Actual ideas do not coerce the funders into ponying up the enormous budgets demanded by the creators of blockbuster movies. The calculus is that they're now spending $400 million apiece to make them, and they have to make good on all of that money, so plots end up being along the lines of "you enjoyed watching this plot the last time you saw it, so watch it again!" Taking chances appears as a money-loser.

On the other hand, scams such as the Ukraine-Russia war no longer serve as theater because nobody in power can risk the howls that would ensue if ordinary people were to know the truth about them. But the Powers That Be can spend however much money they want on such scams, since all of the money is added to the US national debt tab. The banks cover that tab, and, in exchange, they get to rule the Federal government. Ask Obama about that. As with movie sequels, you get war sequels too, and so the War Against Gaza, October 7th premiere date, will end up with the slaughter of all 2.3 million Gaza residents because the parties who have the power to do anything against Israel are too thoroughly invested in Israel's puppet, the US, to lift a finger. And the war must last a long time to keep Netanyahu in power. Think of who loses if the Dollar collapses and along with it the banks and the US economy. You now have powerful parties, Russia and China at least, who don't give a sh*t, but those who haven't bailed on the buck?

My guess is that Netanyahu will eventually say: your cause is dead; we killed them all because nobody would accept them. Now shut up and go home.

Artist's have a duty to use their expression to protect humanity, according to Ai. The interviewer keeps trying to turn Ai's criticism of censorship in the west, to the topic of human rights violations in China.

I don't consider myself an authority on Chinese cinema by any means. Just by coincidence, this video came up in the youtube algorithm for me, because I had been watching some basic Chinese lesson. I'm posting this fwiw.

I haven't watched US cinema since the so called war on terror started because I perceived the industry to be projecting propaganda. The influence of pentagon and Cia in was evident in some of the films and tv series I tried to watch. It was insulting to the audience in a way. The exceptionalism narrative was there too, which included some other social myths that I couldn't stomach either. I just lost all interest. The same with cable tv, the news networks etc. Shut them all off personally around that time. Then my wife lost interest as well and cut the cable off. I heard an NBC producer once say, tv is for the under 35 demographic. They spend the most.

I've only watched maybe three Chinese movies (with subtitles of course) in the recent past. One about the Korean war that made no impression on me. I can't even remember the title. Another about WWII Japanese occupied Shanghai "800" which was somewhat better. Both were nationalistic war films or propaganda if you will. I think both were successful in China box office wise. In this respect not too much different than US war films, with the exception of the Vietnam era after the taste for the war in Vietnam had turned. The third movie concerned how a Buddhist monk traveled to India in the 7th Century to obtain some scriptures- XUAN ZANG 7th Century Buddhist Monk's 25,000 km journey. I enjoyed the latter. Character development was a weak point in all three movies. The special effects in the Korean war movie were below par.

Maybe this is due to cultural differences. I was very interested in the Shanghai story and the other two movies, but I did feel there was some perceptual barrier in experiencing the films. The cinematography was fairly good and didn't look too CGIish in 800. I understand 800 was a big hit in China. The heroic defense of Shanghai during the Japanese invasion was a major historical event and a matter of national pride. I understand that an Indian production company worked with the Chinese producers of Xuan Zang. It wasn't that well received in China according to the wiki.

I don't know if any of the US films mentioned in the CGN video are any good. I didn't see any.

I think the idea for making a movie about Zeng Yi Shao is a great idea, Gjohnsit. Two of my favorite movies were The Last Emperor and Apocalypse Now. I liked the South Korean movie My Way about two marathon runners one Korean, one Japanese drafted into service in WWII. The film flopped and got poor reviews but I thought the effort to portray the Eurasian panorama of WWII from Asia to Normandy beach based on the experience of two characters was remarkable. But I'm partial to historical films and dramas.

and neither can the US comics industry - for the same reasons.

The blundering nincompoops are in charge and have gutted the golden goose in an attempt to get more eggs. Every work produced - whether on film, videotape or paper - must be heavy-heavy on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at any and all costs. There must be a preponderance of Strong Female Characters, gay and/or bisexual characters, Persons Of Color, etc. etc. etc.

The writing can be horrifically bad, the story can be absolute nonsense, the history of previously existing characters can be glassed as with a tac nuke, doesn't matter as long as those Holy-Holy DEI goals are met.

Any and all negative criticism must be written off as "racism", "sexism", "homophobia" or other "exclusionistic" buzzwords of choice.

Even "not buying" is subject to the same accusations, because the aholes in charge think they are entitled to your money and your support even if they have stomped your favorite character into the dirt, destroyed every single thing you liked about them, and offered up a straw-stuffed travesty instead.