The Chinese government just did what some Americans would like to do: pull the plug on Avatar and replace it with more patriotic fare. Only in China, “patriotic” means a state-sponsored biopic of Confucius, currently under renovation as an icon of Chinese moral and cultural superiority.
I enjoyed the spectacle of Avatar but like many other Americans was annoyed by its portrayal of my 22nd-century countrymen as ruthless capitalists and mercenaries raping a pure, sylvan planet called Pandora. But of course, it was this aspect that won Avatar a spot on the list of 20 U.S. films allowed into China each year. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) prefers films that show America in a negative light.
Today, rumor has it that SARFT’s selection of Avatar has backfired. Both China Daily and CCTV-International report audiences interpreting the scene where the invaders bulldoze the sacred forest of Pandora as an allegory for forced evictions carried out by ruthless developers in their own country. As one blogger wrote, “I am wondering whether [director James] Cameron lived in China before coming up with such an idea.”
Taken at face value, these reports suggest that Cameron is a hero, not only for sticking it to America but also for striking a blow for free speech in China. But the story is a bit more complicated, because at work here is a calculation by the Chinese Communist Party that is based on a mixture of propaganda and profit motives that is alien to most Americans.
On the propaganda side, Chinese New Year is approaching and millions of ordinary Chinese are about to splurge on movie tickets. So the Party has clearly decided that the best film for the masses to see is the uplifting, patriotic Confucius. At the same time, Avatar continues to play in high-priced 3-D and Imax theaters – no doubt because the Party does not want to deprive affluent elites of the chance to visit Cameron’s extraterrestrial (and anti-American) paradise.
On the profit side, the calculation is probably that Chinese films do well among the masses, so Confucius will hold its own, while Avatar continues to rake it in among the sort of audiences whose property is not being bulldozed. Avatar has grossed $75.6 million in China, breaking all previous box-office records, and some of that goes to the local distributor, China Film Group, which like all Chinese media companies is directed by the Party.
As for the reports of Chinese viewers finding subversive meaning in Avatar, most of these appeared in the outward-facing English-language organs of China’s tightly controlled news media. Here the calculation is more subtle: whenever Chinese censorship hits the global headlines, as it has been doing recently (can you Google “Google”?), the Party tries to distract the foreign press with a carefully orchestrated dust-up that gives the appearance of free speech. And for this purpose, what better topic than the inner meaning of a blockbuster film, about which no one will agree anyway?
