Avatar - even in 2D - reportedly too hot a property for China censors

Avatar - even in 2D - reportedly too hot a property for China censors

www.guardian.co.uk

China is to pull the plug on screenings of Avatar...and replace [it] with a patriotic biopic on the life of Confucius, according to report...

...Parallels have reportedly been drawn between the plight of the Na'vi, who face the threat of eviction from their woodland home, and those in China vulnerable to displacement by predatory property developers.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 1/19/10 by silent thunder]

My initial reaction was that if any political implications would be found in this film, they would relate to one of two areas: A) a critique of the U.S. military operation in the Middle East and elsewhere; or B) an environmental critique.

It is interesting to me that the Chinese government's concern over internal unrest apparently trumps any digs against the U.S. that it could possibly derive from a showing of the film. (Come to think of it, despite the overwhelming U.S. Marine Corps imagery in the film, the human gunships did have a Chinese dragon emblazoned on the fuselage.) This reminds us of the general differences in media perception that still play large roles globally. It also highlights the tension and anxiety China faces over this particular internal matter -- something that gets little media play outside (and, presumably, inside) that nation.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 1/19/10 by silent thunder]

Ya I read this in the morning, China is stupid for pulling this one off. It's just wrong!
Basically any movie with a positive message will get banned i'm sure.

Offtopic humor. When I was a kid I went to the library to read about confuscius and I saw a book called "the wisdom of confuscius", but when I read it I thought I read "The wisdom of confusion"

Censorship...gotta love it.

Well, thank god for the internet. the more you try to supress information in todays age, the more people seek it out, and with a few mouseclicks, voila...there it is.

Australia's censorship on video games is just as bad, if not worse. It treats all people as children...literally.

reply to post by silent thunder


Yeah, I get it. Because when I was watching Avatar, the first thing I thought about was China and what they Chinese government was going to do about it!



The above was sarcasm, by the way.


Is there anything that the Chinese government WON'T take offense to?

The Chinese Government really are a pathetic government.

I just cannot believe what they do and how they treat their citizens.
It's beyond censorship and rule, it's almost total control.


:shk: :shk:


How sad.

[edit on 19/1/10 by blupblup]

I wonder how much attention is being taken from the problems of the United States Government while finding motivation to point fingers and laugh at others.

Believe me, they are pointing in utter curiosity and heaving a far more justified laugh at us.

From the Chinese point of view, they are in a serious growth period while we are in the process of dwindling and dying.

In everyone but the American's eyes, America's death is only a matter of time. :/

reply to post by silent thunder

I remember someone once comparing the admin of China to a row boat controlling the Pacific Ocean...
...and one day the Chinese people will realize it.

Originally posted by lagnar
I wonder how much attention is being taken from the problems of the United States Government while finding motivation to point fingers and laugh at others.

Interesting how you find it necessary to throw in a little knee-jerk anti-Americanism...even though the article is from a British newspaper and does not, in any way, shape, or form, mention America. So, where is the American "pointing fingers and laughing at others" in the article?

Do you see evil Americans hiding under your bed or in your closet?

In everyone but the American's eyes, America's death is only a matter of time. :/

Perhaps, but I don't see what that has to do with this topic. Also, millions of Americans are saddened and aware of their nation's plight...just look around ATS or similar sites. The majority of criticisms of the American scene are supplied by...Americans. So I don't know about the "...but America's eyes" part.

The Interent is filled with 60 octillion America-bashing threads. Perhaps these sentiments would be more at home on any one of them. Just my opinion, of course.


[edit on 1/19/10 by silent thunder]

Pathetic

i have such a deep admiration for Chinese culture, most of the time I expect China to inevitably just become what it should be... the most dynamic nation on Earth.

Then something like this comes along...

If you can find a fault with the message of Avatar there is obviously something deeply wrong with the people in charge and their intent.

reply to post by troubleshooter


I like that analogy mate. That's superb!

I'm not sure how long the Chinese government can keep it's people down like it has. It's certainly trivial matters like this that highlight just how power crazy these guys are... one can only wonder when the people will wake up and what the final straw will be.

Interesting side note. I found a Chinese web site recently after a google search for my ATS username. It contained a lot of posts from here translated into Chinese covering a lot of the hot topics here that I'm sure their government wouldn't see fit for popular consumption.

One can only hope that they can also see how the rest of the world is outraged at their lack of civil liberty and freedoms.

IRM

I'm not outraged about alleged lack of civil rights and liberty in China

Few years ago, we employed a young girl from China, out here for study purposes. She was an eye-opener and I've regarded China differently ever since. Certainly different to the 'Yellow Peril/Commie' propaganda pushed by Western authorities

She spoke reasonably good English and her understanding of same was excellent. She learned it at school, she said, from primary school onwards

She'd worked in a government department prior to departing China. On the eve of her boss' retirement party, she'd inserted documents to authorise her departure in amongst other documents, then handed them to her boss to sign. I was awestruck by her nerve and said so. Surely she'd be hanged for such an offence if she returned to China, I said. She laughed and shrugged. To her it was no big deal

As soon as she'd passed her exams over here, she returned to China. Voluntarily. In fact, she couldn't wait to get back there

But it was the everyday details which fascinated me. For example, her family lived in a house provided by the government. She said this was far more common than the home-ownership which keeps so many in the West struggling on the breadline

When the roof or stove or floors needed fixing, she said -- it was all done by the government, free of charge

Further, the house in which she'd been raised had been passed down to her father by HIS father, who'd also been housed basically for free, lifelong. And his father had been bequeathed the house by HIS father, and so on

We heard the same from a Croatian friend of my daughter who advised that basically everyone in her town lived in very low cost/free government housing which was replaced by modern townhouse complexes after the war

Sounds like an enviable lifestyle. No wonder Western politicians and their minions demonise communism

reply to post by Dock9

Don't base your beliefs around few people's testimonies. If you have the means to pay a travel ticket to US - then your class belongs to a inconsiderably small minority in China.

I see many people on this boards bash or praise communism, but none of them have spent majority of their life in a totalitarian regime ruled by "communist party" with an iron fist. Besides, most of us are so institutionalized that we couldn't even handle living in a different social structure.

Also worth noting is that Chinese emigrate into Serbia in large numbers to live in inhuman conditions. Trust me, they didn't come to share joy and prosperity.