Censorship - firearms and films

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct39t0 is a recent episode of The Inquiry on BBC  World Service.

It  was about why people in China were not allowed to see the latest Spiderman film and what this means for Hollywood.

This year China became the biggest market for cinema. This means half a film's takings will come from people watching and buying films there. So Spiderman lost half its potential takings

The Inquiry said that Spiderman was banned in China because Spiderman, the hero,  was swinging on the Statue of Liberty, symbol of America. It was too patriotically American and Chinese censors didn't approve. 

With Spiderman, Sony didn't back down

However profit is important to those investing in Hollywood - making money is a very large part of the American Dream and it is becoming more and more common for films to be censored at their inception, or not even made at all if it's thought they will not be shown in China. For example anything featuring Tibet.

There might be wider implications. The program suggested an unpopular theme might be an individual or small group challenging authority. So in future films might not be made because they are too patriotic, put America in a good light, show that oppression can be overcome.

What will this mean for American film goers, if their country cannot be portayed in a positive way, incase that will not make money in China?

Would pursuit of capitalism mean ditching patriotism? 

Unrelated to this program, and regarding Americans' right to own semi automatic weapons, it has been argued by those in favour of increasing gun control after the terrible deaths recently, that the NRA is unwilling because gun sellers are worried about the loss in sales if there are potential customers banned from buying. They would prefer to increase sales by having teaching staff trained and bearing weapons. 

They refer to their Right to bear arms. That the arms originally intended were not able to murder so many children in so short a time is irrelevent. That's progress.

So, if these are both true, people growing up in America will no longer see positive messages about their country in their films, while being able to buy increasingly lethal weapons. 

Films are censored for money, the right of children to be safe is censored for money

Perhaps being free to make money might not be the most important part of being Free