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Red Carpet
- Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
"This is a fascinating book. It will educate you. Schwartzel has done some extraordinary reporting." (The New York Times Book Review)
“In this highly entertaining but deeply disturbing book, Erich Schwartzel demonstrates the extent of our cultural thrall to China. His depiction of the craven characters, American and Chinese, who have enabled this situation represents a significant feat of investigative journalism. His narrative is about not merely the movie business, but the new world order.” *(Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon)
An eye-opening and deeply reported narrative that details the surprising role of the movie business in the high-stakes contest between the US and China
From trade to technology to military might, competition between the United States and China dominates the foreign policy landscape. But this battle for global influence is also playing out in a strange and unexpected arena: the movies.
The film industry, Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel explains, is the latest battleground in the tense and complex rivalry between these two world powers. In recent decades, as China has grown into a giant of the international economy, it has become a crucial source of revenue for the American film industry. Hollywood studios are now bending over backward to make movies that will appeal to China’s citizens - and gain approval from severe Communist Party censors. At the same time, and with America’s unwitting help, China has built its own film industry into an essential arm of its plan to export its national agenda to the rest of the world. The competition between these two movie businesses is a Cold War for this century, a clash that determines whether democratic or authoritarian values will be broadcast most powerfully around the world.
Red Carpet is packed with memorable characters who have - knowingly or otherwise - played key roles in this tangled industry web: not only A-list stars like Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Richard Gere but also eccentric Chinese billionaires, zany expatriate filmmakers, and starlets who disappear from public life without explanation or trace. Schwartzel combines original reporting, political history, and show-biz intrigue in an exhilarating tour of global entertainment, from propaganda film sets in Beijing to the boardrooms of Hollywood studios to the living rooms in Kenya where families decide whether to watch an American or Chinese movie. Alarming, occasionally absurd, and wildly entertaining, Red Carpet will not only alter the way we watch movies but also offer essential new perspective on the power struggle of this century.
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Critic reviews
“Red Carpet sketches out a frightening pattern in US-China trade relations . . . A fine book.” —Orville Schell, The New York Review of Books
"Schwartzel tells the story of how Chinese investments in Hollywood and the Communist Party’s role in deciding what Chinese audiences could see swiftly inverted the power relationship between China and the United States in this immensely influential industry. . . . Schwartzel makes this story of big stars and big money a page-turner, but its implications are much larger.”—Foreign Affairs
“Red Carpet is the story of the nexus that formed when Hollywood realized it needed China’s cash, and China realized it could first manipulate—and then appropriate—Hollywood’s special gifts for enchantment, coercion, lifestyle control, and inducing audiences to tear up by means of orchestral swells and Tom Hanks talking earnestly to small children. . . . The two stories, the humbling of Hollywood and the swelling of Chinese soft power, twist and combine across Schwartzel’s masterfully organized book. . . . This is a fascinating book. It will educate you. Schwartzel has done some extraordinary reporting, and a lot of legwork.”—The New York Times Book Review
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- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
- By: Evan Osnos
- Narrated by: Evan Osnos, George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.
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Come back when you have a warrant!
- By Neuron on 11-06-15
By: Evan Osnos
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Age of Cage
- Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career
- By: Keith Phipps
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicolas Cage is many things, but love him, or laugh at him, there's no denying two things: You've seen one of his many films, and you certainly know his name. But who is he, really, and why has his career endured for over 40 years, with more than a hundred films, and birthed a million memes? Age of Cage is a smart, beguiling book about the films of Nicolas Cage and the actor himself, as well as a sharp-eyed examination of the changes that have taken place in Hollywood over the course of his career.
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Excellent filmography of a successful career
- By Pamela Plimpton on 04-04-22
By: Keith Phipps
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Sidney Poitier
- Man, Actor, Icon
- By: Aram Goudsouzian
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first full biography of actor Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian analyzes the life and career of a Hollywood legend, from his childhood in the Bahamas to his 2002 Oscar for lifetime achievement. Poitier is a gifted actor, a great American success story, an intriguing personality, and a political symbol; his life and career illuminate America's racial history.
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The Man, the Star, the Lightning Rod
- By Susie on 01-28-13
By: Aram Goudsouzian
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Steve McQueen
- A Biography
- By: Marc Eliot
- Narrated by: Marc Eliot
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and '70s with now-classics such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Bullit, Steve McQueen is renowned as one of the most exciting actors ever to come out of Hollywood. Now, in Steve McQueen: A Biography, best-selling author Marc Eliot gives unique insight into McQueen's life, from his films to his three marriages, many affairs, and struggles with addictions.
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Snooze
- By Cill on 10-27-11
By: Marc Eliot
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The Fifties
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the 10 years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon; but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; and more.
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one of the very best
- By Chester Chellman on 09-25-18
By: David Halberstam
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Pictures at a Revolution
- Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde - and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood and America forever.
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Would It Be Too Much To Ask?
- By Casey Keller on 12-31-08
By: Mark Harris
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The Invention of Russia
- From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War
- By: Arkady Ostrovsky
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The end of Communism and breakup of the Soviet Union was a time of euphoria around the world, but Russia today is violently anti-American and dangerously nationalistic. So how did we go from the promise of those days to the autocratic police state of Putin's new Russia? The Invention of Russia reaches back to the darkest days of the Cold War to tell the story of the fight for the soul of a nation.
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Sad Story of Russia's Abandonment of Liberalism
- By Amazon Customer on 10-03-16
By: Arkady Ostrovsky
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The King of Content
- Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire
- By: Keach Hagey
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Sumner Murray Redstone, once feared as the “mad genius” of media who would dump his CEOs for mere wobbles in his companies’ stock price, had built one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers constructed to ensure that he always maintained control. Today he controls 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, meaning that on a whim he could replace the entire boards of two public companies with a combined value of $40 billion.
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Feels biased. Well researched, but not engaging.
- By Anonymous User on 04-03-19
By: Keach Hagey
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Street Gang
- The Complete History of Sesame Street
- By: Michael Davis
- Narrated by: Caroll Spinney
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
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When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries. Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark.
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An important subject, but hardly gripping
- By Scott T. Hards on 09-24-10
By: Michael Davis
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Vanishing Frontiers
- The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together
- By: Andrew Selee
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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There may be no story today with a wider gap between fact and fiction than the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Through portraits of business leaders, migrants, chefs, movie directors, police officers, and media and sports executives, Andrew Selee looks at this emerging Mexico, showing how it increasingly influences our daily lives in the United States in surprising ways - the jobs we do, the goods we consume, and even the new technology and entertainment we enjoy.
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A mandatory read, now more than ever
- By Haydon Hill on 08-04-19
By: Andrew Selee
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The Mirage Factory
- Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California - bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges - seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland. Then, as if overnight, one of the world’s iconic cities emerged. At the heart of Los Angeles’ meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland, an immigrant ditch-digger turned self-taught engineer; D.W. Griffith, who transformed the motion picture from a vaudeville-house novelty into a cornerstone of American culture; and Aimee Semple McPherson, a charismatic evangelist.
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Great start, weak completion
- By steve on 05-11-21
By: Gary Krist
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Seinfeldia
- How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.
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This bad narration is making me thirsty...
- By Audio Gra Gra on 10-06-16
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The Billionaire Raj
- A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age
- By: James Crabtree
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In megacities like Mumbai, where half the population live in slums, the extraordinary riches of India’s new dynasties echo the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of yesterday. James Crabtree’s The Billionaire Raj takes listeners on a personal journey to meet these reclusive billionaires, fugitive tycoons, and shadowy political power brokers. Crabtree dramatizes the battle between crony capitalists and economic reformers, revealing a tense struggle between equality and privilege playing out against a combustible backdrop of aspiration, class, and caste.
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Engaging, authors politics could be reduced
- By Chris on 06-17-23
By: James Crabtree
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The Collaboration
- Hollywood's Pact with Hitler
- By: Ben Urwand
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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To continue doing business in Germany, Hollywood studios agreed not to make films attacking Nazis or condemning persecution of Jews. Ben Urwand reveals this collaboration and the cast of characters it drew in, ranging from Goebbels to Louis B. Mayer. At the center was Hitler himself - obsessed with movies and their power to shape public opinion.
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Making mountains out of molehills
- By M. S. Cohen on 11-05-13
By: Ben Urwand
What listeners say about Red Carpet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brad
- 07-24-22
Scary but excellent
Outstanding book on the impact China is having on the worldwide entertainment business. A must read for anyone in the business.
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- netisdgasaer2352sdgav
- 04-15-22
The Chinese name pronunciations bother me a lot
The overall narration is great. Just when the narrator says Chinese names I have a hard time understanding who that is. I am a Mandarin speaker, can't relate to those names really bothers me.
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- Brandon
- 04-29-22
A timely piece
A comprehensive, entertaining, and fairly alarming piece at a time of increasingly fraught global relations.
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- Philip Savva
- 02-14-22
The ingenui grasps for the Star
What America (gangsters controlling govt) said thru the Dallas (Dulles) Bros. "We bring modernization!" Chinese are bringing the real thing to those cheated by Dalles Bros. of America.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rhino
- 02-25-22
This explains so much!
This is a very informative book that reads as if tons of research went into it.
It also opened my eyes to the workings and real desires of Hollywood, and has forever changed the way I will view movies in the future. Great listen!
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- William J Brown
- 02-12-22
Excellent, complete, timely
An outstanding review of the history of Chinese cinema, the influences on it and motivations of Hollywood, and the recent schism steeped in nationalism and party orthodoxy that’s set up the rejection of Disney’s ‘Eternals’ and Sony’s otherwise smash hit, ‘Spider-Man: Never Going Home’ (which due to publication date are not discussed explicitly, which is unfortunate due to how relevant the incidents are). I believe that much of Disney’s rationale for buying 20th Century Fox was likely presupposed on future access to China for films like ‘Avatar 2 (3, 4, 5 etc), and now, all of that isn’t just at risk, but likely preordained at this point to not be something that can be counted upon. Meanwhile, attendance at Shanghai Disneyland apparently has never come close to 17-18 million annual guests, and guests have complained that the experience is far too expensive. There’s a great discussion about how Disney over 25 years had to alter its playbook of “Disney Channel”, then “plus toys”, then “movies”, and only then “theme park”, which it ultimately gladly embraced to get into the market (and for Iger and his senior executives to hit their multimillion dollar bonuses), but longer term seems foolhardy and predictably defective, as Chinese consumers appear to have little connection to any of the characters. It seems hard to see a bright future for big US studios in this market, particularly Warner Bros.
I do wish that the author had perhaps provided more data on China vs non-China box office, and perhaps gotten more off the record sourcing from ex-Disney execs who could have shared more of the concessions and mechanizations from behind the scenes.
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- wildaboutharry
- 01-07-23
if you love movies
I thought this was fascinating. love reading about movies, this tells a very scary tale of how much China has come to influence the world. really by copying the Hollywood/USA playbook
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- Pasternak
- 03-11-22
Why modern cinema is a comic experience.
Seen one too many Marvel Comic movies? Do you recall seeing films by directors Hitchcock, Fellini, Kubrick, Coppola, Satyajit Ray in a movie theater? Are you beginning to wonder if this sort of filmic storytelling is a thing of the past? Wonder why Scorsese believes the movie biz is killing cinema? Then listen to this we’ll-read and deeply informative audiobook.
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- Curtis
- 03-20-22
Enlightening
Great perspective/ take on the fight for cultural supremacy between US and China (worlds 1 & 2 GDP).
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- AB3
- 08-30-22
Money, the root of all evils…
Nothing in this book is or should be a surprise. Unless you’re born after 200 and or have not paid attention to world events over the last few decades. Bottom line: short term profits at the expense of the soul of America.
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