A massive annoyance today is that China seems to have its mitts in about every aspect of American life right now, be it academia to the silver screen. In terms of the latter, major companies such as Disney go out of their way in order to make sure China isn’t displeased by anything they do. After all, China is flush with cash and it’s natural for companies to want it.
The problem is that this opens up America to propagandistic nonsense and we can already see it in various ways. China is often the good guy in any given piece of media with its ideals and sins wholly misrepresented. For instance, the NBA censored players, managers, and even fans from displaying support for Hong Kong. Our own news organizations have even picked up the idea that it’s “racist” to refer to the Wuhan coronavirus from its place of origin (something the globe has been doing for generations) after China began to attempt to take the blame off itself for the spread of COVID-19.
Politico also gives examples of recent censorship that has happened in films:
Film studios often edit their films before they air in China, as they seek to court audiences there by pacifying the country’s strict censorship rules. For instance, a scene about Freddie Mercury’s sexuality disappeared from the version of Bohemian Rhapsody that played for Chinese audiences, as the AP detailed. The cuts came after a government-linked TV association called homosexuality “abnormal” and admonished studios not to depict it, per the wire service. And MGM re-edited its remake of Red Dawn to depict the North Koreans, rather than the Chinese, as occupying America. They made the overhaul because of concerns about angering China’s censors, according to The Los Angeles Times. Chinese government censors also frown upon a host of other topics that appear commonly in American movies, including some depictions of violence, according to Cnet, and –– per CNN –– “excessive smoking” and cleavage.
Sadly, too many people are ready to believe Chinese narratives, and too many businesses are only too happy to parrot these narratives for money.
As such, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has come up with a way to see to it that if you’re going to promote communist propaganda, then you better hope they up your pay, because you’ll no longer be getting money from the U.S. government in any way.
Cruz has introduced the “SCRIPT ACT” which cuts funding off from a United States company if it caves in any way to Chinese censors according to its summary.
“To prohibit the use of Department of Defense funds for the production of films by United States companies that alter content for screening in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes,” reads the bill.
For too long, Hollywood has been complicit in China’s censorship and propaganda in the name of bigger profits: https://t.co/EmqdC5H012
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 28, 2020
China’s grasp on America has recently come to light thanks to the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus and the Hong Kong protests. It even banned various parts of our media if it upset Chinese censors in any way. For instance, Winnie the Pooh is censored due to the fact that many anti-Chinese government sympathizers use the image to mock President Xi Jinping. The show “South Park,” in particular, dedicated a lot of time to defying China, causing China to ban the show completely from the country.
(READ: South Park Doubles Down on Its Anti-China Stance for Its 300th Episode)
Hopefully this bill passes as we should be prying China’s fingers off our country as often as possible.
