China’s Hold on Hollywood with Erich Schwartzel

This week, Shane Harris talks with journalist Erich Schwartzel about one of the most intense arenas of the great power competition between the United States and China: the movies. 

Schwartzel's new book, Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, is a deeply reported and riveting story about how American movie studios have spent decades breaking into the multi-billion dollar Chinese market. The moviemakers' success has come at a price. They’ve made concessions to Chinese censors--going so far as to erase all negative references to China from films--and increasingly find themselves caught between their Chinese fans and the U.S. government, as tensions rise with Beijing. 

Schwartzel also tells the story of how China’s government has promoted an indigenous film industry. It often turns out propaganda. But more recently, Chinese studios have also produced global blockbusters and created Chinese stars - only this new entertainment A-list isn’t beyond the government’s control. 

Schwartzel covers the film industry for The Wall Street Journal.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Among the works cited in this episode are:

Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611545/red-carpet-by-erich-schwartzel/ 

Read an excerpt of the book: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/02/china-captured-hollywood/621618/ 

Erich Schwartzel’s work for The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/erich-schwartzel

Erich on Twitter: https://twitter.com/erichschwartzel 

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