China bans sale of audio and video dealing with horror and the supernatural
By David Bandurski — In the latest effort to push a “clean up” the country’s cultural sector ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games, China’s censors aimed their lances today at films containing scenes of horror and supersition, citing the need to “protect the mental and physical well-being of minors.”
[ABOVE: Screenshot of Sina.com coverage of of GAPP's release on horror and the supernatural.]
In a notice released early this morning, regulators from China’s General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) said “rigorous checks” would be carried out on audio and video materials produced in 2006 and 2007. Anything dealing with “horror or the supernatural” (恐怖灵异类) and found to be in violation would be “pulled from shelves, sealed up, confiscated and handled according to relevant regulations.”
The notice, which spoke of a “resurgence” (回潮趋势) of horror and supersititon on the domestic market, added that production of such materials planned for 2008 release must be ceased immediately. [Reuters report via The Guardian].
In a commentary that topped Sina.com’s list of editorials today, Tao Duanfang (陶短房) suggested GAPP’s net was far too wide.
While “the goal is to control and remove the negative effect this kind of material has on society”, Tao wrote, “it should be pointed out that the measure of a policy is not just its original intention but its operability (可操作性) and intelligibility (可理解性).”
Sure, we should think about the health of our children, wrote the author. But before the authorities rush in to enforce this notice, they should be clear about what exactly they mean.
After all, people are bound to ask, said Tao: “Can we still watch Harry Potter?”
[Posted Thursday, February 14, 2008, 1:45pm]
Well, that’s basically why Chinese cinema, drama and comics are boring. Supernatural movies are basically Hong Kong movies, not Chinese. They even removed the idea of “Star of Death” from “A Man Called Hero” TV-Series. And that sucked.
good idea. Let them check the tv stations’ schedules and go through all those iterations of “Journey to the West”, and have them cut out all references to Monkey Kings, Witches or other forms of superstitious claptrap. That should keep a couple of thousand busy, and then you can start with the back catalogue of the movie archives and the comic books etc etc. And then turn to buddhist and christian mythology and get rid of those, and at some point they will find out the CPC meeting is actually a gathering of superheroes and hence falls under the superstition prohibition. This will become an uncomfortable place…