''Game of Pawns: The Glenn Duffie Shriver Story'' is a 2013 American

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

about the Glenn Duffie Shriver case. It was produced by Rocket Media Group,Golden, Daniel. ''Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities''. Henry Holt and Company, October 10, 2017. , 9781627796361. p
130
in association with the Counter-Intelligence Unit of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

and released online in April 2014. One of the film's goals was to warn students of dangers in China. It featured the actor Joshua Murray as Shriver. Its runtime is 28 minutes. It changes some elements of the story from the real-life scenario, as Shriver is portrayed as a student even though he had already graduated in real life by the time he began the espionage scheme, since the FBI wanted this as a video to warn American tertiary students studying abroad.

Daniel Golden Daniel L. Golden (born 1957) is an American journalist, working as a senior editor for ProPublica. He was previously senior editor at Conde Nast's now-defunct Portfolio magazine, and a managing editor for Bloomberg News. Early life and education ...

, author of '' Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities'', described it as "partly

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

". The FBI wanted U.S. universities to show the film to students about to study abroad, but they largely chose not to do so.

Production and release

The film was released in January 2013. Sean Paul Murphy, the screenwriter, stated that he wished to make the portrayal of Shriver "better and more sympathetic". Golden stated that the film made Shriver seem "more naïve and less cocky". The film depicts Shriver as discovering the true intentions of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) at a later point than in real life and as being a student when he first gets involved with the MSS even though, in real life, he had already graduated at that point. Within the film the Washington, D.C. Chinatown is used as a stand-in for Shanghai.

Reception

Adam Taylor of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described it as "strikingly cheesy, obviously low-budget".Taylor, Adam.
A cheesy FBI video hopes to stop U.S. students from becoming Chinese spies
" ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. April 15, 2014. Retrieved on August 7, 2016. Emily Rauhala of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' described it as "a bit of a stinker" that "comes off as cross between a public service announcement and a parody."Rauhala, Emily.
FBI Movie Warns U.S. Students Not to Spy for China
" ''

''. April 16, 2014. Retrieved on August 6, 2016. Rauhala concluded that since the film had a "stereotypical view of China" it meant that "the people behind it, like Shriver, seem well-intentioned but unforgivably naive." The administration of

East China Normal University East China Normal University (ECNU) is a comprehensive public research university in Shanghai, China. It was formed in 1951 by the merger of the Great China University (est. 1924) and Kwang Hua University (est. 1925) and originated from the St. ...

, where Shriver studied abroad, criticized the inclusion of the institution in the film due to potential negative publicity; the film does not mention the institution Shriver matriculated from, Grand Valley State University.Golden, Daniel. ''Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities''. Henry Holt and Company, October 10, 2017. , 9781627796361. p
133
/ref> The FBI wanted universities to use the film in pre-departure orientations for study abroad programs, but the universities chose not to do so because they felt espionage was not a likely concern or because there was too much melodrama in the film.Golden, Daniel. ''Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities''. Henry Holt and Company, October 10, 2017. , 9781627796361. p
129131
Peimin Ni () and Geling Shang (), professors at Grand Valley State involved in the university's China study abroad program, disliked how the film showed Shriver as being still a student when he was first contacted by the MSS. They mention Shriver in orientation sessions but do not show the film.

References

External links

Government
(film catalog) - Rocket Media Group *
Game of Pawns
' -

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

* {{IMDb title, 3744970 American films based on actual events American docudrama films 2013 films American propaganda films Films set in Shanghai Films set in Virginia American documentary films Films based on real people Central Intelligence Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation American drama short films 2013 short films Films shot in Washington, D.C. 2010s American films Articles containing video clips