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Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

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Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#111

Post by flukus »

Inconel wrote: post #90
schoen wrote: post #61

Something that might be comparably shocking is the extent to which Chinese investors and government representatives influence the content of Hollywood movies that depict or refer to China. There were some news reports about this in the last couple of years; I sat next to a Hollywood studio executive on a flight last month and (rather than arguing about copyright policy) commiserated about this issue. He confirmed tha…

I'm not a fan of this kind of government influence in filmmaking, but so long as the Chinese are at it maybe they could turn their attention to Hollywood's propensity to depict Asian males as undesirable emasculated nerds and Asian females as fetishized objects.

I can think of plenty of anime that does the same, westerners are likewise typecast as the big strong idiots.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#112

Post by seanmcdirmid »

krapp wrote: post #109
Inconel wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assassinating the US President is a pretty standard device plot in many action movies and TV shows. In fact, if you had to judge Americans by our movies, you'd probably think we're all obsessed with killing the President. Also, I could be out of the loop but I don't think the Pearl Harbor attacks are matters of national security any more.

We also blow up the White House a lot. And we blew up New York before it was cool. We're quite comfortable with watching our country get violently deconstructed in all sorts of fiction.

Anyone else notice how they moved the last act of transformer's 4 to Hong Kong? Ya, Michael Bay found out he couldn't destroy Beijing or any other Chinese city, but somehow Hong Kong was ok.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#113

Post by krapp »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #102
Inconel wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've yet to see that film, although the reviews look pretty good so I'll have to give it a view when I get the chance.

It has a very good portrayal of Asians, at least, though still nerdy (but the trope is subverted multiple times). Hollywood is getting better at it. Miraculous ladybug also defies the trope, but in a mixed race context (Chinese-French).

And yet every time Hollywood adapts a Japanese property they seem to be unable to find any Asian actors in California to portray any Major roles.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#114

Post by [deleted] »

anigbrowl wrote: post #79
schoen wrote: post #61

Something that might be comparably shocking is the extent to which Chinese investors and government representatives influence the content of Hollywood movies that depict or refer to China. There were some news reports about this in the last couple of years; I sat next to a Hollywood studio executive on a flight last month and (rather than arguing about copyright policy) commiserated about this issue. He confirmed tha…

That third link is fascinating - not just for he insights into how Chinese censors indirectly guide producers, but also for the lack of ironic detachment and self-awareness shown by the American analysts, eg Red Dawn, a remake of a 1980s action movie about a Soviet invasion of the United States, was originally shot featuring China as the antagonist invading the United States. According to Mr. Shiao, however, the Chin…

[deleted]

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#115

Post by seanmcdirmid »

xnull2guest wrote: post #107
biesnecker wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

五毛党

Accusing someone of being a shill is against the guidelines of the community, and it distracts from intelligible conversation. I would appreciate if you deleted your comment and engaged in respectable commenting.

Your commenting is nowhere near respectable. You've already shown to everyone how you are willing to lie, even tell lies that are obviously lies. That might fly in china, but it has no place here on hackernews. It is just disrespectful to all of us and not wanted.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#116

Post by Inconel »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #112
krapp wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also blow up the White House a lot. And we blew up New York before it was cool. We're quite comfortable with watching our country get violently deconstructed in all sorts of fiction.

Anyone else notice how they moved the last act of transformer's 4 to Hong Kong? Ya, Michael Bay found out he couldn't destroy Beijing or any other Chinese city, but somehow Hong Kong was ok.

I've never seen the movie, were the scenes prior to HK taking place in mainland China?

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#117

Post by gbog »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #84
xnull2guest wrote: post #82

In the United States, it is illegal to portray the assassination of a president. Handling topics of National Security, such as Pearl Harbor, must be screened and if needed edited by National Security personnel. Close partnership and collective ownership of media production facilities has given us movies with fake narratives like the Jessica Lynch story, Zero Dark Thirty, etc.

> In the United States, it is illegal to portray the assassination of a president Full stop, no it isn't. > Handling topics of National Security, such as Pearl Harbor, must be screened and if needed edited by National Security personnel. Full stop, no it doesn't. Where the heck are you getting such misinformation? It is not just wrong, it is bordering on libel. > Close partnership and collective ownership of media pr…

The American film industry is also a huge propaganda machine which is aimed at consolidating western cultural dominance over the world, expect it's not western culture anymore, it's just the U.S. Entertainment industry. In the movie and cartoon sectors only the Indians, the French and the Japanese can have a tiny slice of the cake, the Chinese have nothing. So it's the only survival path for them as an original form of human experience: block content that's too offensive, buy the producers to influence them, and recreate a local film industry. But the last step takes 50 years, meanwhile they have to keep guard.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#118

Post by seanmcdirmid »

krapp wrote: post #113
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has a very good portrayal of Asians, at least, though still nerdy (but the trope is subverted multiple times). Hollywood is getting better at it. Miraculous ladybug also defies the trope, but in a mixed race context (Chinese-French).

And yet every time Hollywood adapts a Japanese property they seem to be unable to find any Asian actors in California to portray any Major roles.

Likewise, when japan does live action versions of their anime, they are unable to find Caucasian actors to fill roles that are obviously Caucasian. Tamaki Suoh in Ouran Host Club obviously has blonde hair and blue eyes in the anime, but in the live action becomes completely Japanese! Perhaps they just couldn't find an actor that looked the role?

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#119

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Inconel wrote: post #116
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone else notice how they moved the last act of transformer's 4 to Hong Kong? Ya, Michael Bay found out he couldn't destroy Beijing or any other Chinese city, but somehow Hong Kong was ok.

I've never seen the movie, were the scenes prior to HK taking place in mainland China?

Yes, in Beijing! But they didn't stay there long, and nothing really happened there. It was such a weird plot element that it stood out like a huge sore thumb.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#120

Post by paradite »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #80
GuiA wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American investors and government influence the content of Hollywood movies that depict the US or US activity, so I'm not sure why that should be particularly shocking. This is what happens in a globalized economy.

Except a movie could be totally subversive of the American government (the CIA or military is the bad guy, a national/state/local government is corrupt, etc...) and the movie could still go into wide production and make millions of dollars. Heck, it even is super easy to find examples of that (you want to know the truth? You can't handle the truth!). Now try doing that in China. Make the PLA the enemy or portray a co…

I wonder if there is any correlation or causation between portrayal of the government in films and the actual impression of the government.

To me it seems that U.S. likes to portray government in a negative way in films, and in real life a sizeable portion of the people are also not happy with the government. The reverse is true in China.

I mentioned the difference in people-government relationship earlier but didn't think of the link to the media and film industry: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13203027

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