I think it's fair to say that I'm not much of a blogger. I know that practice makes perfect and that two blog posts in the space of 2 years isn't much practice. I think the problem boils down to the story I've been telling. I do want to share my story and experiences of life in China, but I'm still at the beginning and those events happened more than four years ago. I'm sure you can understand if the desire to talk about those events and my memory of them have waned somewhat and impinged on my desire to update the blog. It's time to stop the excuses, make a commitment and change tack. I am determined to continue the story from where I left off, but I think it would be better to ease myself into bogging by doing what most others do... ranting about stuff.
In this post, I am going to share my thoughts and frustrations about the modern movie industry... or, more specifically, the type of movies that get released over here. I'm an avid consumer of films. (There's one movie channel in China that used to show foreign films after 8pm and helped get me through the tough dark days at the beginning of my journey. Well, that and the slightly pervy Wipeout derivatives based around low cut tops and jiggling bits.)
There is very little I enjoy more than going to the cinema or watching a new film at home with my wife . She's hardly seen anything so it's wonderful to be able to show her the films I think everyone should see (a future blog topic right there). When I first arrived in China, I was spoiled for choice due to the prevalence of online media apps and websites in China which used to have a very relaxed approach to copyright infringement. I could fire up the iPad or old laptop and watch almost anything I wanted,TV or film, no matter how new it was. I could even watch a movie before it was released in the west on the odd occasion. Things have changed a lot since those wonderful early days, however. The movie industry has exploded in China and ticket sales are through the roof. The city I live in had two run-down cinemas when I arrived but we now have five cinemas, three of which are far larger and better equipped than the ones I used to go to in England. Pretty much everything is shown in 3D or IMAX or even 4D in China and the screens are packed for new releases. The sheer volume of viewing numbers in China is most clearly expressed by the fact that three domestic films are currently sitting in the top ten list for highest grossing movies of 2016, without much of an audience outside of China,if any. I'm sure the latest X-Men movie will knock one of the Chinese films off the list, but that will be with the help of the Chinese audience together with the rest of the world. This news is wonderful for the movie industry but not so good for me as I surmise that the huge amounts of money involved over here now has caused a tightening of regulations in regards to the online media apps and the death of a handful of them. Now I am victim to the whims of the censors and the choices made by whoever makes choices.
I'm not sure of the intricacies of the decision making process when it comes to the release of foreign films in China, but there is most definitely a trend towards the massive tent-pole blockbusters that the studios produce (mostly comic-book adaptations) and the occasional strange choice of older and low budget films. The appetite for superhero movies borders on the insane over here. I won't pretend to know exactly why the Chinese love them so much, but I'll hazard a guess that the similarities of these stories to the traditional Chinese legends has something to do with it... that and the huge 3D explosions. Anyone who has seen Chinese films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero will know that Chinese culture has often given its heroes incredible powers. Perhaps this long-term exposure to super-powers in Chinese culture and the modern, somewhat western, desire to be someone special in such an enormous country can explain the appetite for comic-book movies and, more sinisterly, the attraction of cults (a much more serious topic for another time).
Although Chinese martial arts films are well known in the West and full of breathtaking beauty and action, there is a much greater variety to Chinese films than just Jackie Chan and kung-fu. I plan to introduce some to you guys over the next few weeks and months as well as giving my opinion on Western movies. I will get back to my experiences and rant about plenty of other topics as well, but hopefully this current tack will get me into the blogging habit.
See you guys soon (I hope)
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