“THE WOLF AT THE DOOR”：HOLLYWOOD AND THE FILM MARKET IN CHINA FROM 1994-2000(四).docVIP

“THE WOLF AT THE DOOR”：HOLLYWOOD AND THE FILM MARKET IN CHINA FROM 1994-2000(四) 　　Far more serious was the ban on the showing of any American films from May toOctober 1999.This proved devastating to Chinese theaters ，already having a verypoor year even before the bombing.Many were reported on the verge of bankruptcy.Overall ，the film market declined 50percent compared to 1998.（45）A numberof film critics also used these results to refute those who argued that audienceswould not see Chinese movies so long as American imports were showing.Even in theabsence of the American films ，audiences were simply not interested in going tosee Chinese films.（46）But the Chinese government once again showed that commercialconsiderations were secondary to political imperatives. 　　What was particularly interesting in the aftermath of the bombing was the changein press coverage of American films ，with the vilification in print lasting foraround four months.Beijing Youth Daily （Beijing qingnian bao），for example，indicted the American film industry for its complicity in paving the way，culturally，for American hegemonic interests.The most successful movies in the Chinese market-including Titanic，Saving Private Ryan，and Star Wars Episode I：The PhantomMenace-were all seen as so-called main melody films（zhu xuan lu ），a termoften used for Chinese films that further the governments propaganda mission.Thesemovies were sent abroad for the purposes of cultural and economic imperialism ，presenting a worldview supportive of the United States and dominating commercialmarkets ，thereby driving out domestic films.At the same time ，the Beijing YouthDaily went on ，in the United States movies like Red Cornerwould aid Americanauthorities in creating an anti-China tide within their own market.（47）Thistheme was repeated in other publications as well.The leading trade journal forthe film industry -China Film Market （Zhongguo dianying shichang）-publishedan article entitled Drawing Aside Hollywoods Vei