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For a few weeks now one of the most successful films in Chinese cinemas is Born to Flyan action story set among Chinese Air Force pilots that reminded many Western viewers and critics of the Top Gun: in Born to Fly instead of Tom Cruise is one of the most famous Chinese actors, Wang Yibo.
For some time in China, cinema has been an instrument of cultural policy used for popularizing patriotic type templates and icons. Among the large Chinese productions of recent years there are numerous examples, which mainly concern historical films or action films: in addition to Born to Fly they must be remembered The Battle of Lake Changjinwhich focused on the Chinese intervention in the Korean War against the United States, and the franchise Wolf Warriorwhich is about a Chinese special forces soldier forced to fight against Western mercenaries.
Born to Fly it is full of references to contemporary China and above all to the image that China wants to give of itself, internally and to the world. The story is about an air force pilot of the Chinese Air Force who is reassigned to an elite squadron, whose job is to test the jets of the Chinese Air Force. Pushing himself to the maximum of his possibilities, the protagonist pilot must collect the data necessary to perfect a new fighter aircraft in which the Chinese armed forces are pinning all their hopes to defend the country from a foreign power that threatens the borders.
Just as 1980s US films were a hymn to Ronald Reagan-era values such as patriotism or the cult of strength, Born to Fly is an action film that celebrates the pride and determination of today’s China. But also to present the image of a country unjustly oppressed by an external enemy, superior in technology, arrogant and aggressive. The narrative arc therefore not only tells of the perseverance of the protagonist to carry out a mission to defend his country, but also of China’s revenge against a much more advanced and powerful enemy. The reference is clearly to the United States.
This storytelling is very clear in some points of the film, in which, for example, some English-speaking pilots grazing without any remorse attack Chinese fishermen or some workers on an offshore oil platform (a fairly clear reference to the disputed islands in the South China Sea, which China often claims in violation of international law). Before hurtling away from the old Chinese planes sent to counter their incursion, the English-speaking pilots arrogantly respond to radio signals begging them to leave the area under Chinese jurisdiction and say: “We come and go when we want”.
Yet at the center of the story is not the clash with what in all respects appear to be the United States. Because for most of the film the antagonist is not the enemy planes, but the technological delay of the Chinese aviation itself. The obstacle that the protagonists have to overcome is above all the backwardness of their aircraft compared to Western ones which make China vulnerable. Although the stakes are set by the aggressiveness of the foreigners, the narrative tension is built all around the efforts and sacrifices made by the pilots to provide the Chinese air force with the opportunity to develop increasingly modern technology to counter the enemy as an equal. even.
Western criticism she was highly critical of the film. Il Guardian a few days ago he wrote that it is nothing more than an imitation of the “stupid patriotism” of US action films of the 80s, moreover without the sense of humor present in Hollywood films. On the contrary, Born to Fly it would be a “constant politically motivated motivational speech about foreign powers trying to contain China and violate its seas”.
In China, however, the film had a different kind of reception. Released in theaters on Friday, April 29, Born to Fly got a excellent result of public. The first weekend grossed around €37 million and took first place in terms of sales. The launch date was not accidental as it coincided with the beginning of the long bridge on May 1st, during which the Chinese returned to travel and live normally after a year characterized by lockdowns and Covid. In the first two days, Chinese cinemas grossed around 110 million euros, marking one of the best weekends since the beginning of the year.
As shown by a study byEconomistChinese viewers over the past decade have developed a preference for films produced in their own country than those imported from the West. According to data obtainable from Douban (a Chinese social network for film enthusiasts), between 2010 and 2021 the share of Chinese films out of the total seen by users of the social network increased from 21% to 55% while that of films in English language dropped from 53% to 28%. In recent years, fewer and fewer Hollywood films manage to place themselves in the top 10 most watched films in China, also due to censorship that limits the number of foreign films that can be placed on the Chinese market.
China’s entertainment industry and cultural policy are undergoing profound changes. Today, Chinese productions work increasingly closely with the Communist Party’s propaganda organs, and in recent years, patriotic films have become a central element of the Chinese film season.
“Telling China’s stories well” has been one of the slogans that has accompanied the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping since 2013. Xi wants to promote a new narrative of the country, its identity and its history. In the president’s view, the ideological security that guarantees the survival of the party must also pass through the affirmation of one’s “discursive power”, i.e. from the ability to consolidate a narrative of China on the rise and increasingly self-confident to counter that made by the West.
These increasingly propaganda films are also gaining a large public acceptance. In 2021 The Battle of Lake Changjin beat the box-office record in the history of Chinese cinema, especially among young people, causing a lot of online interest in the generation that built the People’s Republic of China between the 1940s and 1950s. Until then, the box office dominates were dramas or comedies.