leads to being able to control the sphere of influence when it comes to influential people can be a way to control the information and control the crowds. It is doubtless that celebrities can help elevate awareness and ignite discussion through their involvement in humanitarian causes such as climate change, natural disaster relief, and HIV/AIDS. Constructing uncertainty in a fact or an idea might be the initial goal of the Communist Party of China (CCP), where limiting the freedom of speech of influential people would be beneficial. There's also a second issue where a country with a completely different culture and value gains the power to censor the mass media and entertainment of other nations and gets away with it.
What happens once the next generation is born under film censorship and grows up without any knowledge of Taiwan and Hong Kong’s fight for democracy, Tiananmen square, or Tibet? The Chinese censorship gives birth to fact deniers; either by denying their existence despite seeing the facts, or due to complete ignorance. We know about the Korean war and Chinese involvement within the event, but will it always stay that way? Will the madness of the crowds completely swallow up the fact and spit out a sweet lie which we will believe in? Media censorship is the beginning of a complete total censorship if we let it pass. As mentioned before, China and the US are in a fight for hegemony, and if China wins, we can only imagine the amount of influence and censorship that might evolve. The USA is a prime example of this. The USA has also been able to change its image worldwide to be more palatable. That is, they were able to use the media and international journalism in their favor to cover up their messy footprints in Latin America or in the Middle East.
What does China have to gain from censorship internationally or in western movies anyway? They are able to control their image internationally, to make China seem like a magical and mystical place, far from the actual truth of communist China. For example, many movies that had locational shots in China were told to delete and re-film multiple scenes; these included scenes where there was dirty laundry hanging or where there was trash on the street. The motive of this was to make China seem much cleaner than it actually is. The ability to carefully construct a new image, and a likable image towards the general public is one of the greatest interests of hegemonic China.
Following this, the CCP will erase any trace of Tibet, Taiwan, Tiananmen incident. Furthermore, censorship could bleed into other social issues such as LGBT and race, anything that is against the interests of the CCP. For example, in the movie Queen, which was a biography about Freddie Mercery, any scene that mentioned him being gay was cut from the movie for the Chinese audience.
Freedom of speech, the press are fundamental rights that must be protected. There is no doubt that the media and films influence the social realm. Media also influences our own creativity and helps shape our mindset. By directly censoring the media, it also censors our own creativity and thoughts. We need to have a call to action to curtail China’s rising influence in media.
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