With The Battle at Lake Changjin II becoming the top box office draw during Spring Festival, some Western media outlets have been stigmatizing Chinese movies and giving China a bad name. The Guardian, for example, has described the film as "straight-up propaganda", while The Hollywood Reporter attributes the film's commercial success to Chinese government control.
The Battle at Lake Changjin film series can be seen as a response to the United States' media war against China. Its commercial success indicates that Chinese filmmakers are making high-quality, patriotic movies, and that Chinese people feel strongly about the US' moves against China.
To mark the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) seven decades ago, the heroism and revolutionary spirit of the people, and their determination to seek justice and peace for all humankind－which The Battle at Lake Changjin II shows－have aroused a new spirit of patriotism among the Chinese people. When collective memory, emotional resonance and national identity are blended and stimulated in a film, it is more than likely to draw audiences across the country. This is what the film has done, prompting many to term it the "Changjin Lake Effect".
The Battle at Lake Changjin I, as one of the highest-grossing films of 2021, represented the triumph of China-themed movies. According to the People's Daily, the new record shows that literary and artistic works that satisfy the socio-cultural needs of the public and boost their patriotic spirit will gain popularity nationwide.
In fact, it has long been recognized that Hollywood movies are cultural products through which the US attempts to spread its imperialist policies around the world. This is what soft power means to the US. In fact, The Guardian, in its review of the Chinese film, said Hollywood uses tricks for cloaking ideology with entertainment.
Hollywood movies portray humanism and the pursuit of freedom in ingenious packaging, but in reality they are also ideological outputs that convey the "American message". Many Hollywood movies resonate with humanity, inspiration and success, while also establishing emotional identities in a virtual world, bridging different cultures, and overcoming obstacles on the path to transnational, trans-cultural, and interracial communication.
American values and the portrayal of the US' positive image are hidden in the strong audio-visual effects in many Hollywood movies. Such films not only generate enormous economic benefits, but also spread the American way of life and values.
In his book Cultural Imperialism, British scholar John Tomlinson delves deeply into the theory of media imperialism, focusing on the "marginalization" of developing and least-developed countries by Western developed countries through mass media products such as films and TV shows, and the imposition of Western ideology on these countries.
Media imperialism is less visible than military victories on the battlefield, but it is more subversive and subtle. The culture the US has been fostering shows that there is no viable alternative to the capitalist model of social organizations, with the main purpose being to highlight the superiority of American ideology, political philosophy, science, law, and rules.
China was one of the first to shut down its cinemas and theaters in 2020 because of COVID-19 pandemic, but it was also the first to reopen them. Thanks to that, Chinese films and other cultural products have been reaping economic benefits while drawing the attention of the world.
But Western critics use biased criteria to review and analyze the commercial success of Chinese films while ignoring Hollywood's long-term cultural aggression. These are old tricks of the US to proclaim the superiority of American cultural products including movies. But by doing so, the US has not only been exposing its hypocrisy and double standard, but also revealing its weaknesses in the face of high-quality movies and other cultural products.
So, instead of criticizing Chinese films to gain a bigger share of the China's huge movie market, Hollywood should adhere to a development path of mutually beneficial cooperation with China.
The author is an assistant research fellow, Global Engagement Academy Shandong University (Weihai).
Source: China Daily; Updated: 2022-2-16.
