Devoted to show business and the entertainment industry

Photo:Greg Baker/Associated Press

If you are at all aware of the movie business in China, you know that the country is schizoprenic in its treatment of the motion picture industry.

One moment they allow a release and the next minute they shut it down with no real explanation. Given the unpredictable nature of the Chinese authorities, why does Hollywood persist in pursuing the market?

Stanley Rosen, political science professor and the director of USC's East Asian Studies Center offers several reasons:

First, with the rapid expansion of the economy and the rise of a middle class with disposable income, the vast potential of the Chinese market continues to beckon.

Second, Hollywood studios view China as an increasingly participatory stakeholder in the international system, one that, given time, will begin to follow the rules.

Third, with the construction of many new state-of-the-art theaters in China, there is the expectation that blackout periods will become less justifiable; eventually there will be sufficient venues for both domestic and Hollywood films.

Fourth, a number of studios have begun to pursue co-productions with Chinese partners as a means of gaining greater market access and avoiding the restrictions that afflict standard Hollywood releases.

Finally, most of the major American players in China's film business do not view the Chinese market primarily in terms of the exhibition of theatrical films. Their interests are far broader, including theme parks, infrastructural development and the provision of technological expertise.

All of these are legitimate reasons, on the side of why there is this continuous change in china's procedures, I think its related to both being propagandists. You've seen relationships where people don't like each other at all, and how many times it's related to being so much alike. I think that's a part of what's happening here. In propaganda they're both experts and they're circling around each other trying to figure out how to outdo each other and get the upper hand.