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Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

theguardian.com

391–400 of 524 posts

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#391
post #77

The MAGA people attacking Hollywood is such a big mistake. Yes I know the average celebrity doesn’t share their views, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hollywood projects American culture around the world in a way that the government could never do itself. Movies and music made here are so often cited as the reason why young people around the world idealize America and want to emulate us (buy our clothes, speak…

Yeap, as example, I enjoy Seinfeld and the office (US version) than many of the comedy series in my own country.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, Americans have the same problem. The US justice system does not perfectly mirror the Hollywood justice system and jurors are constantly reminded of this when they're called to serve on US juries.

What?! Next thing you'll tell me Dr House doesn't mirror the reality of working in healthcare.

They often got the "be an asshole to the patient" part down though.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#393
post #199
post #168

This makes no sense and people are giving it too much credit. What does “produced” mean? How do you “tariff” a movie? When is the movie crossing the border and who’s doing the valuation, customs check, and so on? There’s literally no substance to this and people are tying themselves into knots to make sense of this.

There are things to sort out, but it's certainly doable. They can probably use direct COGS to determine the tariff basis.

> There are things to sort out, but it's certainly doable. They can probably use direct COGS to determine the tariff basis.

You could construct a variety of accounting methods to calculate a tax on the 'foreign content' of movies, but how do you actually impose this tax?

A tariff on physical goods is easy. A country requires that goods enter the country through customs facilities, and then the nice customs official doesn't release the thing until the tax is paid. The legal and physical ability to impose these taxes is long, long established.

How do you physically impose a tariff on a movie? If the master is transported physically, what is its value? The value of the fixed copy/master doesn't necessarily include the value of the IP involved, in the same way that a DVD of a $500 million movie might have a retail value of $20. What about movies transferred digitally, since there are no customs checkpoints on fiber-optic lines?

What legal apparatus would be used to impose this tax? Trump is currently getting away with the physical-goods tariffs because the legal infrastructure to collect the taxes is already in place, and remaining legal disputes are just about whether the President can unilaterally set or change tariff rates. If you'd need new law to "tariff movies," then the chance of this whim turning into a real tax drops sharply.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#394
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd expect 911 to redirect to one of the emergency services in most/all European countries, no?

112 works in the reverse way in the US as well (along with 999 which is the equivalent in many other countries such as the UK). There's not really any reason not to have many numbers just in case. Tourists shouldn't have to memorize, and recall, new numbers in an emergency.

Hello operator, gimme the number for nine one one!

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you be surprised? Are you expecting some sort of pro-labor movement in a startup focused tech forum? Modern tech is all about disruption. You get paid way too much because you’re squeezing costs (ie labor) out of business operations. There was an action movie that filmed car chases in my city about 15 years ago. A bunch of the crew was at a bar I hung out with and we were trading stories. There was a dude w…

my view of capitalism is that you can't remove the market. it will exist with or without you, so if you have some control you should incentivize the things that are better for everyone. To me I think it's possible for Netflix and Amazon and whoever to exist and make a lot of money, but also not have nation-state level power. The latter is something we haven't decided we want yet, but I think we'll come around. If the…

I agree with you, and this happened in the past. The entire system is designed to prevent this, and this newfound love of isolationism is a way to cement it in.

Let’s be real, these giant tech companies are becoming big stagnant bureaucracies. They can’t adapt anymore and want to build a moat to let them lumber along for a few decades.

The core assumption of the policy makers and business people was the idea that the Chinese are a bunch of dumb peasants working for scraps and unable to produce. They seem to be holding their own with AI, cars, trains, aircraft, etc. They may have a credible competitor for the B737/A320 — that’s a pretty big leap.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#396
post #116
post #5

Defund education then defund culture. Sounds exactly like America First/America Only. Next up is propaganda and filling Americans' minds with only what he wants you to know. He can flood the media as he's been flooding the government, all the pieces are in play. Still nobody putting up a meaningful fight. Your window is closing.

While I'm certainly no where even adjacent to a Trump supporter, the idea of preventing studios (rich people) from sidestepping local unions (working people), plus the crazy tax incentives we give them by producing their movies up here in Canada isn't as polarizing an idea as you think. If the sky is falling on everything he does, and you're wrong some of the time, then people will stop listening. There's plenty that…

[deleted]

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#397
post #77

The MAGA people attacking Hollywood is such a big mistake. Yes I know the average celebrity doesn’t share their views, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hollywood projects American culture around the world in a way that the government could never do itself. Movies and music made here are so often cited as the reason why young people around the world idealize America and want to emulate us (buy our clothes, speak…

You do understand this is a move to protect Hollywood, Right? It is for the very reasons you cited.

He actually cited it being a National Security threat

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#398
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But here's a pivotal soviet comedy about a guy who goes to the future... okay, here's Bob Zemeckis's Back to the Future. Compare the quality of any aspect: story, acting, props, costumes, cinematography, special fx, attention to detail, MUSIC... 1:1 US cinema destroys on every level. There's a Russian saying "no point in comparing finger with a dick". "Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession" was made in 1973 on a…

The difference is that nobody holds up "The Thing with Two Heads" or "The Cat from Outer Space' as must-watch American cinema

I wouldn't call "Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession" that either. It's more of a "Blazing Saddles" type movie with a cult following due to its catchphrases, but overall, it isn't very good. Even among movies by the same director, some slightly earlier titles like "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" and "The Diamond Arm" from the late 1960s are much better, and hold up well against Hollywood contemporaries like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "The Great Race". I'd even say that cinematically, "The Diamond Arm" is a league above the average Hollywood movie of the era. It was shot really beautifully and has wonderful use of color.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#399
Wes Anderson is positioning cinematographers on American soil with extremely powerful telephoto lenses, filming actors performing in meticulously designed miniature sets across the Canadian border. The film will be titled "The Asymmetrical Tax Avoidance" and will star Bill Murray as a customs agent with daddy issues.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#400
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every country has 5 or 10 good movies you can name, and they're always the same ones. Brat and Brat 2, Leviathan and Durak... the list doesn't go on much beyond that. And certainly not in the last 20 years. For US movies, the list goes on. And you can debate which ones should make the top-100. But here's a pivotal soviet comedy about a guy who goes to the future... okay, here's Bob Zemeckis's Back to the Future . Com…

> But here's a pivotal soviet comedy about a guy who goes to the future... okay, here's Bob Zemeckis's Back to the Future. Compare the quality of any aspect: story, acting, props, costumes, cinematography, special fx, attention to detail, MUSIC... 1:1 US cinema destroys on every level. There's a Russian saying "no point in comparing finger with a dick". "Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession" was made in 1973 on a…

> "Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession" was made in 1973 on a budget that was modest even by Soviet standards. It looks like a cheap TV movie

To be fair, it looks just like any other Soviet movie from that era ("The Diamond Arm", "Afonya", "Shurik's Adventures", etc.), with the exception of the few that were considered "mega projects' by the government ("War and Peace").

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