The United States government’s “pivot towards Asia” has become a favoured topic of political commentators around the world. The idea of the “pivot”, first mooted in 2011, was to reengineer US foreign policy and foster better relationships with new and emerging powers, particularly China. It was developed with the intention of rowing back America’s many and unsustainable security commitments on the international stage. Now, as The National reported yesterday, the “pivot” has been observed in an entirely different theatre.
American film producers have their eyes on a greater share of China’s cinema-takings, the world’s second biggest market after the US. Currently, official restrictions prevent the vast majority of Hollywood’s output from making it onto China’s cinema screens, but history tells us that such matters rarely stop American ambitions in far-off lands.
For the rest of us this pivot by Hollywood could have wide-ranging implications: China’s moviegoers prefer more special effects and less dialogue and they don’t like a script that pursues an aggressively anti-China narrative. Don’t be surprised if Captain America suddenly finds himself being given a helping hand by Colonel China.
