Pacific Rim Spreads the Word, and It's Not Peace

Published in PLA Daily
(China) on 23 August 2013
by Zhang Jieli (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Nathan Hsu. Edited by Rachel Smith.
Lately, the American sci-fi blockbuster "Pacific Rim" has been heating up the box office. The movie is hardly groundbreaking; it retains the same hackneyed plot of the American warrior saving the world in the face of disaster, is produced with the same computer-generated imagery and 3-D technology, and incorporates the same exaggeratedly epic scenes of which the thrills are all bark and no bite. However, the U.S. strategy toward Asia and the Pacific reflected within the movie warrants deeper contemplation.

Just as she is on the verge of being swallowed by a monster, the Japanese girl Mako is saved by an American mecha pilot. Under the tutelage of the American, she also becomes a mecha pilot, and after defeating the monsters, embraces her injured American partner and tearfully implores "don't go," bringing to mind the real-world alliance between the U.S. and Japan. To fight the monsters, the U.S. once again steps into the role of the Earth's savior and world police, capitalizing on the situation to deploy multiple mecha units around the Pacific and persuade nations to expend vast sums of money on the construction of a 300-meter-high defensive wall along their coasts. After the failure of the mecha program and the subsequent loss of troops and financial support from its European allies, the U.S. then enlists the aid of several Pacific island nations.

The decisive battle to defeat the monsters once and for all is "cleverly" set in the South China Sea just outside of Hong Kong. The U.S. mecha pilot defends Hong Kong, stabilizes Asia and the Pacific, and saves humanity. The Americans apply themselves to the task of researching the monsters and saving humanity, while in Chinese Hong Kong, a booming trade emerges in food, medicine and curios made from the meat, skin, organs and bones of the otherworldly invaders. Even the roly-poly parasites taken from the carcasses of the monsters become a delicacy as the diminution and tarnishing of China's image goes on.

Hollywood has always been America's best propaganda mill, and its sympathy for U.S. strategy runs bone deep. Many major Hollywood productions are meticulous in their selection of material, doing their utmost to promote American values and U.S. global strategy. For example, “Ice Age” seized upon the globally contentious issue of climate change, “Die Another Day” vilified and denigrated North Korea as the "axis of evil" and “Lord of War” used the contest between the U.S. and Russia to be the world's largest arms dealer as a backdrop. U.S. blockbusters not only siphon billions of dollars from China every year, but even more frightening is that they secretly implant Western values in the younger generation of Chinese. Just as former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it, "what's most important is teaching Chinese youth to think using American values and act using American systems and rules."*

From this, we can see that the subject matter, plot, filming locations, protagonists and other choices in "Pacific Rim" remain true to typical Hollywood style, holding a tacit synchronicity with present U.S. strategy toward Asia and the Pacific. What the monsters truly represent need not be explained.

Today, the exchanging, intermixing and clashing of all manner of ideas and cultures across the globe is becoming increasingly frequent. These battles within international thought and culture are deeply complex. Some in the West see China's rise in power as a challenge to their values and systems, and have redoubled their efforts to permeate thought and culture in our country, sparing no expense to disseminate this "hidden propaganda." Both officers and the rank and file must sharpen their vision, erect staunch ideological firewalls and learn to view American films from multiple perspectives. Most importantly, we must prepare in advance to overcome the gravest of potential threats, expand and deepen our military's battle readiness, heighten our war-fighting and war-winning capabilities, and resolutely defend our national sovereignty, security and developmental interests.

*Editor's note: While accurately translated, this quote could not be verified.


最近,美国科幻大片《环太平洋》正在热映。还是灾难面前美国勇士挽救世界的老套剧情,还是电脑合成加3D动画的制作手法,还是有惊无险刺激夸张的宏大场面,没有多少新看点,但片中折射的美国亚太战略值得深思。

在怪兽吞噬的危急时刻,美国机甲战士解救了日本女孩麻子,麻子在美国人的调教下后来也成了一名机甲战士,打败怪兽后抱着负伤的美国搭档,动情地说“我不想让你离开”,让人想起现实中的美日同盟。为对付怪兽,美国再次扮演救世主和世界警察,借机在环太平洋部署多支机甲部队,说服各国耗巨资沿海修建高达300米的防御墙,在机甲计划失败、失去欧洲盟友的人力财力支持后,又拉上一些环太平洋岛国。

彻底打败怪兽的关键一役,被“巧妙”地选在毗邻香港的南中国海。美国机甲战士保护了香港、稳定了亚太、拯救了人类。美国人忙着研究怪兽、拯救人类,但在中国香港,用怪兽的肉、皮、内脏、骨头制成的食品、药品、工艺品却卖得特火,甚至怪兽身上肥硕的寄生虫也成了舌尖上的美味,延续矮化、贬损中国形象的做派。

好莱坞从来都是美国最好的宣传机器,对美国战略的领会深入骨髓。好莱坞许多大片在选材上下足功夫,不遗余力地宣传美国的价值观和全球战略。比如,《冰河时代》抓住当时各国吵得不可开交的全球气候变化,《007之谁与争锋》将朝鲜描述为“邪恶轴心国”予以丑化侮辱,《战争之王》则以美俄争夺“全球最大军火贩子”的角逐为背景。美国大片不仅每年从中国吸走几十亿资金,更可怕的是给中国年轻一代悄悄植入西方价值观,正如美国前国务卿希拉里所讲的,“更重要的是让中国的年轻人学会用美国的价值观去思考、用美国的制度和规则去办事”。由此看来,这次《环太平洋》在题材、剧情、外景、主角等选择上延续了好莱坞的一贯风格,与美国当下的亚太战略不谋而合,怪兽到底是什么不言而喻。

当前,世界范围内各种思想文化交流交融交锋更加频繁,国际思想文化领域斗争深刻复杂,西方一些人把我国发展壮大视为对其价值观和制度模式的挑战,加紧对我国进行思想文化渗透,不惜血本做“看不见的宣传”。广大官兵要擦亮眼睛,筑牢意识形态“防火墙”,学会从多个角度去看美国大片。尤为重要的是,要未雨绸缪、思危图强,拓展和深化军事斗争准备,提高能打仗、打胜仗的能力,坚决捍卫国家主权、安全和发展利益。(作者单位:66075部队)
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