Comments on: Created in China: part III http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/30/created-in-china-part-iii/ Global Perspectives for an American Audience Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:58:41 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: jon fick http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/30/created-in-china-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-2429 jon fick Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:58:44 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=14925#comment-2429 I do think about a time when governments will conduct themselves with the courage to realize critical is 'some' part of life,. the survival part, and both kids and comments are for commenting upon. I do think about a time when governments will conduct themselves with the courage to realize critical is ’some’ part of life,. the survival part, and both kids and comments are for commenting upon.

]]> By: Robert Charlton http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/30/created-in-china-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-2420 Robert Charlton Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:08:53 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=14925#comment-2420 >>Zhang Yimou has also choreographed the festivities that will mark tomorrow’s 60th anniversary of the rise to power of the Communist Party. All this sends a message, not unlike what the kids get in school — if you want to be creative and make money from it, it doesn’t hurt to do it in the Party’s embrace.<< And what does it take to be creative in film in this country? While it's reassuring that Mary Kay Migistad notes that even great film artists in China, like Zhang Yimou, need to make bargains with the system in China in order to create, it's also discouraging that her critical thinking skills (I assume acquired in the US) didn't prompt her to take this one step further... to ask what kinds of bargains American film artists need to make with the system here in order to make movies. If we look at our own values in that light, Hollywood's corporate-controlled and mostly mindless output is not at all reassuring. >>Zhang Yimou has also choreographed the festivities that will mark tomorrow’s 60th anniversary of the rise to power of the Communist Party. All this sends a message, not unlike what the kids get in school — if you want to be creative and make money from it, it doesn’t hurt to do it in the Party’s embrace.<<

And what does it take to be creative in film in this country?

While it's reassuring that Mary Kay Migistad notes that even great film artists in China, like Zhang Yimou, need to make bargains with the system in China in order to create, it's also discouraging that her critical thinking skills (I assume acquired in the US) didn't prompt her to take this one step further… to ask what kinds of bargains American film artists need to make with the system here in order to make movies.

If we look at our own values in that light, Hollywood's corporate-controlled and mostly mindless output is not at all reassuring.

]]> By: Patrick http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/30/created-in-china-part-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-2418 Patrick Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:59:08 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=14925#comment-2418 What is interesting about this report is the tacit praise it gives the U.S. et al system of education. But we are no better than the illiberal Party: we want people who will discover the next new technology but who will not critique the status quo very loudly. One great option for the American free-thinker is to reify himself into the system as a sanctioned dissenter: a humanities professor at any number of institutions of so-called liberal education, where the innovations of health insurance and job security will provide him with a comfortable place from which to make money by pointing out flaws that he originally came up with by thinking critically. What is interesting about this report is the tacit praise it gives the U.S. et al system of education. But we are no better than the illiberal Party: we want people who will discover the next new technology but who will not critique the status quo very loudly. One great option for the American free-thinker is to reify himself into the system as a sanctioned dissenter: a humanities professor at any number of institutions of so-called liberal education, where the innovations of health insurance and job security will provide him with a comfortable place from which to make money by pointing out flaws that he originally came up with by thinking critically.

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