After you finish your vegetables
Sue Witmer sent me a link to Fenwick Smith's blog, The Hypermodern. (Thank you, Sue.) Smith writes from Beijing about the frustration of trying to see the new Harry Potter movie at a time when the Communist Party is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its founding. Oh, and the Party is promoting its anniversary movie.Harry Potter vs. The CCP
[T]he two movies most likely to be massive hits with the Chinese public – Transformers: Dark of the Moon and, wait for it, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part Two, have had their release dates pushed back. While SARFT isn’t saying so, this is because the two films will push Beginning of the Great Revival out of the domestic film chart within hours of opening… For Hollywood to crush the Party in the month of its 90th birthday would simply be a bridge too far. As a result, Chinese audiences can wait until July 21 for their annual dose of brainless Bay, while Potter fans have to wait until at least August 4…
So, that’s it. I get to see Harry’s final battle against the forces of evil a good month after everyone else in the world because the Chinese government, having spectacularly failed to make a pointless, unmarketable vanity project successful by fair means, have turned to their old habit of forcing the delivery of an impossible target. Like the agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward, failure is not an option for Party propaganda films. The only way to grant this steaming cinematic turd a modicum of success is to remove all competitors from the marketplace…
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posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:03 AM
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