爱华网
《赤色黎明 RedDawn》是好莱坞1984年的战争片，讲述的是科罗拉多一个小城遭受苏联侵略，一些中学生带头抵抗的故事。2008年米高梅公司宣布重拍此片，该片于次年在密西根的小城Mount Clemens拍摄。本来准备2010年11月放映，但米高梅的财务危机和中国民众的抗议，使得该片没有按时进入剧场。
当时在纽约，就有一帮华人组成反赤色黎明联盟，并要起诉制作方。
不过今天去看这个电影（21日全美首映），就如预期的一样，其中中国入侵美国华盛顿州斯波堪（Spokan)的场景已经变成了北朝鲜空降美国实行占领统治的情节。
美国的发行制作发行公司不得不考虑中国抗议的因素，中国的市场对好莱坞太重要，是否有必要为了一个片子把自己在中国的市场前途牺牲掉，这是他们不得不顾及的。
其实这个重新拍摄的电影有点烂，情节简单，没什么艺术价值，甚至娱乐性也不强。但终于中国没有被妖魔化，代替中国受过的是北朝鲜。如果说中国和美国之间相互不信任和误解是两国关系的最大障碍，这个电影主题的变换让中美关系躲过一劫。但美朝之间的误解其实更深，这个电影只能让美国人对朝鲜更多歧视。电影也包括了金正恩的场面，可谓与时俱进。
电影中讲到的整个西部电网受到攻击而瘫痪，无非让人联想到今天美国盛行的网络攻击的舆论。
一般来说，好莱坞电影只是娱乐，我们应一笑而过，不要太当真，不能气量太小。我们应该反思自己为何不能拍一个《中国沉没》《中国被XX入侵》的科幻片，估计有关部门受不了。
可惜的是很多走进影院的美国观众并不是把《红色黎明》当娱乐，而让这部“爱国片”真正洗了脑，热血沸腾。这就是《赤色黎明》令人担忧之处。其实《红色黎明》中确实用了一些爱国的词“对他们来说，这只是一个地方，对我们来说这是家(For them, it's just a place, for us, it'shome)。这样简单普通的爱国语言在我们国内根本就算不上豪言状语，如何也得提炼升华一下。这也是中国和美国爱国宣传的不同之处。
我不知到北朝鲜是否对此片进行了严重抗议，抗议对他们的伟大领袖和伟大的军队的污蔑，不过金正恩据说是好莱坞电影迷，估计也会看一下。
Remake of Red Dawn breeds hatred
By Chen Weihua
If Hollywood action movies are meant to entertain, the remakeof the 1984 movie Red Dawn, which hit cinemas across the UnitedStates on November 21, is a huge disappointment in everyway.
Compared to many Hollywood blockbusters, Red Dawn, producedwith a $65 million budget, looks cheaply made. The mundane plot,poor acting and low technology of the movie simply mean it is awaste of time and money for viewers.
No wonder Rotten Tomatoes,a film review aggregator, gaveRed Dawn only 11 percent inapproval ratings based on99 reviews, among the lowest forrecently released movies.
But that is not reallymy point.
The movie is unentertainingbecause of the premise: troopsfrom the DPRK are invadingSpokan in the northwest USstate of Washington. After amysterious power outage strikesthe city one night, thelocals wake up the nextmorning to find DPRKparatroopers landing on theirstreets, tanks rolling. Severallocal high school graduates leada resistance movement againstthe invaders.
As a Chinese viewer, Ididn't feel any sense ofrelief because the invading armywas from the DPRK insteadof the originally plannedChinese. Distrust and misunderstandingbetween the US and NorthKorea are much worse thanthe mistrust between the USand China.
Such a movie underminesthe hard work of so manypeople trying to build bridgesand boost mutual understanding betweenthese nations and peoples. InChina's case, it is theChinese students studying in theUS, the US students studyingin China, the US governmentplans to send 100,000 USstudents to China; the ConfuciusInstitutes that help people inthe US learn Mandarin andunderstand Chinese culture, andnon-governmental organizations such asthe National Committee on UnitedStates-China Relations that hasdevoted decades of hard workto facilitate understanding betweenthe two peoples.
Such a movie bodes illfor regional and world peaceand therefore should not betaken lightly.
I still remember in early2010, a few months after myarrival in New York, agroup of Chinese, known asthe Anti-Red Dawn League,protested vehemently againstMGM's plan to remake RedDawn, which would feature afictional invasion of the USby the People's LiberationArmy. The public outcry forcedMGM to have second thoughts,for fear of losing thelucrative Chinese market, estimatedat $2.1 billion in 2011 andgrowing fast.
You may claim Chinesepeople lack a sense ofhumor. Yet if you studymodern Chinese history, it isnot hard to figure outwhy Chinese people are sensitiveabout foreign invasion, humiliationand demonization.
This is probably why Chinahas not yet made a movielike Independence Day, or JapanSinks. Hollywood, on the otherhand, has produced numerousmovies wiping out New YorkCity by tornado, flood, asnow storm or aliens. Wouldit be less offensive ifthe invading troops wereCanadian, the US' friendlyneighbors to the north? TheCanadians probably wouldn't behappy either.
What is also troubling isthat Red Dawn was clearlyremade with the aim ofarousing patriotism among Americans.Just listen to the maincharacter: "For them, this isjust some place; for us,this is home. We inheritedour freedom, now it's upto all of us to fightfor it."
These are merely Cold Warslogans. The original Red Dawn,made in 1984 during the ColdWar, told a similar storyabout a small town inColorado being invaded by Sovietand Cuban armies.
Movies like Red Dawn,which breed enmity amongpeoples, should never be madein the first place, letalone remade.
