Communist China Promotes Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Movie

NSAI Songwriter-Artist of the Decade honoree Taylor Swift performs onstage during NSAI 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 20, 2022. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

Unlike most Western productions that the Chinese communist dictatorship stringently gatekeeps, the state-run Chinese outlet Global Times is actually promoting the viewing of pop star Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour film this week.

On Wednesday, the outlet praised the singer’s “unique appeal” and “unquestionable influence” and urged Chinese musicians to produce similar content at a higher quality.

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert movie is landing in Chinese cinemas this Sunday. That makes it a rare Western production the regime has deemed appropriate for a Chinese audience.

The regime strictly guards which American movies are allowed in Chinese cinemas while the Global Times often ridicules Hollywood films once they arrive in front of Chinese audiences. That was the case with “The Little Mermaid” and the fairly recent “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Both performed dismally at the Chinese box office.

That’s not to say they did well in the United States either. Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” sunk in comparison to its previous similar tentpole films while its latest “Indian Jones” installment had a lukewarm $60 million box office debut, according to Comscore numbers.

In contrast, Ms. Swift’s film is officially the highest-grossing concert movie of all time, breaking records with its $123 million opening weekend. It was also the first concert movie to remain No. 1 at the U.S. box office for two weeks.

Chinese Propaganda Promotes Viewing Domestic Movies

Typically, the Global Times and similar propaganda outlets urge Chinese audiences to support lower-quality Chinese-made movies, especially if they are communist propaganda pieces or shameless copies of American films. One example is 2023’s military action film “Born to Fly,” a limpid imitation of “Top Gun.” But the Global Times’ fawning over Ms. Swift is an exception in Chinese state media.

“Despite being shorter than the actual concert’s average duration of 3.5 hours, the film still fully captures the essence of the live performance,” the Global Times wrote.

“Taylor Swift’s unquestionable influence, with over 200 million record sales. globally and being Spotify’s most-streamed female artist, contributes to her brand advantage and convincing star power,” the review continued, saying that the film was “described by Western media as one of the most ambitious productions of the 21st century.”

Swift Has Routinely Obliged China

Ms. Swift has a history of accommodating regime-friendly Chinese audiences. In 2019, she visited China and performed at a gala for the e-commerce giant Alibaba in the middle of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and growing awareness of China’s genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in East Turkistan. The Global Times praised her then for her effective endorsement of business. Interestingly, Alibaba Pictures controls the Chinese rights for The Eras Tour.

The Global Times also lauded Ms. Swift as a “true queen” in 2020 for calling former President Donald Trump “racist.”

Ms. Swift has long supported liberal causes, from “climate change” to actively campaigning against President Trump, while the mainstream media savors her inclinations to those causes and her encouragement of the younger generation to vote. Some Democrats are counting on the fact that Ms. Swift’s massive pop culture appeal could sway next year’s presidential election in President Joe Biden’s favor.

While she promotes herself as a climate activist, the singer regularly uses her private jet to visit her boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Also known to criticize America’s patriarchal society, she’s thrown personal attacks at Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), labeling her “Trump in a wig.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Taylor Swift’s publicist for comment.