Games

You think the CCP hasn't been stuffing propaganda into literally everything it could for your entire life?

Since the early 2000s, main melody productions have been market-based shows singing mainstream tunes and glorifying the social and political lines that the CCP wants the public to value and imitate. It’s a broad list, from encouraging good behavior in public places to honoring the CCP’s past struggles, strengthening trust of current policies, or kindling patriotism and cultural confidence.

Over the past decade, the government has managed to harness the power of commercial studios and A-list talent to create increasing quality. Propaganda films have now topped the box office highest-grossing list in China each year for the past six years, and in 2022, the top three TV dramas with the highest TV ratings were all of this genre.

Until the late 1990s, main melody was the only melody. These films dominated cinemas, stoking patriotic fervor over China’s potential and implying that only the party could release it. But media commercialization meant competition for eyeballs—there was suddenly more choice on TV, and all sorts of commercial films were being imported from the West, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Today, online streaming and short-video apps heighten that competition even further.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/18/the-knockout-china-main-melody-films-tv-propaganda/