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US companies are increasingly "owned" by the Chinese government through Chinese investment. None of them are willing to risk the financial backlash that would o

US companies are increasingly "owned" by the Chinese government through Chinese investment. None of them are willing to risk the financial backlash that would occur if they spoke out against the Chinese government - so they are willing to censor their own platforms and sacrifice their own stakeholders and users to please them.

nradov 7y ago
This is an increasing factor in the US motion picture industry. Major studios are generally unwilling to produce movies that show China or the Chinese Communist Part in a negative light due to the need for financing and distribution.
- zaroth 7y ago
  Studios will absolutely modify screenplays, or else edit the films specifically for the China market to remove offensive or politically sensitive topics. It’s worth a lot of money to them to make a product which sells well in the Chinese market.
  - magicsmoke 7y ago
    Could be an interesting market niche for a studio that makes movies that unapologetically espouses western values and doesn't take any money from nondemocratic funders. See if it's possible to earn a profit without selling out.
    - chronic71819 7y ago
      > See if it's possible to earn a profit without selling out. Unfortunately it's not possible. Nearly everyone on HN would rather invest in a total stock market index fund, simply because it gives better returns. How much different? Approximately 1% more. So there you have it. People will sell out for 1% of their portfolio. Myself included.
      - undersuit 7y ago
        Oh come on that's not fair. Me choosing a passive index that doesn't pay someone to guess the market again(because I've already chosen my entry into the market) is not me cheaping out.
      - GooglyMoogly 7y ago
        Google said no to China's censorship and is doing pretty well.
        dirtyid 7y ago
        In 2018, Google made 3 billion in Chinese ad sales. Facebook made 5 billion.
        GooglyMoogly 7y ago
        My thought is that it's ok to deal with China as long as they play by our rules not their rules (such as censorship). If they see that they can still operate successfully under a system with freedom of speech, maybe they won't be so against it. But yes, you do have to be careful not to let them become a large enough percentage of revenue that the company would be in danger if China started threatening to pull out.
        dirtyid 7y ago
        I agree that if you don't want to beholden to foreign rules, then don't become dependent on foreign markets. But what is this "our rules" business? Google lobbying rules that's currently clashing with the EU. Or US foreign policy rules?
        GooglyMoogly 7y ago
        Freedom of speech
        zaroth 7y ago
        Is this actually still true? I know initially they exited China because they wouldn't play by the rules, but they definitely re-entered China, and as far as I know, they did it by agreeing to censoring their search results in China.
  - JBlue42 7y ago
    Also shoot whole new scenes for movies just for the Chinese market. I worked in post-production on Iron Man 3 and there are scenes that exist for that movie for China that don't exist in the US release. Not sure if it's a contractual thing to get the coveted release window there or extra $. Or look at The Meg, which was a US-Chinese co-production that was like a tourist video for Sanya Bay towards the end of the film. But Hollywood isn't going to stand down over taking Chinese money. Right now, most of the money is made overseas on the big movies. Much like Germany was a huge overseas market in the 30s.
- throw0101a 7y ago
  > This is an increasing factor in the US motion picture industry. In the first Top Gun movie Maverick's (Tom Cruise's) jacket had the flags of Japan and Taiwan. Images from the upcoming sequel show that they're gone: * https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/tom-cruises-jacket-taiwanese-japanese-patches-in-top-gun-maverick-trailer-1202160078/ https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/tom-cruises-jacket-taiwane... * https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/tom-cruises-top-gun-jacket-shows-how-key-china-is-to-film-industry.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/tom-cruises-top-gun-jacket-s... I wonder if they'll be any modifying done for the final release: one set of flags for China print, another set of flags for not-China.
Analemma_ 7y ago
If nothing else, we should be thanking China for exposing the bullshit "end of history" promises of neoliberalism and globalization: namely, that more free trade and laissez-faire capitalism will automatically lead to democracy spreading everywhere. Actually, no: companies are pure amoral profit-seekers, and so if the most important market in the world demands these companies fall in line, then they do, freedom and Western values be damned. Womp womp.
- phs318u 7y ago
  In fact China proves that capitalism (of a "curated" kind), can be successfully decoupled from Western values. And capitalism has proven that Communism (of the CCP kind), cares more about authority over it's citizens than the democratic engagement of it's citizens (and by this, I'm implying that the bread-and-circuses of capitalism can be used as a lever to stifle dissent, through sufficient satisfaction of materialistic desires).
debt 7y ago
Yup. This situation is about to get somewhat complicated. Many American C-level execs at many large tech companies are huge pro basketball fans.

nradov 7y ago

This is an increasing factor in the US motion picture industry. Major studios are generally unwilling to produce movies that show China or the Chinese Communist Part in a negative light due to the need for financing and distribution.

zaroth 7y ago
Studios will absolutely modify screenplays, or else edit the films specifically for the China market to remove offensive or politically sensitive topics. It’s worth a lot of money to them to make a product which sells well in the Chinese market.
- magicsmoke 7y ago
  Could be an interesting market niche for a studio that makes movies that unapologetically espouses western values and doesn't take any money from nondemocratic funders. See if it's possible to earn a profit without selling out.
  - chronic71819 7y ago
    > See if it's possible to earn a profit without selling out. Unfortunately it's not possible. Nearly everyone on HN would rather invest in a total stock market index fund, simply because it gives better returns. How much different? Approximately 1% more. So there you have it. People will sell out for 1% of their portfolio. Myself included.
    - undersuit 7y ago
      Oh come on that's not fair. Me choosing a passive index that doesn't pay someone to guess the market again(because I've already chosen my entry into the market) is not me cheaping out.
    - GooglyMoogly 7y ago
      Google said no to China's censorship and is doing pretty well.
      - dirtyid 7y ago
        In 2018, Google made 3 billion in Chinese ad sales. Facebook made 5 billion.
        GooglyMoogly 7y ago
        My thought is that it's ok to deal with China as long as they play by our rules not their rules (such as censorship). If they see that they can still operate successfully under a system with freedom of speech, maybe they won't be so against it. But yes, you do have to be careful not to let them become a large enough percentage of revenue that the company would be in danger if China started threatening to pull out.
        dirtyid 7y ago
        I agree that if you don't want to beholden to foreign rules, then don't become dependent on foreign markets. But what is this "our rules" business? Google lobbying rules that's currently clashing with the EU. Or US foreign policy rules?
        GooglyMoogly 7y ago
        Freedom of speech
      - zaroth 7y ago
        Is this actually still true? I know initially they exited China because they wouldn't play by the rules, but they definitely re-entered China, and as far as I know, they did it by agreeing to censoring their search results in China.
- JBlue42 7y ago
  Also shoot whole new scenes for movies just for the Chinese market. I worked in post-production on Iron Man 3 and there are scenes that exist for that movie for China that don't exist in the US release. Not sure if it's a contractual thing to get the coveted release window there or extra $. Or look at The Meg, which was a US-Chinese co-production that was like a tourist video for Sanya Bay towards the end of the film. But Hollywood isn't going to stand down over taking Chinese money. Right now, most of the money is made overseas on the big movies. Much like Germany was a huge overseas market in the 30s.
throw0101a 7y ago
> This is an increasing factor in the US motion picture industry. In the first Top Gun movie Maverick's (Tom Cruise's) jacket had the flags of Japan and Taiwan. Images from the upcoming sequel show that they're gone: * https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/tom-cruises-jacket-taiwanese-japanese-patches-in-top-gun-maverick-trailer-1202160078/ https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/tom-cruises-jacket-taiwane... * https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/tom-cruises-top-gun-jacket-shows-how-key-china-is-to-film-industry.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/tom-cruises-top-gun-jacket-s... I wonder if they'll be any modifying done for the final release: one set of flags for China print, another set of flags for not-China.

Analemma_ 7y ago

If nothing else, we should be thanking China for exposing the bullshit "end of history" promises of neoliberalism and globalization: namely, that more free trade and laissez-faire capitalism will automatically lead to democracy spreading everywhere. Actually, no: companies are pure amoral profit-seekers, and so if the most important market in the world demands these companies fall in line, then they do, freedom and Western values be damned. Womp womp.

phs318u 7y ago
In fact China proves that capitalism (of a "curated" kind), can be successfully decoupled from Western values. And capitalism has proven that Communism (of the CCP kind), cares more about authority over it's citizens than the democratic engagement of it's citizens (and by this, I'm implying that the bread-and-circuses of capitalism can be used as a lever to stifle dissent, through sufficient satisfaction of materialistic desires).

debt 7y ago

Yup. This situation is about to get somewhat complicated. Many American C-level execs at many large tech companies are huge pro basketball fans.