While Chinese films are great at action, they fall short of knowing how to pull off ideology

Simply put, nobody knows what it means to fight for ‘Truth, Justice, and the Chinese Way’

Until the Party okays subversive entertainment, moviegoers are stuck w/Hollywood heroism

As Batman v Superman attempts to barnstorm cinema box offices worldwide, including in China—now the world’s No. 2 movie marketplace—I’ve been watching a different kind of hero movie: Jian Bing Man.

This 2015 Chinese blockbuster isn’t exactly a superhero film. It’s a superhero parody film whose protagonist isn’t a billionaire playboy, but rather a comedian plagued with debt and scandal. To rescue his career, he shoots and stars in a movie about a superhero named for a Chinese street food staple akin to the crepe only just now breaking out on Western shores.

Unlike Warner Bros. and DC Comics’ Superman, Jian Bing Man fights not for “truth, justice, and the American way,” but rather for the hexie shehui, or “harmonious society,” former Chinese President Hu Jintao’s catchphrase for social order.

So is China taking a page from the world of the American comic book and finally making its own superheroes?

Well . . . not exactly.

Jian Bing Man is a fake superhero. He dupes Chinese celebrities into dangerous situations, swooping in to save them at the last minute for the benefit of a hidden camera. He’s hardly the Dark Knight guarding Gotham City. Maybe the guy just needs his own defense contractor and a better suit, but there’s a deeper question worth asking: can China do better than Jian Bing Man? Can Chinese filmmakers create a genuine, homegrown superhero, and not just a comedic parody of one?

Superhero narratives require two elements: action and ideology. Action is what superheroes do: they strive and fight. Ideology is why they do it. While Chinese films have mastered delivering the action the country’s swelling audience loves, they fall far short of knowing how to pull off ideology.

What is superhero ideology? With few exceptions, superheroes have been a predominantly American phenomenon. Their ideology reflects American values and embodies a typically American mindset. Well-known superheroes emerged with the spirit of their times—Superman during the Great Depression, Captain America with World War II, and Iron Man during the Vietnam War. Superheroes often instilled faith in the American system during trying times. And while using heroic figures to promote nationalist causes is not exclusive to the United States, American cinematic superheroes’ methods are unique.

Hollywood superheroes glamorize vigilantism; that’s what makes them distinct from regular heroes. Vigilantism presupposes that justice exists independently, apart from the state: Captain America fights for the idea of America, but not necessarily its sitting government. In order for such on-screen characters to gain traction, moviegoers must accept that individuals are the ultimate arbiters of right and wrong. The appeal of superheroes in American society stems partly from the nation’s celebration of individual rights, and from a culture that holds those who stand alone in the face of “injustice” (including that committed by a central government) in high esteem.

These ideas represent a challenge to contemporary China’s system of party-state governance. Chinese values are not American values, and a source of political legitimacy or power outside the Communist Party can be fundamentally subversive. While watching superheroes defend American cities in the absence of an effective American government might be okay, the same scenario in a Chinese context becomes problematic for officials in Beijing.

Just look at Transformers: Age of Extinction. As a Paramount Pictures co-production financed partly with money from the dedicated movie channel of China Central Television, the 2014 film included purposeful cuts to on-screen authorities declaring “the central government will defend Hong Kong at all costs” in order to co-opt the rescuing Autobots as comrades of the Party. In post-1949 China, the only acceptable “heroes” are those within the system—model soldier Lei Feng from the Cultural Revolution, Olympic athletes such as Liu Xiang, or even the top leaders Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping themselves, with their cults of personality. Even martial artists must toe the line. Genuine, independent heroes from the traditional wuxia canon rarely occur on mainland screens after 1949, existing in isolated snapshots of an imaginary past. Those that get close, such as IpMan, fight “pre-approved” opponents like the Japanese or conniving Westerners. Without an independent streak or contemporary significance, these figures are not true superheroes. Superheroes exist to do what the state cannot do, but if the state can do everything there’s no point to superheroes.