Amman — In her 2017 book Hollywood Made in China, University of Virginia media studies professor and researcher Aynne Kokas presents a theoretical, political, and economic framework for understanding the growing relationship between Hollywood and China. She explores the idea that the center of gravity of the film industry may be shifting from Hollywood toward China.
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The author argues that the relationship between Hollywood and China is no longer simply one of exporting American films to a large foreign market. Instead, it has become a complex partnership involving investment, production, cultural policies, and economic interests, particularly as China has become a crucial market for sustaining the Hollywood production model itself. With the rapid growth of the Chinese box office, major American studios have become increasingly dependent on the Chinese market to recover the costs of major film productions. As a result, Hollywood has begun developing films and business strategies with Chinese audiences in mind from the outset.
Kokas argues that China’s motivation goes beyond generating economic profits from the film industry. It is linked to a broader political and cultural project that the Chinese government describes as addressing a “cultural deficit” or “cultural trade deficit.” China believes its enormous economic power is not matched by comparable global cultural influence. It therefore seeks to use the media and entertainment industries to strengthen its international influence. Cooperation with Hollywood thus becomes a means of acquiring technical expertise, developing the domestic industry, improving China’s image internationally, and promoting narratives that the state seeks to advance.
The book examines films as works of art, but also as part of a broader economic system built around global brand development. Kokas argues that Hollywood today does not simply sell films, but also entertainment destinations, games, consumer products, intellectual property rights, language-learning schools, and complete cultural experiences. Companies such as Disney and DreamWorks therefore view China not merely as a film market, but as a market in which to build integrated commercial and cultural empires.
The author draws a striking comparison between the concept of the “Chinese Dream,” promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Hollywood’s traditional image as a “dream factory.” Just as the United States used cinema for decades to export its image of itself and the world, China is now seeking to use media and entertainment to build a new global image reflecting its economic and political rise. Cooperation with Hollywood serves this goal because the industry has the greatest historical experience in creating global fantasies and shaping perceptions across borders.
China views foreign investment in the media sector in much the same way it previously viewed foreign investment in industry and technology. In addition to attracting capital, the objective is to transfer knowledge, acquire technology, train local professionals, and develop national production capabilities. This model had previously succeeded in several sectors, and China is seeking to replicate it in media and cinema.
“Hollywood” represents a global brand symbolizing the entire American entertainment industry. Similarly, “China” has become a brand, market, and cultural production system seeking to establish a global presence. For this reason, the book examines the interaction between two major global brands more than it examines the relationship between two countries in the traditional sense.
Kokas sees China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 as the real starting point for the new relationship between China and Hollywood. It opened the door to joint investment and co-productions, enabled American companies to expand within China, and contributed to unprecedented growth in the Chinese film market. Since then, China has gradually emerged as a major center of the global media economy.
The researcher argues that cooperation between Hollywood and China represents a commercial partnership signaling the emergence of a new global media system, in which economic interests intersect with cultural policies and a struggle for symbolic influence between the world’s two largest economic powers.
This relationship is neither one of outright American dominance, as was once believed, nor a complete Chinese victory. Rather, it is an ongoing process of negotiation in which Hollywood gains access to a huge market, while China gains technology, expertise, and greater capacity to expand its cultural influence globally.
Resource: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Mowaffaq Malkaawi
