Tensions between the western world and autocracies such as China have increased over the last decade, though it hasn't always been reflected in mainstream media the way conflict between Russia and the U.S was only a couple of decades ago in major spy thrillers. One Hollywood executive is encouraging major studios to rectify that by giving iconic spies like James Bond and Jason Bourne more realistic and modern antagonists.

Author and president of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group Chris Fenton recently spoke to Semafor about Hollywood's attempts to secure access to Chinese theaters and what that means for the shape of censorship and creative freedom. He explained that some films are able to "appeal to Chinese audiences and, without any sort of premeditated kowtowing or censorship, feel benign to Beijing’s authorities. Those films will get through and will hit gravy in China."

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Fenton then added that it is time for the likes of Jason Bourne and James Bond to "finally face their most realistic on-screen modern day villains — ones who may be using sophisticated spy balloons to drop catastrophic EMPs over the United States or ones who've smuggled a nuclear device into the heart of Taipei during a key U.S. Congressional Delegation visit."

In recent years, Hollywood has come under fire for indirectly allowing authorities in China to export the nation's censorship policies through the attempts to appease the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and secure access to Chinese audiences. As a result, numerous blockbusters have been forced to edit out or censor or alter certain elements.

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Chinese Censorship and Hollywood's Part in It

PEN America composed an open letter to Hollywood studios back in 2020, citing examples of censorship and China-focused alterations including The Ancient One in Doctor Strange, who is depicted in the comics as a Tibetan monk rather than the film's Celtic sorcerer; and the removal of the Taiwanese and Japanese flags on Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell's jacket in early trailers of Top Gun: Maverick.

Hollywood was forced to change its approach to China in the years following the Chinese Communist Party's centennial in 2021, after authorities seemingly imposed an unofficial ban on western blockbusters, including No Time to Die and Top Gun: Maverick. However, in recent weeks, it appears studios are once again being encouraged to accommodate the demands of Chinese state censors, assured by the sudden release of films such as Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Source: Semafor