The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has charted a course it hopes will lead ultimately to global control. How much longer can America ignore this reality?
For doubters, consider the CCP’s current economic and military buildup, its leadership positions in international institutions, such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and others – as well as its stated goal of creating a “community of common destiny for mankind.”
But the CCP, in its goal to become the world’s superpower, has understood for years that global dominance does not happen overnight.
Such ambitions take strategic planning and a willingness to engage in a long-term battle – a battle not necessarily fought by traditional means.
Rather than engaging competitive superpowers (such as the United States) on a physical battlefront, for many decades, the CCP has been employing what many consider to be far superior tactics – infiltrating the culture to sow seeds of destruction from within.
One subset of the culture in which the CCP has wielded massive influence is the American film industry.
In the recently released documentary Hollywood Takeover: China’s Control in the Film Industry, producer Tiffany Meier shines a light on the CCP’s efforts to portray itself positively through American media while subverting U.S. culture.
Meier, an investigative reporter and producer for NTD News and host of the network’s China in Focus broadcast, spoke with The Stand about the film and the dangerous threat China poses in its quest for global control.
Why expose Hollywood?
Since much of Meier’s journalism is devoted to covering news of interest concerning China, she was approached by one of her superiors about creating a documentary highlighting how the CCP has infiltrated the U.S. government.
Meier liked the idea, but she felt few people would have an interest in such a complicated topic and feared only a handful would watch such a film.
After further consideration, however, she came up with an idea to get the message across in a way that would appeal to a much wider audience.
“If we want to understand how we got to the point of the CCP infiltrating our government, we first have to talk about its takeover of our culture,” Meier said. “And what better cultural institution to illustrate that point than Hollywood?”
Hollywood for sale
Growing up loving movies, Meier recalled the days when American films promoted American values, such as democracy, patriotism, and basic freedoms.
“But as the years went by, I couldn’t pinpoint why, but movies just didn’t feel like movies anymore,” Meier explained.
After reading the book Feeding the Dragon and interviewing its author, Chris Fenton, Meier began to understand why.
Fenton, who is featured in the documentary, was a high-level executive within the Hollywood industry. He recognized and began to capitalize on the untapped potential of getting American film into the Chinese market.
Tapping into that market, however, came with a price.
“The CCP wants to control the narrative,” Meier explained. “The party wants to control how the world perceives it.
“In the beginning, the CCP had less influence, but as producers realized the money that could be made, they were more willing to acquiesce to gain entry to the market,” Meier said.
Fenton’s job was that of a negotiator between the CCP and Hollywood.
“He would explain to Hollywood what the CCP censors wanted, then relay to the CCP what Hollywood was willing to do to appease the CCP, and ultimately convince both sides to come to an agreement,” Meier said.
As but one illustration of many, the documentary reveals how the 2012 film Red Dawn, a remake of the 1984 film by the same name, kowtowed to the CCP.
The movie imagined an enemy force – China, in the case of the remake – launching an invasion on American soil, only to be resisted and driven out by a brave American guerrilla resistance group.
Before the release, however, executives realized that casting China as the villain would alienate their film from the Chinese market and huge profits, so they recast the villain as North Korea instead.
The film had already been produced, but “MGM studios spent $1 million to digitally change the enemy insignia from Communist China to North Korea as the invaders,” Meier said.
Meier noted how such acquiescence is more than simply altering artistic expression; it literally reshapes public perception.
“Since 2012, no major film or studio has cast China as the villain,” she said. “And that impacts society. Just ask anyone who the ‘bad guy’ is today, and they’ll say ‘Russia,’ completely oblivious to the threat China poses.”
To further illustrate the power of the CCP over Hollywood, Meier explained that studios eventually began self-censoring their films.
“Communist China was so successful in its coup against Hollywood that producers began portraying the CCP the way the CCP wanted them to without the party even having to say it,” Meier said. “To borrow a Soviet term, they became useful idiots, willing to censor themselves.”
Far beyond Hollywood
While Hollywood capitulates to the CCP for entrance to the market and money, Meier said neither of those are the CCP’s motivation.
“Its motivation is control and then, ultimately, global hegemony,” she said.
Meier highlighted the 1940s when Mao Zedong led China into Communist rule and how he taught his followers that everything, including art, exists only for the purposes of advancing the State.
Meier’s point is that the CCP, from its perspective, is not engaged in merely a beneficial economic relationship with Hollywood; it is engaged in warfare, and using Hollywood to subvert the culture is one of its many weapons.
“In the West, we tend to think that we are either actively engaged militarily in war, or we are at peace,” Meier said. “But that’s not how the CCP thinks. It employs what’s known as ‘gray zone warfare’ or ‘irregular warfare.’ It’s everything short of a hot war, but it’s still war.”
As other examples, Meier pointed to the influx of fentanyl into the U.S., the dangers of TikTok on young minds, transgenderism, theft of intellectual property, thousands of military-aged Chinese nationals illegally entering the country, and more – all of which many believe to be CCP tactics of soft warfare.
“These are different avenues of attack that can cause a country to fight itself without an adversary ever needing to fire a bullet,” Meier explained. “The enemy will simply watch from afar and say, ‘Excellent. We’ll wait until they’ve destroyed each other; then we’ll take over.’”
(Digital Editor's Note: This article was published first in the October 2024 print edition of The Stand. Click HERE for a free six-month subscription.)
