So, in an attempt to... well, frankly I'm not sure what exactly, Chinese authorities have handed out a new set of guidelines tor its TeeWee industry:
“The government says … TV dramas shouldn’t have characters that travel back in time and rewrite history. They say this goes against Chinese heritage,” reports CNN’s Eunice Yoon.
Isn't heritage what has people drinking powdered endangered species like it's some kind of herbal Viagra with a Red Bull chaser? And you're worried about Marty McFly? Get a grip, there, Hu.
The full money quote:
ReplyDeleteNew guidelines issued on March 31 discourages[sic] plot lines that contain elements of "fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking."
So much for pre-Communist Chinese heritage; that's pretty much covers most of Chinese folklore (admittedly, my limited, broad-brush encounter with it).
Maybe we could get David Brooks to explain it to us.
Meanwhile, I'm going to go watch some Firefly.
(Wait...this would rid us of Slaughterhouse Five! I might have to reconsider...)
I wish Rick Berman would have adopted that policy.
ReplyDelete'There is only one thing more uncertain than the future, that is the past' Russian proverb from the Stalin era, shamelessly nicked from the inside cover of Back to the Future 2 (Yup, I got stuck somewhere for a few hours and it was the only text written in English).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, think that applies quite nicley here.
Cheers - Rusty
Alternate histories invite criticism of past government actions and current policies.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of scrutiny strengthens an open society. It benefits the nation and the citizens.
In China, as in many businesses, the point is to support the government, not the people. Challenges and second-guessing are potential problem areas.
Isn't heritage what has people drinking powdered endangered species...
ReplyDeleteThey've had worse ideas.
Grand Emperor Mao gave the Masses of the People's Republic Of China the Politically Correct Revised History years ago. Only Reactionary Enemies of the State have a desire to wreck what the Party and its Loyal Followers have brought to China. And with the Tragic Events of what happened to the Nipponese a month ago, soon such Policies will be spread throughout the Greater Chinese-East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, especially since Comrade Obama has promised to remove the remnants of the Imperialist's Military Forces from the region through his latest Budget Proposals. All Hail the People's Party!
ReplyDeleteCommunism subscribes to a purely linear view of history and the future - there was only one past possible and one future possible, and commies are in a steady evolution towards whatever commie nirvana is: the worker's paradise thing.
ReplyDeleteThey have to ignore that history and human behavior is cyclical and repeats over and over, and eliminate time travel along with Christianity and every other belief that encourages people to think independently.
"Well, who is responsible for this?"
ReplyDelete"Hu."
"That's what I want to know!"
"I just told you, Hu."
"No you didn't. I asked who and you just repeated my question."
"But I told you, Hu."
"Cut the crap, Ploufe, or you're out of here."
Ed: So Hu's on First?
ReplyDeleteSounds like they don't want anything that might be too creative or imaginative, and they don't want people looking at history too closely.
ReplyDeleteI wish Rick Berman would have adopted that policy.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
The community activist went to hell, and met Karl Marx.
ReplyDeleteKM: you have a choice now, Communist Hell or Capitalist Hell.
CA: what is the difference?
KM: they are in theory the same. In both, your skin is cut off with knives, you are boiled in oil, and chained to a rock where a vulture tears at your liver for all eternity.
CA: Why is there a line to get into Communist Hell?
KM: Because it is Communist! Some days we don't have knives, some days we don't have oil, the chains are old and rusty, and the vulture only comes if he gets a bribe.
"I wish Rick Berman would have adopted that policy."
ReplyDeleteNo kidding. Enterprise had so much promise, then they had to kill it in the first episode with that stupid "temporal cold war."
As far as China, does that mean they can't watch Doctor Hu anymore?
wv: natican. Like the Vatican but, uh... not.
“The government says … TV dramas shouldn’t have characters that travel back in time and rewrite history. They say this goes against Chinese heritage.”
ReplyDeleteIn China (and, to be fair, most other countries), rewriting history is the purview of the government. And as we know, government hates competition.
::G
ReplyDeleteChristianity and every other belief that encourages people to think independently.
ROFL.
Christianity encourages independent thought? That's a good one :D
What is it about tyranny that encourages it's leaders to head straight over to Wacky Cloudcoocooland?
ReplyDelete@ Joe in PNG,
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is being a tyrant that sends leaders to cuckoo land.
It is just that there are ways to preserve the nation and remove/treat/accommodate the wackos, when they aren't tyrants.
Take America today. We have a Constitution that requires candidates for President to be born in the US, presumably with a birth certificate, to at least one adult American citizen. Um. Let met get back to that.
In the US we have a Constitution that requires the President to run the nation, a Congress to set the budget and make the laws, and courts to impartially determine who is violating the laws and the Constitution. . . Um, let me get back to that.
Here we have due process, and Congress reviews all the high level appointments the President wants to make to important positions within the government. . . . Um.
I mean, we have this nifty Constitution, but if we aren't going to read it, and abide by it, then where are the mechanisms to avoid and counter the next tyrant that blows into town?
This really doesn't look good for the future. Or today, for that matter.
When the president starts to eat people, kidnap movie directors, or brings about a famine that kills millions because he tries to wipe out all sparrows, then we enter tyranny cloudcoocooland.
ReplyDeleteBonus: Name the dictators referenced above.
Idi Amin was the easy one. Is Kim Jong Il the second reference?
ReplyDeleteThat's the nut.
ReplyDeleteI had to cheat on the "sparrows" reference.
ReplyDeleteWow. The more one reads about the Great Helmsman, the nuttier he gets.