In case you hadn’t heard, China may be leaning hard on Disney and could prevent potential blockbusters Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and The Eternals from seeing the insides of Chinese theatres. And more importantly, prevent them from getting a bite of China’s sweet box office dollars.
China is currently the second most coveted box office market on the planet. Many industry insiders feel it’s only a matter of time before it actually surpasses the United States as the world’s number one source of Hollywood dollars. The COVID-19 pandemic may have actually delayed the inevitable, and the aforementioned transition could have happened already if we hadn’t put the world on pause for over a year.
But don’t forget, despite it’s love affair with capitalism, China is a totalitarian government. The biggest one in human history, in fact. The government controls virtually every aspect of it’s population. All media is government controlled, propaganda passes for education and human rights are considered a quaint fairy tale. Its government only allows a specific number of foreign films to be shown in Chinese theatres every year. Every film is scrutinized in microscopic detail and even the ones that pass the cut only do so after being censored or recut for the purpose of making China and its government look good.
But even though Chinese audiences have proven their love for American movies (Avengers: Endgame grossed over 629 million in the Middle Kingdom alone), China’s government has proven more than ready to hold their lucrative audience dollars over Western studios to get its way.
And that’s what may be happening to Disney and Marvel right now.
Even though everyone on the planet knows China is, well kind of evil, it’s government its constantly portraying itself as a bastion of cultural progress while also playing the victim. China is constantly in spin mode, trying to downplay human rights abuses on a daily basis while telling it’s own population that it’s the victim of an anti-Chinese global media.
How sensitive is China? The big obstacle between Marvel and China right now regarding The Eternals is the movie’s director, Chloe Zhao. Born in China, Zhao was declared a national hero last February after collecting a bunch of Golden Globes for Nomadland. But when she won Oscars for the same movie just two months later (including Best Director, a first for anyone of Chinese descent), she was completely ignored in the nation of her birth.
The reason? In between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, an eight year old magazine interview surfaced where she painted an unflattering picture of China’s education system (most notably that she had to relearn most of China’s history, confessing that many things that she was taught in school were generous distortions of the truth rather than historical fact).
But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings could be facing significant challenges for different reasons entirely. It’s true that the comics the movie is based on were guilty of their fair share of stereotypical and racist imagery (Google Fu Manchu and you’ll get the point). But Marvel scrubbed that slate clean years ago (along with many others) and since it depends on the Chinese box office to pad its profit margins, you can bet your bottom ten dollars that they went through the movie with a fine tooth comb to remove any scent of racism. But Chinese resentment for Shang-Chi appears to run much deeper than that.
You may recall that Crazy Rich Asians was a blockbuster a few years ago. Well, it was a blockbuster in most places. It was pretty much received with a yawn in China, where audiences dubbed it Crazy Rich People Getting Married and gave it a pass. Disney’s animated Mulan was heralded as a giant step forward in 1998 and largely applauded by China. Fast forward a single generation and last year’s live action version was considered an insult by many in China.
There is a growing nationalism in the Middle Kingdom that says the rest of the world despises China, and anything China-centric is merely a thinly veiled attempt to grab a chunk of China’s box office through cultural pandering. The same people who believe the rest of the world refuses to acknowledge China because of racism simultaneously believe that the only people who should be allowed to say anything about China is China itself. It’s a cinematic Catch-22
There’s even some in China who believe that casting Simu Liu and Awkwafina (among others) is a form of Western racism. Some genuinely believe that the actors were cast because they meet the West’s definition of Asian beauty instead of what the Chinese themselves consider beautiful.
It may be possible that Hollywood’s first ever Chinese super-hero movie is ignored or even banned in China because it has a Chinese hero played by Chinese actors. Bet you didn’t have that one on your 2021 bingo card.
As of now, there’s been no announcement that these two movies are officially banned. And the cultural contempt some have expressed for Shang-Chi may have nothing to do with the movie’s possible omission from Chinese theatres (though the government can’t be too disappointed that public opinion may be aligning with their political agenda). But there are troubling signs getting a Chinese release for either film could be an uphill battle.
Regardless, Disney shouldn’t blink.
Hollywood has always had an uneasy and ethically questionable relationship with China. Not long ago, whatever sanctions China tossed at Hollywood for offending its national sensibility were so laughable they were almost cute. But that was before China became the box office juggernaut it is today. And that doesn’t take into account what Chinese companies spend in Hollywood every year. The gross domestic product of some European countries are smaller than what China has invested in Hollywood over the last decade. China has leverage now. A lot.
And Tinseltown has taken a lot of justified heat in recent years for conforming to Chinese demands. Many critics will tell you Disney sold it’s soul to China long ago in return for box office gravy (the Ancient One in Dr. Strange was originally a Tibetan monk but was possibly rewritten to avoid offending China, where Tibet is a taboo subject) while the West’s political left has attacked the House of the Mouse for doing business with the Asian super power.
While China’s Internet was bashing Mulan as an exercise in pandering, the West was beating it like a piñata because they felt it glorified China and it’s totalitarian policies (and was filmed near concentration camps imprisoning as many as 1.5 million Muslims). When star Liu Yifei Tweeted support for Chinese police during Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests last year, it was like feeding raw meat to a hungry Rottweiler. There’s a very good chance Shang-Chi, a movie meant to embrace diversity during a time of rising anti-Asian racism, will face a similar fate from North American audiences while it’s getting fed it’s lunch in China.
If this is a warning shot by China and Disney caves, it will let China know it can get away with this anytime in the future. After all, if China can continually bully the largest entertainment company in the world, why wouldn’t it try the same with every other studio on the planet? Another Disney concession will affect everyone in the industry.
And the question has to be asked, where would placating China end? Disney has made a name for itself embracing diversity; what if the next demand China makes is that no movie include a gay lead? Or a Muslim one? Can Pixar make a movie that takes place in Tibet? Or Taiwan? If Disney allows China to begin dictating content, where does that end? How far will it go before Disney says enough? Would Disney ever stand up or just continue to justify their compliance as “smart business?”
Disney is an enormous company, juggling hundreds of balls every day. So far they’ve managed to narrowly balance their business with today’s hyper-polarized political climate. But further concessions to China could easily shove them over the edge. Can an entertainment conglomerate that has spent nearly a century and a fortune branding itself a family company afford to get into bed with the biggest dictatorship and human rights abuser in the history of human civilization?
If Disney missteps here, it could face boycotts from all sides of the political spectrum. The blogosphere is already full of celebrations pointing out Disney’s hypocrisy and cheering for economic consequences from this possible clash with China. Imagine what would happen if they shook hands with the Communist country again, just for the sake of money?
Here’s the thing. Disney doesn’t need China for it’s movies to be blockbusters. The first Deadpool was initially banned from the Middle Kingdom for it’s excessive violence, but still grossed over 782 million dollars worldwide. World War Z was banned because of Brad Pitt (starring in Seven Years in Tibet apparently earned him a lifetime ban from Chinese theatres) but the zombie epic still went on to gross 540 million worldwide. China’s censors also cancelled Suicide Squad, but Harley, Deadshot and the gang still hauled in over 746 million. So it is possible to have a blockbuster without China onboard.
But no movie will ever join the vaunted billion dollar club without it. At the end of the day, Hollywood is a business and it would not be the first to kneel to the Eastern giant. The fact is both Disney and Hollywood have been kneeling to China for years. And like every other business in the world, Hollywood is all about profits, share prices and executive bonuses. Those all get much fatter with China on board.
Don’t forget, China will host the Olympic games next year. It will be the second time in the last fourteen years the athletic extravaganza has called the communist country home. All because China essentially out-bribed the competition. With’s it’s massive population and booming middle class, China currently represents the greatest place on Earth for growth for many businesses that have plateaued in North America or even face contraction.
It has always been about the bottom line and it always will be. Principles and values and even human dignity will never get in the way of that.
Disney will almost definitely cave and give China whatever it wants. Outside of box office dollars, the House of the Mouse has a lot of other business interests in China (Shanghai is considered the second biggest Disney amusement park in the world) and it wants to launch DisneyPlus there later this year (Disney’s streaming service has become a billion dollar lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic.) If playing tough jeopardizes any of that, Disney will fold.
Though what folding would look like in this case in anyone’s guess. Not only is The Eternals complete, Disney’s already planning a sequel. How does it replace the director, especially when China only decided it hated her a few months ago? And how do you fix the cultural problems China has with Shang-Chi? Can they be fixed? While this may likely be a power play by China, you can rest assured Disney will accommodate whatever demands it makes.
It would be great to see Disney stand up to the bully, but China was always destined to win this battle. The ugly truth is China will win the vast majority of business battles with companies all over the world, primarily Western ones. And with concerns about new CEO Bob Chapik’s leadership growing, this match was never going to go in Disney’s win column. Because while people and business should do a lot of things for ethical reasons, profit and dollars will always make those decisions for it.
Disney is no different.
Image via insidethemagic.net
