 Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via Associated Press) While it’s hardly the most significant consequence of the shift in the world order that accelerates today with Donald Trump’s swearing-in as president of the United States, I’ve been fascinated by the ways in which resurgent nationalism is having an impact on pop culture. The declining value of the pound as a result of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union is making it cheaper for American productions to shoot in the United Kingdom, because the dollar goes further. Now, Russia has taken a first major step toward limiting foreign ownership of video services such as Netflix and Google Play, which means that those companies would have to find Russian partners to take on 80 percent of their local operations. (Russia has done the same thing for other kinds of media companies.) And all of this comes in the year when China’s quota for the number of movies made overseas that it allows in the country is up for review. In other words, the very industry that made Trump a national figure rather than merely a regional real estate developer is undergoing a great deal of upheaval thanks to the same forces and sentiments that elected him. And in particular, Trump’s exchange of warm sentiments with Vladimir Putin hasn’t exactly prevented the Russian leader from blocking action that would be, at minimum, quite irritating for American companies. Foreign influence on American pop culture — particularly from China — plays out in all sorts of odd ways, from Chinese filmmakers wooing Matt Damon to star in “The Great Wall” to Marvel attempting to appease Chinese censors by turning a Tibetan character in “Doctor Strange” into a white one. Despite Hollywood’s tendency to make movies about terrorists inspired by extremist Islam, the entertainment industry can’t yet be said to have really entered the current international culture wars. Given the American industry’s liberal proclivities, maybe pop culture will stay aloof. But if putting financial pressure on the entertainment industry becomes a tool of international grand strategy, it’ll be important to follow the money and see where it leads the industry. | 
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