The Issue: Movies made to please foreign governments so as to gain access to their markets.
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I find it ironic that an article in The Post would complain about business decisions an industry makes to increase profits (“Shanghaied,” Kyle Smith, PostScript, Aug. 4).
Every day, private companies that do business with entities in China decide not to offend Chinese culture or its government’s policies because doing so would be detrimental to business.
If my business is creating and selling computer software, why would I criticize the government of my potential client for its policies regarding human rights?
My business is software, not politics, and I shouldn’t stick my nose into something that is not my business.
The business of Hollywood is making movies. As long as the movie in question is fiction, there is nothing wrong with deciding to paint your potential clients in a better light to increase business.
Thomas Poling
Frederick, Md.
One very important person did get the word out about the monster that was Adolf Hitler.
Because Charlie Chaplin owned his own studio, he did not kowtow to the Hollywood moguls. He definitely marched to his own drummer.
Chaplin’s hilarious movie “The Great Dictator” mocked Hitler and Joseph Stalin for what they were: clowns.
We see little written about Chaplin’s significant influence for good.
Some say he was communist. I say not — just a boy from nothing to a man of substance who wanted the world’s poor and unfortunate to be cared for and not left behind. Teresa Mills
Virginia Beach, Va.