fbpx

Who Needs the Chinese? Hollywood!

By Jeff Holder

Don’t like your enemy? Bring in the graphic artists!

Remember the 1984 movie, RED DAWN, where bad guy Soviets attempt to invade the US, only to be stopped by a group of teenagers? Back in 2009, the collective creative minds at MGM Studios decided to remake RED DAWN, but they have a problem. There’s no Soviet Union any more, so they decided on another bad guy villain country, China.

Eagerly MGM shoots the movie and is ready to release it, but now they have another problem. In 2010, the Chinese box office brought in $1.5 billion dollars. That’s a lot of moolah. So, how is MGM going to


get a piece of that revenue with a movie where the Chinese are the bad guys? In fact, the movie would most likely not make its way into the country at all because of the tight censorship rules by the Chinese government.

 

Enter digital artists. MGM has hired Photoshop Heroes to change the Chinese flags to North Korean and replace all the signs of Chinese symbols to North Korean. Is it because North Korea has more bad guy potential than China? No, it’s because North Korea offers no box office revenue to MGM.

This isn’t the only media project to change bad guy Chinese to bad guy North Koreans. The original writer and director for the first RED DAWN, John Milius, recently wrote a video game, “Homefront,” that had Chinese bad guys. But now those video game armies will not advance relentlessly as Chinese but as North Koreans.

So, if you don’t see any movies any time soon with bad guys from China, just figure that the accountants got to the script writer before it could make it to the cameras.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.