While the Chinese government struggles to figure out how to export toys and dog food that won’t kill the recipients, another important issue is gaining some government backing: patriotic films. The Hollywood Reporter noted that in an interview on the state-run news website, the head of the state-run China Film Group said that the production company wants to make more “ethically inspiring” films, including those that promote national patriotism. Han Sanping said that everything was so great in China that only a real nut job would not make some sort of Hooray for China type movie.
The propaganda was only natural, Han said, "The reality of this country's economic reforms is that the country, the race, is prospering. This must be extolled. It can only be extolled. There can't be anyone who makes fun of it. People who do either have ulterior motives or they're mentally challenged." So extoll away all you Chinese directors and actors, otherwise Comrade Han will have you sent right to the funny farm. He also wants to make sure that even though China only (legally) imports about 20 movies a year, homegrown patriotic films increase because, as he says, “we can't let China Film Group become a trading company, distributing and buying foreign movies ... To take a more serious tone, if things come to that it's the tragedy of the whole race." And that’s not hyperbole talking.
Because it may sound a little suspicious to have a regime built on repression and propaganda talking openly about the need for propaganda, Han noted that the blueprint for nationalistic movies is the good old U.S.A. That’s right, we see it in movies like Pursuit of Happyness? That seems like an odd choice, but Han noted that the Will Smith character "overcame all difficulties and disturbances to pursue something and he succeeded." That is pretty much the plot for every movie ever made, not just the latest Will Smith tearjerker, so I’m not sure if Han is actually saying anything new.
