China Finds Something Else To Regulate, Brings In Its First Law For The Film Industry

from the excellent-Chinese-culture-and-socialist-core-values dept

Techdirt has been covering China's relentless clampdown on every aspect of the online world for some time, culminating in the new "cybersecurity" law that's just been passed. But if you think the Chinese authorities are now done, you'd be wrong. They are branching out into an entirely new field -- cinema -- with a law that the official Xinhua News Agency calls "the first of its kind in China":

The top legislature on Monday adopted a film industry law, promising harsh punishment for firms that fabricate box office earnings, data or information.

That makes it sound like it is mostly about regulating the commercial activities of China's cinema industry. And it's true that there are some measures designed to prevent fraud, apparently something of a problem in the country:

Film distributors and theaters will have all their illegal earnings confiscated and be fined up to 500,000 yuan (about 73,800 U.S. dollars) if they falsify ticket sales data, according to the law adopted at the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee bimonthly session after a third reading.

If their illegal earnings exceed 500,000 yuan, the fine will be up to five times their illegitimate earnings.

They may also be hit with an operating suspension or have their business certificates revoked in serious cases, according to the new law.

But the meat of the legislation is probably to be found in the following aspects:

The law specified that actors, directors and other staff should be "excellent in both moral integrity and film art," maintain self-disciplined and build a positive public image.

...

The [government] media watchdog is also establishing a "professional ethics committee," aiming to guide organizations and people in the radio, film and media circles to practice "core socialist values."

And it's not just the actors who must be on their best behavior under the new law:

China will support the making of films championing excellent Chinese culture and socialist core values.

Chinese groups can cooperate with overseas counterparts in film shooting, excluding overseas organizations and individuals that engage in "activities damaging China's national dignity, honor and interests, or harming social stability or hurting national feelings," the law said.

Since China is now the world's second-largest film market according to Xinhua, there will probably be plenty of Western companies that will be interested in co-productions. But the new rules mean that the Chinese government's interest in a film's storyline is now quite explicit, and that anything that "hurts national feelings" is a definite no-no. That probably means more discreet compromises of the kind recently seen in the film Doctor Strange, where a Tibetan Ancient One mysteriously turned into a Celtic Ancient One.

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Filed Under: china, film industry, regulations

The Many Killers Of The Film Industry: Volume 2 - A Disaster Called Television

from the setting-box-office-records-from-beyond-the-grave...-apparently dept

[Those of you following along will remember the cliffhanger ending of Volume 1, in which it was revealed that "something" would come along and destroy the movie industry with its tiny screen and tinny sound. In this followup, we reveal the true killer of the film industry, which is also one of the many pretenders to the throne.]

A Disaster Called Television
Little did Roger Philco and Francois Magnavox know when they assembled the first "magic picture box" that it would change American society as we knew it, mostly for the worse.

There was no indication during its early broadcasts of test patterns, puppet shows and white men in blackface that the daily life of Americans would soon revolve around it. Instead of gathering around the wireless to watch Dad get drunk and curse the Yankees, the whole family would gather around the tiny screen to watch Elvis from the waist up or catch breaking footage from the moon landing set.

The movie industry understood how serious this new threat could be and stepped hastily over the still-cooling corpse of live theater to denounce the new "tele-vision," which would surely destroy their precious industry. They lamented this turn of events, cursing every new box office record and crying into their stacks of $1000 bills.

Representatives of the "dying" industry called on Congress to do "something" about the "talking picturemajig." How can we get people to sit in front of our 42-foot screens, enjoy our Technicolor and Sensurround when they have 3 inches of black and white power at home, all coming to them in deafening mono?

Congress was too busy watching the National League Championship to be bothered by an outdated industry and their rhetorical questions, no matter how many bribes and high-dollar hookers they waved around. Another blow was struck when forward-thinking Dwight Eisenhower announced his bold plan for America: a television in every house, a car in every garage and an epidemic of childhood obesity.

Disaster? Or Powerful, Distracting New Ally?
The movie industry was premature in its panic. Americans soon proved they had the leisure time for both activities, which could easily be squeezed in between backyard barbecues and conceiving the eventual bankrupters of Social Security.

During the early '50s, the average male enjoyed a 25-hour work week, divided between harassing the typing pool, pounding martinis and hitting the golf course. The remaining time they spent watering the lawn, washing the car, pounding martinis and pounding the wife (mostly in a sexual fashion, but often in a physical fashion).

TV grew and grew, becoming the focal point of American family life. Television producers turned the mirror on the public, reflecting life as they knew it in the form of sitcoms, playing up spousal abuse ("I Love Lucy," "The Honeymooners") and sexless marriages (every other sitcom). They also went after more respected institutions with uncanny accuracy. (See also: "The Andy Griffith Show" and its devastating take on inept law enforcement and artistic whistling, or "Bewitched" and its brilliant satire of the advertising world, long before "Mad Men" made it cool to be casually sexist again.)

As its influence grew, television turned its unblinking eye on other "hot button" topics such as the Korean War ("M*A*S*H*"), teen hoodlums ("Happy Days") and greed (every game show). TV devoured everything in its path over the next 50 years, before going all ouroboros and devouring itself, shitting out show after show containing no actors, no script and starring everyday people like Balloon Boy's dad.

As the airwaves were conquered by Joe Gloryhound and his occasionally-swapped wife, the film industry breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that TV's "tapped-outness" would allow them to continue to collect billions of dollars a year cranking out sequel after sequel. Directors such as Michael Bay were allowed to continue trafficking in explosions and recycled punchlines. All was well in the word, until...

Coming up next:
Post-ellipsis!

Filed Under: film industry, television

The Many Killers Of The Film Industry: Volume One

from the just-alive-enough-for-the-inevitable-sequel dept

As many of you may recall (and hurriedly navigate away from this page), we took a two-part look (Analog Age and Digital Age) at the many premature obituaries self-published by the recording industry with every new technological development (cassette tapes, mp3 players, the internet). This time around, we'll be recounting the many near-fatalities suffered by the motion picture industry at the hands of various inventions and services.

Prehistory
Before the advent of motion pictures, there was live theater. Performed live by live actors and actresses (but more frequently by actors in wigs), theater enthralled thousands with its over-emoted lines, bellowed by all manner of waiters, maitre'ds and pool boys.

While kings and queens encouraged young playwrights to "sell out," the general public was amused by bawdy puppet shows and other lowbrow works, including the bawdiest of puppet shows: finger puppets. (You know what I'm talking about.) [Ed. - No one knows what you're talking about. Ever.] It had something for everybody and this "something" was usually expositionary songs and minimal sets.

Live theater flourished for centuries, becoming the common man's escape from crushing reality and taking him to places previously only glimpsed in his fevered (and Black Plagued) imagination. Whether it came in the form of Greek dramedy or Shakespearean sitcom, theater was the only game in town.

The lively art expanded and mutated, bringing forth several new artistic forms, both legitimate (opera, musical, kabuki) and illegitimate (off-Broadway, mime, pro wrestling). Others operated at the fringe, trafficking in dubious artistic merit and collecting money no one else would touch (cosplay, Samuel Beckett).

Just when it appeared that nothing would loosen theater's stranglehold on the public's entertainment dollar, something loosened theater's stranglehold on the public's entertainment dollar.

Motion Pictures
Little did Lumiere realize, when he debuted his first "moving picture," that his new invention would revolutionize the entertainment industry, mainly by killing off most of it and homogenizing the rest.

Proponents of the established live entertainment industry noted that the proliferation of "movie" houses would adversely affect its business, what with better entertainment being provided at half the price. They staged protests at major theaters, waving placards bearing slogans like "Motion Pictures Are Killing the Theater Industry" and (once the first concession stand was installed) "They're Also Killing Dinner Theater." This battle was carried to citizens of developing nations via propaganda stating that the "motion picture camera" was capable of "stealing over 30 souls per second."

The first movies were a spectacle of sight and sound, although most of the sound was nothing more than the projector running or a drunken former cabaret piano player banging away lustily at his instrument and most of the spectacle was of, like, a horse running or something.

With the advent of sound, motion pictures were now on par with live theater's use of voices, sound effects and coughing audiences. The sky was the limit! With Al Jolson's game-changing, black-faced "The Jazz Singer," Hollywood knew it had a hit on its hands. An audible hit. With racist overtones.

Soon every Tom Screenwriter, Dick Producer and Harry Director were jamming their movies full of chattering heads, cramming every free space in the film with nonstop, fast-paced talking. Even the dames got into the act, see? No wisecrack was left uncracked. No song was left unsung. No woman ever walked sultrily into a detective's poorly lit office unnarrated.

This addition of sound proved to be a deathblow for the theater. With the live-r of the lively arts effectively bleeding out (except for pockets of resistance both on and off-Broadway), movie-going became America's favorite pastime, supplanting the wireless, baseball and beating Irishmen.

A new breed of heart-throb rose from Hollywood and spread throughout the nation, taking advantage of swooning women and inconclusive paternity tests. The motion picture industry rushed through its Bronze and Silver Ages, riding the crest of fast-paced dialogue and cries of "What a dame!" But no sooner had the triumphant industry kicked up its feet and rested its head on its laurels, then disaster struck.

A disaster called television.

Coming up next:
Volume 2: A Disaster Called Television

Filed Under: film industry, theater