Hollywood’s Cultural Battle with China

Pop Literacy

So, yeah, whatever did happen to Richard Gere’s career? The Golden Globe-winning actor was once everywhere on the big screen, but has been largely MIA for the last few years. Could it have something to do with his ongoing vocal support of Tibetan independence, a stance that has gotten him banned from China?

Given China’s importance in Hollywood’s big picture, Wall Street Journal journalist Erich Schwartzel writes in his fascinating new book Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Supremacy, Gere had become a liability for studio heads to hire. As China now boasts the world’s largest moviegoing audience – coinciding with the decline of moviegoing in the United States – and getting American movies into Chinese theaters requires approval from strict Chinese government censors, every single frame of a movie is examined before the censors sign off. Mission: Impossible III editors had to excise a scene depicting dirty laundry drying in Shanghai, because Chinese censors felt it didn’t portray the city as modern. In 2012’s Skyfall, a scene with James Bond killing a Chinese security guard was axed, because Chinese censors felt it suggested Chinese men were weak.

With such scrutinizing the norm, it’s clear why casting Gere would be a non-starter for any major Hollywood release, Schwartzel writes in his exhaustively reported, entertaining, and informative read on a complicated subject that is only going to continue to expand its impact on American pop culture.

Read more:

• RED CARPET: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Supremacy

Pop Literacy Recommends:

• “The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Sex Tape” by Amanda Chicago Lewis:
• “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” by Jessica Pressler

Pop Literacy is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone.