Cinema, mídia e soft power: o 17º Congresso Nacional do Partido Comunista Chinês (2007) enquanto marco do papel do cinema na projeção global da política externa

Abstract

The present work aims to study the role of cinema as a political instrument through the analysis of the relationship between the Chinese government and the film industry in its own country. Bearing in mind that, since China's rise on the international scene at the beginning of the 21st century, the Chinese government has sought to use its culture and cinema as soft power instruments. The methodological option to support such reflection is constituted through a literature review, mainly based on the contributions Nye (1990; 2004; 2005) and Gilboa (2001). It starts from the premise that although the Chinese government of Deng Xiaoping (1978-1992) has in fact invested in expanding its image to foreign countries, the problems existing within the country itself, especially state censorship, hinder local productions that seek to express the reflections and feelings of Chinese citizens who find themselves in a marginalized position. Although Chinese growth has provided the opportunity for expansion of the communication market, even enabling action in national and international productions and the purchase of major film producers, the government's conflicting relations with the arts that do not carry out positive propaganda in relation to the country ends up masking the relations between the rulers and its own population.