Hollywood Wants You To Be Afraid Of The Yellow Horde

2010-01-07

I've already written once about the coming remake of the atrocious 80s movie Red Dawn, this time with China, not the USSR, playing the role of the Big Bad (if you'll excuse the Buffyspeak). Red Dawn was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, including Howard the Duck, not only because of its poor writing, acting, and directing, but also because it played up the insipid Reagan-era nationalist cheerleading. The only people I've ever met that enjoyed Red Dawn were knee-jerk Republican neo-con nationalist manly-men types (they also read a lot of Hemingway).

In light of my post on Monday about the coming year and the difficulties I see with US-China relations, this Op/Ed from Asia Times about Red Dawn and what it says about American insecurities and views of China is particularly useful.

On its own, the remade Red Dawn is interesting, but not compelling. The movie's backdrop of America's current economic problems, the profound insecurities we feel about our future, frustration with what we see as the downside of globalization, an increasing number of loud voices in government, and media speaking out against China together make the new Red Dawn movie not only fascinating but potentially may push frustration with China into the forefront of a zeitgeist that could define the coming years. Most troubling is not necessarily the role of Chinese aggressors for the movie, but the fact that America's cultural center of gravity as reflected in our politics, business, and now entertainment, seems focused on China as the cause of most of our ills.

That's what I worry about. Interesting that the movie is slated for Thanksgiving, mere days away from the mid-term elections. I wonder just how bad the anti-China rhetoric will be during this election cycle.

Let's face it, human beings pretty much suck. We are very quick to look for a scapegoat when something goes wrong, and the US right now is experiencing some turmoil that hasn't been seen for at least 30 years. It's not surprising, but it is depressing, that China is taking its turn as the perpetrator du jour.

Anyway, go read the entire Op/Ed. The still photo from the movie is entertaining.

Tags: U.S.-China Relations