As if we don’t have enough crap in the world to worry about. Chemical attacks in Syria, the prospect of a slip back down into an even more severe global recession, and ____________________________ (insert some stupid joke about the recent VMAs here because I’m kinda serious and don’t have the stomach to directly do so).
Now folks have to concern themselves about what the Chinese Army thinks about Pacific Rim which, in case you haven’t heard, is a movie about HUGE ROBOTS VERSUS GIGANTIC MONSTERS FROM THE DEEP.
Apparently the location of the battles between the huge robots and gigantic monsters from the deep is source of heartburn for People’s Liberation Army Daily author Zhang Jieli, who wrote:
“The decisive battle against the monsters was deliberately set in the South China Sea adjacent to Hong Kong. The intention was to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to maintaining stability in the Asia-Pacific area and saving mankind. Soldiers should sharpen their eyes and enforce a ‘firewall’ to avoid ideological erosion when watching American movies.”
Some or most of this statement is rooted in the fact that Beijing doesn’t get along too well with many of its South China Sea neighbors. There is also some major static between the U.S. and China as the States are moving 60% of their naval assets to the Pacific over the remainder of the decade.
For these reasons, Jieli claims that Pacific Rim “exported the U.S.’s rebalancing of its Asia-Pacific strategy” to Chinese and global audiences.
Me? I really think Pacific Rim would have been of no consequence to the People’s Liberation Army had the film not earned over $100M in China so far. Looks like common folk and soldiers alike aren’t heeding the call to “sharpen their eyes.”
I’m done shaking my head now. Does this guy even know who directed Pacific Rim? To use a popular internet acronym, smh. IT’S A MOVIE! This isn’t up there with 2001 and Kubrick’s fake moon landing conspiracy or anything, but c’mon. It’s monsters and robots, people!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
