Netflix Is Now In China Via a Deal With iQiyi (techcrunch.com)

randomErr writes: Last year, Netflix tried to go into China but ran into regulatory issues. So Netflix has entered into a licensing deal with iQiyi. iQiyi was founded in 2010 by Baidu in a very similar way that Google owns YouTube. What Netflix content will be shown and how the subscription service will work has yet to be announced.

Comments

Re:How the fuck do you pronounce "iQiyi"?

[gsmb]

in Chinese, it sounds like this: ee, chee, yee

Culture wars are coming

[Baron_Yam]

We're already having the opening skirmishes - you can see it in Hollywood where they're tailoring productions to be Chinese-friendly. Rewrite anything the Communist Party of China might find offensive before the script is considered complete, make sure the dialogue translates well.

But imagine a future in which all media is fully available (after the government censors apply their filters). Imagine you have a choice of seeing a Chinese movie (made in English for foreign consumption) over an American or British one, and the viewing fee is 90% lower. You go for it, the movie's fine... but without you even realizing it, you're absorbing Chinese culture. Their values, their imagery, fawning over their stars. Maybe even displacing your own.

Sounds like a silly thing to be concerned about, but on long enough time scales (like generations) that kind of propaganda works wonders, especially when it subtly presents their way as better. Sure, we're doing the same to them, but who has the bigger population, who can crank out new product for less money, more frequently?

I'm all for cultures mixing - picking up the best each has to offer and excising their own worst in the process - but if the flow is too one-sided that's not what happens. You get their best and worst replacing yours.

Something to think about, anyway.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

We're already having the opening skirmishes - you can see it in Hollywood where they're tailoring productions to be Chinese-friendly. Rewrite anything the Communist Party of China might find offensive before the script is considered complete, make sure the dialogue translates well.

But imagine a future in which all media is fully available (after the government censors apply their filters). Imagine you have a choice of seeing a Chinese movie (made in English for foreign consumption) over an American or British one, and the viewing fee is 90% lower. You go for it, the movie's fine... but without you even realizing it, you're absorbing Chinese culture. Their values, their imagery, fawning over their stars. Maybe even displacing your own.

Sounds like a silly thing to be concerned about, but on long enough time scales (like generations) that kind of propaganda works wonders, especially when it subtly presents their way as better. Sure, we're doing the same to them, but who has the bigger population, who can crank out new product for less money, more frequently?

I'm all for cultures mixing - picking up the best each has to offer and excising their own worst in the process - but if the flow is too one-sided that's not what happens. You get their best and worst replacing yours.

Something to think about, anyway.

And the world outside USA says "Go on, tell us more". Hollywood has been giving us overt US propaganda since the second world war...

Re: Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

The muslims here are trying to kill our culture.

Problem is, they are succeeding.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Ryanrule]

China doesn't allow weed. No serious entertainment industry.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Your model also introduces a subtle bias into the minds of children: it will teach them that Chinese culture is worth less than American culture, since they only see it in cheaper movies.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[InfiniteZero]

Well that's how the "free" market is supposed to work. If they win out in the end, who are we to judge their culture isn't the better one? Food for thought, anyway.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Baron_Yam]

>And the world outside USA says "Go on, tell us more". Hollywood has been giving us overt US propaganda since the second world war...

As a Canadian, I'm somewhat aware of that, and in fact that's what led to my post in the first place.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think it's so much that Hollywood is tailoring their productions to be Chinese friendly. Rather Hollywood has started learning to make their shows relatively acultural such that the movie can be exported worldwide, and audiences of all cultures can watch and understand what's going on, without having much knowledge about American culture or jokes.

That's why all the movies these days are all about special effects, and superheroes. Every culture can understand what's going on, therefore they are extremely export friendly.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Hollywood has been giving us overt US propaganda since the second world

Really? All they've been giving the US is left-wing propaganda about gays and minorities.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

As a non-American, here are some things to take away from Hollywood movies:

Russians are in general evil or criminals or both. Chinese people are largely irrelevant, and Indian people are incompetent (and have funny accents). White people are always the smartest, especially the men. Women are a trophy for a job well done. The US will always lead the world if there is a crisis, and they'll also come up with all the good plans. There is no better person than the average American soldier. Smoking means you're evil (and likely a terrorist or mobster), and torture gets great results. Gay people's existence should be acknowledged as funny or not at all. Being French means you're soft, being British makes you smart. African people, and black people in general, will murder the crap out of you.

All the liberal, much good.

Re:Culture wars are coming

[CindyFahnestock-Scha]

Netflix is more user friendly now with Comcast cable in the USA. Are they owned by one another? Ironically the search function is integrated with Comcast. So you search for a favorite movie to watch, and you think you are searching Comcast, but the "Ways to Watch" comes up telling you to watch on Netflix. At which time you must order the subscription. I am tending to think they are integrated and taking over the world. Maybe I am just this old, but television used to be free.

Re: Culture wars are coming

[Anonymous Coward]

How many mudslime shows do you watch? They are taking over the real world, not your screen.

Eye Qi Eye Aye

[Megahard]

I am the Frito Bandito

Netflix and chill gets a completely new meaning

[fubarrr]

When can we expect free Marxism lectures there?

Re:Netflix and chill gets a completely new meaning

[jandersen]

When can we expect free Marxism lectures there?

Not any time soon, but you don't need them. Whether you believe it or not, you get practical lessons in what Marx wrote every day, from the rich, privileged, global upper class who sit on everything and control power from behind the scenes. Marx didn't think up a huge, revolutionary idea out of the blue - he wrote about what everybody could observe, and those same things are still clearly visible today. And before you jeer back at me, think about this: I'm not asking you to believe my words, I only hope that you will look around you with an open mind and make up your own opinion without fear. I feel strongly that you will reach the same conclusions as I did - and Marx, for that matter.

Re:How the fuck do you pronounce "iQiyi"?

[gsmb]

correction, sounds like; eye, chee, yee