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Film rewinds the Cold War

By Brad Webber (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-19 10:25

Red Dawn, a ticking time bomb of a movie, is set to go off in November, when it hits cinemas in the US and overseas.

Motion picture cognoscenti might recall the original Red Dawn, a 1980s film in which a band of American youths repel Soviet soldiers. In the remake, Chinese soldiers and the Russians are cast as invaders of a small US city.

In several photographs taken at the Red Dawn sets in the Detroit area, the tagline "They are here to help" courses through the propaganda banners placed by the invaders of a fictionalized version of Spokane, Wash.

One fan's unofficial website of the 2010 version offers a slick poster and branding that prominently features the Chinese side's symbol.

"The funny thing is that there are versions of the posters all over the Internet. They're all fan-made," said Grey Munford, director of corporate publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, the studio behind the film. "The one sheets (the posters displayed in theaters) have not been done."

Now, I am here to help: to defuse tension before it builds and perhaps decode the simple intention of Hollywood: to produce escapist fare to compete with the next Harry Potter flick and not to gnaw at the collective psyche of the Chinese people.

I'm not at all optimistic about success on either front.

In 1984, when the original was released, the Soviet Bear was already down for the count and few Soviets hardly knew the movie existed.

Today, even the most unaware of Americans recognize that China has ascended on the world stage. Thanks to the Internet, the world is a much smaller place. Filmed entertainment rolls without borders.

Red Dawn most certainly will not play at the Beijing Megabox, but tempers here will probably explode like kernels of movie house popcorn nonetheless.

Netizens across China are already firing away at Red Dawn's yellow peril storyline. How, they wonder, could an American screenwriter depict their countrymen as enemy forces on par with America's Cold War nemesis?

I looked for a copy of the original film at the Huashi Weiye CD-DVD shop adjacent to The Village of Sanlitun. None of the three clerks I spoke with had heard of the original or its remake. All expressed incredulity that such a movie would be in production; one gave a look that could best be described as shellshock.

"If this movie comes to China, the Chinese people will feel upset," said one female clerk. Still, the curiosity factor will get the best of them, she added, and they will seek it out. "We've never had this kind of movie before."

A Canadian who overheard the conversation chimed it, giving a nod to the frayed international relations that will undoubtedly result from the film's release.

"What are they thinking?" he asked.

"It's not possible for China to invade America," said another clerk.

Which is exactly right. Red Dawn is escapist fare. Terrorists as antagonists wouldn't require any suspension of disbelief; they are an everyday reality. Let's not take Red Dawn any more seriously than we would a movie about talking dragons or blue-faced doppelgangers.

"At the end of the day it's just a movie" with "silly, over-the-top action," said MGM's Munford. "This is a movie that was set in motion because we thought it would be a fun popcorn experience. It's not a political film."

From the photo stills released on the fan sites, the new Red Dawn will feature a lot of blow-ups. Munford said the studio will likely aim for a PG-13 rating in the US. "It will have nowhere near the level of violence" of the original.

If it aspires to be half the shoot-'em-up of the original - which notched an astonishing 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute - it will still have a significant body count.

Chinese people will be disconcerted that many of those bodies will be of the Chinese soldiers picked off by the "young patriots who seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters," according to the website of MGM.

So far, few of the Asian actors are heralded as stars, so we'll assume most are straight-to-bodybag roles.

Scant consolation to the Chinese might be that the film intentionally directs much of the offense at the very portly backsides of spendthrift Americans.

One propaganda sign shows doughnuts and the phrase "Obscene choice: A weapon of mass destruction".

Others feature a map of the US, swathed in red with the phrase "Rebuilding your reputation"; "Fighting corporate corruption"; and a sledgehammer taken to the Capital rotunda ("Defeating your enemy").

It's just a movie, a silly movie that will leave many unanswered questions - such as why would a loan guarantor invade the debtor's country?

Or even more important: Is it unpatriotic to dine at Panda Express?

Give me liberty or give me kongpao chicken? Tough choice.