【中文标题】侵略者怎么从中国人变成了朝鲜人？—好莱坞对中国示好
【原文标题】Reel China: Hollywood tries to stay on China's good side
【登载媒体】洛杉矶时报
【原文作者】Ben Fritz、John Horn
【原文链接】http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-china-red-dawn-20110316,0,995726.story
北京还没有发话，米高梅就主动把《赤色黎明》中的反派角色从中国人改为朝鲜人。这么做的目的完全是为了更好地收获亚洲超级势力的票房。
Lea Thompson在1984年版本的《赤色黎明》中。
中国对于美国娱乐公司的重要性，已经达到让一家工作室用非同寻常的数字处理技术来删除影片中的共产主义恶棍的程度，唯恐得罪北京的领导人。
几年前，米高梅决定翻拍1984年的战争题材影片《赤色黎明》，内容是有关一群美国乡下孩子反抗苏联进攻的故事。由于苏联已经在1991年解体，制片方需要一个新的反派角色，因此制片人用中国侵略者取代了苏联人。影片于2009年在密歇根拍摄完成。
但是，发行商们都害怕与这部影片扯上关系，他们担心如果这样做，会影响到自己与亚洲新兴的超级势力、美国电影最有潜在利润的市场中的生意。当然更不用提这个市场正在消费越来越多的美国产品。
因此，影片制作方正在用数字技术清除《赤色黎明》中的中国旗帜和军队标志，并更改台词，把影片中的侵略者刻画成貌似来自朝鲜的军队。这个与世隔绝的国家与美国的媒体公司彻底没有生意利益关系。
这样的举动昭示出，中国政府即使没有发表任何官方的抗议，它对全球娱乐业的影响力有多么强大。当然，我们不知道是否有中国人看过《赤色黎明》，去年一个泄露的版本让共产党的报纸《环球时报》发表了一篇批判性的社论。
2009年底，中国知名网站新浪和铁血上出现了一些《赤色黎明》的剧照，包括装扮成中国军人的演员，和显示美国国会大厦被一把锤子砸碎的嘲弄性宣传画。这些帖子引来数万人浏览。有人评论：“什么时候上映？”还有人说：“不可能通过影片审查了，等待盗版。”
一位米高梅发言人说，制片方没有人与中国官方谈论过这部影片。
好莱坞曾经因为在银幕上诋毁中国形象而度过了一段非常艰难的时期，它现在明白，这会对现代化媒体集团的诸多方面造成负面影响。90年代末期，沃尔特迪斯尼、索尼和米高梅分别因为拍摄了批判共产主义政府的《达赖的一生》、《西藏七年》和《红色角落》而被禁止在中国从事娱乐业务。
今天，虽然中国政府只允许每年上映20部非国产影片，但是中国对好莱坞的重要性越来越高。中国在2010年是美国海外第五大票房市场，总收入为15亿美元。
很多好莱坞制片厂都把自己的业务在世界上人口最多的国家中深化。迪斯尼正在上海郊区修建一座主题公园；索尼与有政府背景的中国电影集团合作拍摄了《功夫梦》；新闻集团旗下的福克斯国际制片公司最近在中国拍摄了华语版本的《全城热恋》。即使像Lionsgate和Summit这样的独立制片公司也会在未来几个月在中国上映《杀手们》和《红色》。
Dan Mintz的DMG娱乐公司是中国最大的外资制片商和发行商，他说《赤色黎明》的故事戏剧化地夸张了西方公司如何在根本上对中国的误解。如果影片在不修改中国侵略者的前提下公映，“必然会遭遇强大的抵制，就好像是你受邀请出席一个晚宴，你却整晚都在侮辱主人。这必然是没有好下场的……拍摄这部影片本身就是个错误的决定。”
Mintz与《赤色黎明》的制片方会面，并提供了一些下一步如何进行的建议。他说，在中国做生意需要采取伙伴性的方式，“你摆出的姿态越友好，你周边的关系也会越有利，这要比单纯的一部影片重要得多。”
翻拍的《赤色黎明》讲述华盛顿斯波坎市几名少年，在不远的未来与入侵的中国和俄罗斯军队战斗的故事（原版影片中是苏联和古巴结盟）。这部耗资6000万美元的制作由Chris Hemsworth主演。今年5月份，他主演的超级英雄类影片《雷神托尔》上映之后，观众们会更加熟悉这个演员。
米高梅原计划在去年11月份上映《赤色黎明》，但负债累累的制片方在上映前一个月向法院提出了破产申请。年底时，新的管理层走马上任。新CEO Gary Barber和Roger Birnbaum在试图出售原公司最后拍摄的两部影片——《赤色黎明》和恐怖片《林中小屋》，然后他们将重组这个有87年历史的公司。
制片方已经开始计划两部新片——《霍比特人》和一部007续集，中国是非常重要的市场。最新一部007电影《大破量子危机》在中国共收入了2100万美元。
过去几个星期里，米高梅向来自其它制片厂有意向的买家放映了《赤色黎明》。看过影片的一些人（要求匿名，因为他们不可以公开发表评论）说，他们不想冒风险来发行这个影片，因为可能会遭遇来自中国的强大压力。
这些反馈意见让米高梅下定决心来做一些绝对不同寻常的更改。在后期制作中修改影片的内容是常见的事情，但是从未有过改变整个一批角色国籍的先例出现。
了解内情的人说，这样的变化需要花费将近1百万美元。片头字幕会明确说明故事的虚构背景；重新编辑两个场景；使用数字技术把很多中国性的标志改为朝鲜标志。不太可能把全部涉及到中国的内容都删除，但这样的改变会让朝鲜军队在入侵美国的势力中占更主导的地位。
制片人之一Tripp Vinson说：“我们起初非常不愿意做任何更改，但是经过仔细考虑，我们设计出一种方法，能让《赤色黎明》更扣人心弦、更富有内涵。我们相信这是对影片质量的一个提升。”
导演Dan Bradley代表人表示无可奉告。
如果米高梅最终无法找到影片的发行方，可能就会直接通过DVD的方式发行，或者被束之高阁，永远无法与观众见面。
《赤色黎明》并不是唯一一部把中国反派改换为朝鲜人的娱乐作品。本周发售的视频游戏《国土防线》改编自John Milius的剧本，他是《赤色黎明》的原作者。游戏内容本来描述的是中国人入侵，出于商业目的，发行商THQ把入侵者改为朝鲜人。
米高梅的一位发言人说，希望这样不同寻常的变化能有一个良好的结果：把《赤色黎明》从垃圾堆里拯救出来，变成一个有观众、能挣钱的电影。
全球市场部执行副总裁Mike Vollman说：“米高梅已经与《赤色黎明》的导演和制片方通力合作，打造一部对全球观众都可以形成商业利益的影片。我们希望有尽可能多的人可以看到它。”
评论：
O Malley：
中国人真TM聪明啊，回头看看我们的想法：军事入侵＝恐怖和仇恨；文化入侵＝美国人出于“支持本土”思想的反抗和怀疑；经济入侵（价格便宜的硬道理）＝无法抗拒。
Granden：
毫不奇怪。早先的好莱坞中满是毛和苏联的崇拜者，尽管他们谋害了上亿自己的子民。后来的一些人（斯通、摩尔、斯特弗德等人）继续为毛的后来人——查韦斯和卡斯特罗——制作宣传性的影片。
Taoist
文章中没提到一个事情。原版《赤色黎明》中的中国反派演员其实是制片方从韩国请来的人（假设美国人无法从面孔和姓名上辨别出来），因为中国演员都拒绝参与宣传性影片的演出。
原文：
Without Beijing even uttering a critical word, MGM is changing the villains in its 'Red Dawn' remake from Chinese to North Korean. It's all about maintaining access to the Asian superpower's lucrative box office.
Lea Thompson in the 1984 version of "Red Dawn."
China has become such an important market for U.S. entertainment companies that one studio has taken the extraordinary step of digitally altering a film to excise bad guys from the Communist nation lest the leadership in Beijing be offended.
When MGM decided a few years ago to remake "Red Dawn," a 1984 Cold War drama about a bunch of American farm kids repelling a Soviet invasion, the studio needed new villains, since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed in 1991. The producers substituted Chinese aggressors for the Soviets and filmed the movie in Michigan in 2009.
But potential distributors are nervous about becoming associated with the finished film, concerned that doing so would harm their ability to do business with the rising Asian superpower, one of the fastest-growing and potentially most lucrative markets for American movies, not to mention other U.S. products.
As a result, the filmmakers now are digitally erasing Chinese flags and military symbols from "Red Dawn," substituting dialogue and altering the film to depict much of the invading force as being from North Korea, an isolated country where American media companies have no dollars at stake.
The changes illustrate just how much sway China's government has in the global entertainment industry, even without uttering a word of official protest. Although it's unclear if anyone in China has seen "Red Dawn," a leaked version of the script last year resulted in critical editorials in the Global Times, a communist party-controlled paper.
That followed postings of pictures on China's popular Web portals Sina and Tiexue in late 2009 of the "Red Dawn" set showing actors posing as Chinese troops and mock propaganda posters of the U.S. Capitol building smashed by a hammer. The posts received tens of the thousands of views. "When does it come out?" read one Chinese comment. "There is no hope for theatrical screening [censorship], wait for pirated version."
An MGM spokesman said that no one at the studio has had discussions with Chinese government officials about "Red Dawn."
Hollywood has learned the hard way that besmirching China's image on-screen can have long-running implications for the many arms of a modern media conglomerate. In the late 1990s, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures and MGM all faced a temporary halt in their business dealings in the country after releasing the movies "Kundun," "Seven Years in Tibet" and "Red Corner," respectively, which were critical of the communist government.
Today, China is far more important to the Hollywood studios, despite the government's policy of allowing only about 20 non-Chinese films into theaters each year. In 2010, China was the fifth-biggest box office market outside of the United States, with $1.5 billion in revenue.
A number of Hollywood studios are deepening their business ties to the world's most populous nation. Disney is building a theme park outside Shanghai, Sony Pictures co-produced the recent "Karate Kid" remake with the government-affiliated China Film Group, and News Corp.'s Fox International Productions recently made the Chinese-language hit "Hot Summer Days" there. Even independent studios like Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment will release their films "Killers" and "Red" in China in coming months.
Dan Mintz, whose DMG Entertainment is a leading producer and distributor of movies in China, said the "Red Dawn" story dramatizes how Western companies can fundamentally misunderstand how the nation works. If the picture had gone out without redacting the Chinese invaders, he said, "there would have been a real backlash. It's like being invited to a dinner party and insulting the host all night long. There's no way to look good.... The film itself was not a smart move."
Mintz, who met with the producers of "Red Dawn" to offer some suggestions on how they could proceed, said that doing business in China requires a partnership approach. "The more you reach out, the better your relationships will be," Mintz said. "This is bigger than a single film."
The "Red Dawn" remake follows several teenagers in Spokane, Wash., who fight invading Chinese forces allied with Russia in the near future (in the original film, the Soviets partnered with Cubans). The roughly $60-million production stars Chris Hemsworth, who will become much better known to moviegoers this May when he plays the title role in the superhero event picture "Thor."
MGM had been set to release "Red Dawn" in November, but the debt-laden studio filed for bankruptcy the month before and emerged under new leadership at the end of the year. New chief executives Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum are seeking to sell both "Red Dawn" and the horror film "The Cabin in the Woods," the last two pictures produced under a previous regime, as they try to reshape the 87-year-old company.
China will be an important market for the studio as it goes ahead with plans to produce two movies based on "The Hobbit" and James Bond sequels. The last Bond movie, 2008's "Quantum of Solace," grossed $21 million in China.
In the last few weeks, MGM has begun showing "Red Dawn" to potential buyers at other studios. Several people who have seen the movie but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record said they couldn't risk distributing it given the potential blowback in China.
The feedback led to MGM's decision to make the highly unusual changes. Although it's common to reshape movies in the editing room, there's no known precedent for changing the nationality of an entire group of characters.
People close to the picture said the changes will cost less than $1 million and involve changing an opening sequence summarizing the story's fictional backdrop, re-editing two scenes and using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. It's impossible to eliminate all references to China, the people said, though the changes will give North Korea a much larger role in the coalition that invades the U.S.
"We were initially very reluctant to make any changes," said Tripp Vinson, one of the movie's producers. "But after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous 'Red Dawn' that we believe improves the movie."
Representatives for director Dan Bradley did not respond to requests for comment.
If MGM is unable to find a distributor for the movie, it could end up going direct-to-DVD or could even be shelved, never to be seen by the public.
"Red Dawn" is not the only piece of entertainment to swap out Chinese villains for North Koreans recently. The video game "Homefront," which was released this week and features a script by John Milius, writer of the original "Red Dawn," was also originally intended to feature a Chinese invasion. For business reasons, publisher THQ changed the occupying forces to North Korea.
A representative for MGM said it's hopeful the unusual changes will have a simple result: turning "Red Dawn" from a complete write-off into a movie that can find an audience and make money.
"MGM has been working with the film 'Red Dawn's' director and producers to make the most commercially viable version of the film for audiences worldwide," said Mike Vollman, executive vice president of worldwide marketing. "We want to ensure the most people possible are able to experience it."
O Malley
Damn clever of the Chinese though, in retrospect. Military invasion = culture of fear and hatred. Cultural invasion = suspicion and backlash by Americans in order to "support our own". Economic invasion through the simple policy of cheaper for the same = irresistible.
Granden
No surprise here--Hollywood was once full of folks who venerated Mao and the Soviet Union despite the murder of over 100 million of their own citizens. Their successors (Stone, Moore, Redford and many others) provide the same cover (and propaganda films) for Mao's heirs, Chavez and the Castro brothers.
Taoist
The article fails to mention that the Chinese villains in the early version of “Red Dawn” were actually played by actors hired from South Korea (with the hope that American audiences could not tell the faces or the names), because Chinese actors refused to participate in making the propaganda movie. |
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-3-18 14:35
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千斤顶
显身卡
发表于 2011-3-18 15:21
