About

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has turned 100 and it has been wildly successful in ways that the Soviet Union would have envied. When the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, many pundits thought that China would be next. Instead, the CCP has been flexible, agile, and ruthless; embracing capitalism but locking down freedom of speech and expression. After the G7 summit, President Biden worried that democracies would even be able to compete and keep up with China. In this episode, Drew and Alex focus on Hollywood and China’s growing pressure on Hollywood studios to censor “ideas and themes” that the CCP deems “offensive.” They talk about the recent story where John Cena mentioned that Taiwan was a country and had to relentlessly apologize to China because his new “Fast & Furious” movie was filmed and opening in China. This illustrates a growing trend where China has the size and clout to basically control what Hollywood studios can release. This is because China is now the second biggest consumer of Hollywood films in the world and has kept theaters open, while many in the west were closed due to COVID-19. Not only have critical characters and themes in Hollywood movies been changed to appease the CCP, but Drew and Alex worry that younger kids in the west will grow up with a flawed view of China. Cinema is about entertaining, but it is also about criticism and symbolism; if themes are censored, Hollywood will lose its magic. What can be done? Can Hollywood push back? Or is it too late?