A journalist once asked Takeshi Kitano: "Your films are always full of violence, so aren't you worried about the bad influences? " Takeshi Kitano replied: "There were plenty of beautiful and touching movies, but they didn't make the world peaceful either."
That answer still doesn't absolve his social responsibility. Perhaps the beautiful and touching movies didn't change the world because the existence of these violent movies negated their effects. From this point of view, it is justified for the governent to punish the movie directors for producing such films. In fact, it should even punish them for having such idea in their head, so as to prevent them from making and eventually showing such movies to the society in the first place.
I know many American parents who behave exactly like this. That’s the most relatable experience I’ve ever felt on this channel as someone who isn’t Chinese.
@@jobansand well not to mention China government ban a "sissy men" and say that men must be masculinity not feminine which most women upset as hell. I guess say goodbye to Chinese drama
China's folklore of the supernatural is so deep and interesting, they would have produced immortal gems of the horror genre by now, if not coerced by censorship.
@@santos8468 She doesn't remember the name of the Chinese movie but I think it was just floating in the air. It creeped her out and she couldn't sleep.
@@MasonsTurtle are you sure it wasn't her mom's mahjong tiles hitting her in the head when her mom get salty and throw her mahjong tiles everywhere? just like my most frightening thing i've ever seen is a flying sandal coming towards me and hit me in the face
In all fairness, everyone will find different things scary, and let's be honest, we all had that one stupid fear when we were kids. I thought the winter warlock from "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" was scary after watching the move at the age of seven. I once had a nightmare of encountering a venonat pokemon in my bathroom when I was five. However, I thought the body-horror of Rasputin from "Anastasia" was funny as a six year old.
That "Chinese parents love to ban things" applies to a lot of non-Chinese Asian parents as well. A child ran into a wall, the mother hits the wall in an act of "sympathetic retaliation".
lol here in China we had a cartoon for kids basically about a bunch of girls with colourful hair, and some parents actually reported this cartoon because "colourful hair sets a terrible example for kids"😂
@@aaronkelly1762 Right, if we didn't have a first amendment some of things we would have banned include The Last Temptation of Christ, Natural Born Killers, all hip hop music, everything gay, and anything that could have been rolled into the satanic panic phenomenon. All of which would have had a chilling effect on our creative industries.
Don't forget the mother has to say " Bad wall!!" as She hits the wall. It's not the child that do something wrong. It was the wall's fault for standing there.
@@ridwana4037 Wall: (if can talk) ....but I've always been stucked here over 10 years before you (the mom) even born. And I've never see you got hit by me. MOM: YOU DARE TO SCAPE GOAT MY POOR CHILD!!!!! Wall: Whaaaat??? Your child is the one who bumped first. Also I'm made of brick stones.
That's why Hong Kong cinema and TV series used to be so rich, both modern or period pieces, because it drew on the deep Chinese history or social commentary. Kinda like Korean films these days, their govt actively support exporting culture as well rather than censoring. I think a lot of movies are well made from China, but entertainment and creative ideas could only be stifled if director need to follow so many guidelines
@@aoshi000 Hong Kong cinema during the 70s and 80s incorporate a lot of Chinese folklore (like A Touch Of Zen, The Imp and A Chinese Ghost Story, etc) and they used to be very creative but now with government restrictions and censorship laws, there's no creative freedom anymore
@@CultureDTCTV I don't think the HK entertainment industry is really censored per se, rather its market & audience just shrank as it's dwarfed by China. In the 80s & 90s, actors from Taiwan or China didn't make it big until they got famous in hk, now it's the other way around. Also language wise they need to make more Mandarin movies than in native Cantonese, like the later Stephen chow movies. Also there's no comparison in budget against Chinese production (like Hollywood), and the talent just not really there compared to decades before. Yeah TVB used to have tons of great Jin Yong wuxia TV drama. I loved those hopping jiangshi movies too, both supernatural and comedy. I have a feeling the younger generation of HKers are distancing themselves from Chinese history as well, when they embraced it and represented themselves unfortunately
Being a Chinese guy growing up in mainland China, I know that "the sheltered audience are treated as teenagers and stayed like teenagers" is just so true. The censorship of TV shows is just so crazy sometimes that even a song mentioning smoking has to change its lyric in the subtitle. What's even crazier is that enough amount of people actually root for it.
Last time I was in China though, I saw lots of shops selling sex toys and outright hentai manga. They just call it "lifestyle equipment", and there's no way to contain the sexual frustration of hundreds of millions of men if all pornography is banned.
@@real_dddf depriving them is not the answer. U onli delay the inevitable revelation. Instead, u shld teach them different perspective and opinion and search who u r. Bcoz given the same circumstances, 2 different ppl will have different outcome. Chinas method is no different than wat religions have been doing for centuries. I see China will be the next Russia if things continue on the way it is
There's a term for it called "infantilization", which is what it sounds like: if you don't trust your people like responsible adults and handle issues surgically, they'll act like whiny babies who complain about everything. It's a common theme in the military and other environments of toxic leadership that involve things like broad bans, mass punishment, habitual deception against authority, and other such indignant behaviors.
@@AccentedCinema it's a shame because China has great mitology about ghost story but CCP dont like "violence" even they produce like Battle Of Lake Changjin and Wolf Warrior.I bet China enforces entertainment to produce more propaganda film.
Local Chinese here, I still remembered being yelled at when I watching Doraemon as a kid. there's something like preventing "japan culture invasion" topic going on back then. but now my parents is happily watching Doraemon with their grandson. people change, young generations come, and things will get better.
We can all rest easy knowing a Chinese family watches Doraemon now, thank you. I am not at all worried about the Chinese government's disregard for human rights, concentration camps and brutal oppression against any form of protest or counter think.
@@KOSJ153 human right this human right that, and pointed at a school say that is a concentration camp, I don't blame anyone buy this stupid narrative if they don't read the chinese words on the building, but if you wanna begin your conversation like this, you are not gonna like what I am about to say next, especially if you came from "The land of the FREE". check out your hometown first then educate others smart boy.
@@hannibalyin8853 Do you deny what the chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs? We are far more free as a westerner than a constant observed, censored and controlled chinese subject. Careful you don't ruin your social credit by talking against your overlords. Say it with me, fuck the chinese government. Tiananmen square, democracy, student protests.
@@KOSJ153 dude...Just like propaganda exist on every country, that Uyghurs sht is the propaganda from the western side. Also the social credit meme is really just a meme, in reality it is like fico credit score.
@@NowhereBeats yeah maybe I don't mention it clearly but I said in my childhood that's the 80s so if you were not experiencing those hatred toward japan cartoon maybe you're just not old enough. now it's all normal just as I said the mindset of the people will change, it all depends on specific situation in the history. your last sentence shows how ignorance the way you deal with logic, I just don't want to correct your statement if you're not living in reality or just simply not a local Chinese. it's not your fault though if you've never seen those low-budget anti-japan drama "抗日神剧", which I strongly not recommended.
demonizing a media because of a social issue isn't just a china thing, the US were pretty fixated on violent cartoons, videogames or even music causing kids/teens to act badly, everytime there was a school shooting (like every week) for example, you could easily find a politician blaming x game or y artist. difference is, since the chinese gov is so involved into everything, when something goes wrong -> it's their fault and they have to fix it -> silly censorship i'm certain that china should be able to produce amazing horror/thriller movies just by diving into their folklore (like japan USE to do) and seeing them shooting themself in the foot is frustrating. if japanese or south korean horror movies (or just cinema) can find a way to be recognized worldwide, china should be able to do it too loved the conclusion :)
Even in the UK, media about Ninjas (TMNT was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) and “Video Nasties” (gory horror films) were banned for a while. I’m willing to believe pearl clutching parents reaching to blame anything but themselves is a universal experience. I remember my parents banning me from watching certain cartoons without explaining why all the time as a kid. “Spongebob is gay”, “The telietubby is gay”, the Simpsons for no explanation, the list goes on.
I agree with your statement that banning things isn't just a Chinese thing. But, in China, the communist party gets the final say. And there are deadly consequences for anyone who goes against them. In many western countries, people can push back. They may fail, but they won't die.
As Indonesian, Our Local "Horor" Genre is also mostly sensual, sexy, movie in disquise Indonesia dont have strict movie rule like China, but Market demand for such "Horor" Movies is quite high - and so Industry Oblige
2000 horror indonesia really good. jelangkung, kuntilanak, pocong, island etc but they never bring something new to the table so we have this overused folklore not to mention KPI exist lmao
It wasn't unusual in the U.S either. Maybe recently it's changed. Or maybe I just ignore low quality horror movies now. But even in the 00s it was like that.
@@DSan-kl2yc cheap low budget horror is typically geared towards teenagers in the US. I won't speak to other countries, but if its the same, then its not really a mystery.
7:15 As an Indonesian who had to witness a local TV soap opera series literally copy Squid Game for an entire arc with cheap props, this is painfully relevant.
Removing Ultraman Tiga from Chinese streaming services is so funny because of how popular Ultraman is in China. There's no way you could get away with that and not expect backlash The equivalent of this would be if the US government suddenly banned Marvel movies or something
Actually, this is how Hollywood failed to stop Passion of the Christ from showing in the US cinema, the smaller independent cinemas were showing it for the longest time and people just go there to watch.
One of the scariest, most bone-chilling movies I ever watched is a chinese one: "Blind Mountain" (盲山), and it also had a lot of troubles with censorship, not because it had supernatural elements or gore, but because it dealt with an uncomfortable real topic, it was too realistic. It is said that horror stories, even the craziest ones, almost always reflect the fears and anxieties of the time they are made. They may indirectly criticize the flaws of an institution, wich is very likely to clash with said institution if it wants to make it appear that everything is alright. I would really love to watch an inspired chinese director going all out with a horror movie.
Taiwan and Hong Kong cinema have those. They depict authentic culture (also opinions and superstitions) of the people that is banned by the communist regime.
Yes, I watched "Blind Mountain" 10 years ago and it has haunted me til this day. Horror movie doesn't need to involve ghost or spiritual contents. Human act can be a lot more scary.
If it was me, I would do an "after credit scene" with the "It was a hallucination from swamp gas" twist ending so that the viewer can choose to ignore it. Basically a wink to the audience to say "we have to include this, but it's not really a part of the movie"
Or do a massive government operation where the secure and contain everything then at the end a friendly yet semi threatening official comes and say that you were under the effect of swamp gas.
My mom (who's from China) back in the day didn't allow us to watch the Simpsons because she saw Bart Simpson as a bad influence because he disobeyed his parents. But she had no problems renting Robocop and Predator for me to watch at age 8. Go figure.
Makes sense, because Robocop and Predator is about the adult world. Bart Simpson makes kids think that if a child can talk to adults that way on screen, than it must be normal. Much like why many Americans have drinking and drug problems, I've never seen an American movie or tv shows when characters drink water, they constantly take beer and hard liquor, and constantly taking pills even though they're not physically sick.
as a native there used to be a slang going "there shan't be supernatural entities existing after the birth of PRC". This was used to dispell superstitions among folks sometime around the cultural revolution, but its definitely funny if you put it under the context of the Chinese Horrorfilm industry.
Wow, working within the guidelines about supernatural elements to make a film where superstition brings out the worst in people and makes the curse a self-fulfilling prophecy without it needing to be supernatural is kind of brilliant. Chinese parents remind me a lot of American pearl-clutching parents based on your description. Most relatable situation I’ve ever felt on this channel.
reminds me of the people who ban harry potter and DnD because they're afraid their kids will do real magic. 1) just tell them not to do magic and 2) if they did successfully do magic, those parents would be the first to sign the TV deals out of it anyway,
Not all Chinese parents, just some of them, not too different from American parents. People have their concerns. If something bad happens like the kids acting out the cartoon and were roasted, usually someone's head has to roll, just reactionary. Same thing happens in the West.
This happened in Indonesia for a while too, overboard censorship. But then the netizens acted and bullied the "cool-wannabe" film censorship department. Now films can contain "contextual nudity" when it is strictly adult-rated. Films can also contain gory scenes, and it is no longer blurred nor de-colourised like pretentious television programmes. The thing with mainland China probably happened because in their modern cut-throat urban lifestyle, both parents must work to support their household expenditures. This led to less quality and educational time with their children (similar thing happening in the US to certain degree). Thus a lot of parents simply acted like it is either the school or government's responsibility to take care of their situation. The more materialistic-chasing the society is, the more of this problem your society will get. In Indonesia, the recent generation of urban youths seemingly no longer dreaming nor aiming to be ultra-wealthy or filthy rich - they are a bit less materialistic now. The goal is simply to have "enough" and enjoy good simple life. Thus, more and more young parents nowadays are not too focused on their career, and can have more quality times with their children. This in turn resulted in the easing of censorship due to less complaint received from these affluent and pretty vocal urban parents. I still remember reading a reader's letter from Kompas back in 2003 about the anime "Great Teacher Onizuka" (GTO), it was from an angry parent complaining about a Singapore-based anime channel airing the series over our local cable TV. If you know GTO, of course it involves a perverted teacher and gratuitous amount of panty shots. I liked the anime, and it was clearly rated mature (15+). Yeah, I mean what kind of demography fits the profile of such cable TV subscriber. I can picture a parent that simply gave their children an iPad to silence them up, while he/she are busy doing something else.
From the movie 'Marlina Si Pembunuh Dalam Empat Babak', I can see potential, a glimmer of hope, that someday I can finally watch a high quality Indonesian movie in teather. I'm pretty sure that can happen, maybe in the next 15 years or more, because majority of Indonesian people love "sinetron", rampant censorship here and there but loosely implemented on "sinteron" and stuff. God I missed the old "Hidayah" series, it has creativity and doesnt hold back at all I love it XD
@@redacted_vombat5742 i can list a lot things that Indonesian censor: -knive(sometimes) -blood(turned to black or cut off from film) -stabbing(from what i recall they will either cut the scene or make the scene into black) -guns(high chance being cut off from film) -smoke(blurred out) -sex scene(i support this because im not in the mood of seeing people having sex lol) -nudity -sandy's body(a squirrel wearing bikini got censored off like wtf..........) -kissing scene(they either cut it off or they play an old scene) -flying dutchman's girlfriend(she is creepy dude so i support this lol) And lots of other things that i cant list here. The censoring mostly happen in tv, but it can occur too in cinema. Not to mention the amount of things that they cut so they can post more advertisements -_- Oh yeah also in Indonesia cigarette advertisement doesnt have cigarette in it, so they have to be more creative to sell their product.
Because of the internet, people can circumvent censorship. But in mainland China, you're almost out of luck. It really sucks for everyone to be in China.
Thank you. Often I get very annoyed when people talk about "China" and "censorship" in the same sentence, because usually the discussion is about "China is evil". Sure, I agree that it stifles creativity and is shooting itself in the foot when it comes to soft power, and I really wonder how these policy makers can be so short-sighted; I genuinely want to see Chinese media appreciated worldwide as much as Japanese, Korean, etc. media is. But finally, here is a discussion that goes into the why and how it became, rather than just "cuz it's China lollll".
Well I don't think it's a coincidence that both Japan and South Korea media industries took off after their economies stagnated. We often forget that other cultures don't exist purely to produce commodities for consumption. The soft power game is just another facet of global capitalism that doesn't do anything for the people of those countries in the end. I don't think Japanese salarymen are better able to sleep at night or work less hours because some nerdy white kids in America love Attack on Titan.
Yeah totally agree. There are masterful Chinese filmmakers but the censorship doesn’t do them any favours and makes their job so difficult. This reinforces all the negative stereotypes about China in the west.
That's because one of humans' basic free wills to express and create something was born in a politicalism country that is judged only by the criteria of maintaining the government. Needless to discuss. You're frustrated because you're not a socialist in nature.
Recently found out about this censorship because of the watering-down of hollywood movie franchises that make money in China, as well as banning anime of certain genres there. But still, it is quite overboard. If a child makes a dumb decision from watching a cartoon, parental guidance and COMMON SENSE should kick in. The Tom and Jerry example was so spot on, I grew up with it as well as Power Rangers and Justice League. I know they aren't real, I knew what to copy and what not to because the adults around me taught me well. "That's TV, that's movies, that's comics, etc". Children should be taught the distinction between fantasy and reality early on to avoid causing unecessary controversy.
the production I'm working on right now had to do some ridiculous changes to water down everything, and the reason actually have very little to do with china. studios are more worry about parents sue them because their kids hurt themselves trying to mimic what happen in the show, the lawsuit wouldnt go anywhere but it cost the studio more money to win the lawsuit than just settle it. which looses money for the studio no matter what and they hate loosing money. the funny thing is, chinese government is going overboard with their censorship exactly because they rather not hear parents complaining. when i use to work for a video game company in china i had to accompany my boss to have dinner with an government official from the same department in charge of censorship. the guy told me alot about the inner working of the censorship and even they themselves find it stupid, and basicly told us that its better for some stupid rules that we can still work with than escalating issue into a protest that force them to make even stupider rules that is impossible to follow and thus shut down our company.
@@nonameisbetter3298 Yeah, you have a legit point, I get where you're at though, nobody wants to lose money let alone their job. Must be a real pain in the neck to get complaints and nitpicks from parents on the most minute details on a hard-to-produce show, probably on a daily basis with rampant social media. But it can be argued their complaints are pointed at the wrong direction, though. Rather than flaming the studio for something they unintentionally caused, maybe they could spend more time with their children, or at least like I said to teach them how to distinguish reality and fantasy. That's why shows are rated, some require parental guidance, and parental guidance should be there when needed.
But it really is sad. From what I got, reading the comments, the parents would rather shutdown a show entirely, a show that had an unintentional effect, than to speak to their children. Feels like walking on thin ice, a wrong move can shatter the surface.
@@GiantGeekGuy exactly. but as long as there are still a minority of karen that can cry loud enough for CCP to hear, CCP will censor. and as long as there are still a minority of karen that is willing to sue a show for having character operate a stove in a campsite, because their kids got burn messing with a stove. we will have to water things down. and yes, our characters currently cook pancakes without fire, its cartoon magic.
I think the horror genre has a special place in my heart precisely for the reasons you mentioned at the end of the videos. When done well it can facilitate conversations about really sensitive, sometimes taboo, topics in digestible and interesting ways.
Also can i say how refreshing and helpful it is to have a discussion from a chinese person? So often it just gets reported as a big scary thing that is uniquely chinese rather than a thing that happens because of particular cultural/political situation. Sadly it can also be an opening for racists here in the west as well- so im really happy to see you cover this.
Interesting that Tarantino and other "violent" filmmakers are brought in discussions. He has also said that the 50s is the worst decade for film because it was at the peak of censorship with the Hays Code. Ultraman (and of course Crayon Shin-chan) has changed over the years because of the few parents who want to censor inappropriate behavior, so it's kinda sad that it's universal. Videogames face challenges from parents and media to prevent addiction and violence, when it should be the parents who should control and follow the rating guidelines given to the work. Should work the same way as age ratings to movies, although it's more of a marketing tool. Film is a universal language like music, so I agree there should be more focus on 'visual literacy' in understanding how to watch movies.
I was surprised to learn my country, Australia, actually has one of the strictest videogame ratings boards in the world, or at least that's what I've heard. Pretty much any game with drug use is barred from physical retail, and you're only able to purchase it through Steam or other online storefronts, even though the game is technically illegal. Sort of. The idea is that they don't want any games that 'glorify' drug use through gameplay, but the lines get so blurry and the definition of what is and isn't glorification get so murky... Even when the drugs in question are weaved into the story and gameplay with meaningful consequence for the player character. Lisa: THE PAINFUL RPG, Disco Elysium and Katana Zero are examples of games banned for this reason I'm pretty sure, even though the drugs in all of these games are undeniably degrading forces in each of their respective characters' lives. I honestly couldn't tell you why those last two are banned, but maybe in Lisa's case it's because the drug 'Joy' can give you a stat boost during combat, simulating some sort of increased awareness or energy/buzz that keeps you light on your toes, but the come down is hard, and your characters can become addicted easily, meaning that when they're not on the drug they're next to useless... it's hardly glorified in the story context either, with the main character losing track of their surrogate child after relapsing, blacking out after a drug binge. It's honestly baffling.
"He has also said that the 50s is the worst decade for film because it was at the peak of censorship with the Hays Code." Are you sure he said that and you're not misremembering? He's usually smarter about film history than that - it's a pretty ignorant claim. The Hays Code was much more censorious in the '30s and '40s, and Hollywood in the '50s included some potent critical looks at aspects of American culture that are some of American cinema's all-time classics, such as the films of Douglas Sirk, "Vertigo," "The Wrong Man," "Bigger Than Life," "Some Came Running," "Sweet Smell of Success," "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Defiant Ones," "No Way Out," etc. The narrative you attribute to QT seems based more on crude stereotypes about the '50s as the decade of American conformity than it is on the actual films themselves. crookedmarquee.com/1950s-cinema-and-the-battle-against-conformity/
Further to my point, here's a detailed history of how the Hays Code weakened starting in the 1950s in the face of a number of cultural and commercial pressures: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code#Decline
Parents complaint in China works better than anything else, When I was a kid, the running time of an afterschool kids show was halved due to parents filing complaints. However, I would have to disagree with the notion that censorship of superstitious element is inherently bad, and somehow straying away from Chinese tradition or unusual in the Chinese context. Censorship of Religious movements have always been one of the top priorities of every Chinese dynasty. From the famous Yellow Turban Daoist rebellion of Han Dynasty. to, the White Lotus Revolution of Song Dynasty, to the Red Turban of the late Yuan. to the Taiping Christian rebellion, which btw was the 3rd deadliest war in history. They were all caused by religious cults growing out of control. Chinese are usually not that interested in religion, but once they jump on a religious or a cult bandwagon, they go all the way to the next dimension. This is caused by China since ancient times, doesn't really have one single unifying religion, unlike Abrahamic religious countries where their belief in their monotheist religion is very strong, China just doesn't have that, it's more of a civic bureaucratic society than a theocratic society. Since the Imperial dynasty to the Republic of today, the central power is always held by the bureaucracy, never by the priesthood.
Media is a powerful tool. Even with mandatory basic education, people are still stupid. Therefore media needs to be regulated so that it does not incite the stupidity in people. I support stuff like movie censorship, internet firewall, etc. because it really does stop a lot of bs. But then you have some smooth brain who thought it'd be a good idea to limit gaming to only and hour on the weekends. He literally deserves to be drawn and quartered. I'm open to surrendering some freedoms for security and efficiency, but I refuse to yield to things that are plain stupid.
@@real_dddf For one, how often have societies with mandatory basic education actually focused on promoting critical thinking? Most of the time, government mandatory education just promotes the STEM fields and force feeds a biased view of history. It has been very rare for mandatory education to actually promote things like research courses, group psychology, and propaganda studies, all valuable courses that actually promote critical thinking. Just because a country uses an education system doesn't mean its good, or even meant to truly educate the masses. The USSR, the PRC, the USA, all have had mandatory education courses that are against promoting critical thinking. Also, assuming you're not trolling, why wouldn't China ban video games? They ban discussion of actual history, like 1989 and the 1979 Vietnam invasion, to keep the people from questioning the corrupt government. Why would you think they wouldn't take it one step further, and after owning the minds of the people begin to own their free time as well? You can't support autocracy and then act shocked when autocrats overstep their bounds - because they have no boundaries to begin with, they are the ones who make the rules, and they see all the plebeians as their pets to do with what they will.
obsidianstatue, if a cartoon or film that includes ghosts or gods or ancient demons incites religious fanaticism in China, that means that the Chinese people are easily swayed and are uneducated, not that superstitious elements in films are bad. A film using supernatural elements isn't even a religious movement anyways, its just entertainment. This whole argument sounds like US Congressmen blaming video games for school shootings.
@@obligatoryusername7239 As I said it's not about levels of education, it's about having a religious society, China just doesn't have that since ancient times. in other countries you have the cushion of established religions to prevent the large formation of cults. China promotes an irreligious society, but there are people, regardless of how educated can fall prey to to cults. Search up "Murder of Wu Shuoyan" The Chinese government has absolute authority, so people expect absolute accountability and responsibility. Cult killings like that really gets people angry at authorities for not enacting heavier bans on religious cults and new religious movements. Chinese sees the country as a family, where the government is the head of the family. If you can't get over that cultural difference from the west were the government is seen as a necessary evil, then you'll never understand China.
@@obsidianstatue You weren't talking about religious societies, you talked about how supernatural elements being banned in Chinese media makes sense - but I fail to see how this is so. One of Japan's most famous animes is Evangelion, which borrowed heavily from Christian imagery - the popularity of that anime didn't cause large swathes of Japan to become Christian, Christians are still very rare there. The first zombie movies in America focused on the traditional African style zombie - the dead person brought back to life with dark magic to serve a wizard. Those movies didn't cause Americans of the 1920s and 30s to convert to Wicca just because they featured witchcraft. I know China hates religion, and I am aware of the Chinese perspective on the country and authority as familial heads, but even taking those things into account, banning supernatural elements in works of fiction makes no sense to me. People don't turn to religion just because they see something supernatural in fiction, and cults don't have to be theistic/supernatural either. They can be entirely materialistic or political - many dictators throughout history established "cults of personality" which had similarities to religious functions (imagery of the leader, rallies as a communal ritual, group solidarity, etc.) And besides, people turn to cults to begin with because of intense dissatisfaction with something in their lives, and a charismatic leader comes along and preys on them. Aum Shinrikyo is an example of this, it had many brilliant scientists as members who joined anyways because of their dissatisfaction with everything and the leader's charisma, not because of belief in spirits. If China truly does have a cult problem, the CCP should look into the underlying issues causing people to join instead of using a sledgehammer approach.
Speaking of censorship, I do hope that one day you could cover the rise in popularity of BL dramas in Asia. This is coming from someone who had little to no insight about it except that the TV show "The Untamed" probably starting this whole craze *(???)* and in Japan the Yaoi genre had been existing since like the 70's.
The Untamed did not start the craze lol. It was a resurgence of Chinese BL, but even Untamed has been censored into brotherhood (dangai genre, not BL). Even before that, and even to this day, Thai, Taiwanese, and Japanese BL have been flourishing with giant fanbases. China could've had this, but they banned BL from cinema after their last megahit BL Addicted (which the govt ban from making a 2nd season).
@@elizabethlai4952 BL as a genre in the East has a very interesting decades of history in multiple countries, each influencing each other, with a lot of turning points, events and stuff. It's a really cool dig!
@@conho4898 Exactly, one video may be not enough to cover it. He could do country to country, era by era, medium by medium (film vs TV vs anime vs online) or genre (there are lots of interesting types of BL).
Definitely a generational thing. You've got to remember the world that these parents grew up in verses what it is today. They've seen such a dramatic change. I think that the generations growing up in today's world will eventually change many aspects of the cultural and government policies towards censorship.
Definitely, now is a period of clashing between the old and the new. There is hope, you can see the revival of Chinese culture, a regained pride for "made in China", rekindled confidence in China, and more criticism of the stupid stuff that archaic government officials like to pull. It shows that things are shifting towards the younger generation, with their voice gradually being louder and more prominent. But given the meritocracy system in place, it will take a while for the younger ones today to work their way up to a position with enough power to actually make a difference, so we will see quite a bit of lag before the government can really start to make better policies.
My film teachers noted how horror films are defined by the destroying scary, external threats via traditional means. External threats included animals, witches, spirits, monsters, insane people, and various other monstrous outsiders. These same teachers hated horror films for "propping up the patriarchy" etc. So a lot of intellectual work has been done to combat these films by propping up old villains as new heroes who are subjugated by tradition. One ingenious example of this is the Zatoichi series, which stars a blind yakuza, who would typically be villainized as a scary outsider in Japanese myth, such as the various blind or one-eyed monsters who devour children or destroy villages. These were mythological excuses for killing the lame or blind whenever a human scapegoat was needed. Zatoichi is an amazing antidote to this, showing the meek (and witty) humanity behind a set of eyes once considered inhuman. This is a good example of modern science triumphing over old myth. But perhaps that's only possible within a humbled society, defeated in WWII, and forced to understand what it means to be the outsider in the world. Taken to the extreme, this sympathy for the underdog in the west has created an endless slush of postmodern garbage. Today we get new "horror" films that are more like polemics against the genre than actual genre films, such as Rob Zombie's Halloween, which is less scary, more disheartening. There's no real thrill in these polemics. Joker rides the line pretty well, but Cruella might be an example of excessive polemicizing against genre.
As an expat currently located in China and with a love of horror, I find this topic extremely fascinating. It's interesting how other Mainland-produced media (animation in particular) have managed to work around the censors and deliver some absolute artistic gems like Ne Zha and Legend of Deification (Jiang Ziya), but not horror. This is very insightful; thanks Accented Cinema!
What is an expat and why are non western people called immigrants when out of their country while western people are called expats when out of their country?
@@BigMoney398 you can just google it and find that expats are people who actually have skills and are working overseas, whether independently or employed by a company (either local or also overseas). They're not immigrants looking to live there and build generations of their family in a foreign land. They're just skilled workers, who will return to their home country one day. There is a genuine difference between legal and illegal immigrants, and the difference between an illegal immigrant and an actual expatriate is obviously bigger. Of course, if you're being disingenuous, acting like you don't know and are simply poking fun at how people are biased against non-Western people (immigrants) and talk about Western people in a more positive light (expatriates), then.... you've been reading too many racist comments and are probably just frustrated. Ignore these kinds of people.
Reminds me of when I learned about the Comics Code Authority, and how it banned any horror related content. No vampires, no werewolves, nothing, basically killed off horror comics for the longest time. So that's how you get the Silver Age and wonderfully bizarre concepts like the X-Men villain Sauron, the Pterodactyl man that can hypnotize people and drain life energy. Totally not a Vampire or a Werebeast.
being someone who was born in china and immigrated to the states when i was young, my parents kept their chinese mindset while i grew up with many american influences. you can probably see where this is going. your videos make me feel like i’m not alone, and that someone else feels the same way as i. i am saddened by the fact that this is just how chinese society is. i hope young people in china learn to think for themselves .
I spoke with my Chinese neighbor about the "Grandma's grave" comment and she told me that the generation of her grandmother did not actually have individual names. She said she spoke to her grandmother on both her mother's and father's side and they both told her that when they were little girls they were only called "little sister", then when they got married they were only called "so-and-so's wife" and then since their husbands died they were only known as "grandma." According to my friend, women in China were recognized as individuals with their own legal names only after the Communists took over the country, but that only applied to younger generations and not her grandma's generation (who grew up without individual names). My friend does not have much good to say about the Communists, but she does give them credit for that.
They really need to stop supporting the parent for simple complaints like this and I kinda hated when the parent blame the company because their child follow the thing shown in the film shouldn't it be their own fault because they didn't take good care of they're children these type of parent are what I used my own interpetation called karen The censorship with some are making sense while others are just ridiculous for me this sort of limits the creativity that the movie may become if they are allowed to show how the director had originally in tended to be , it's like told to make story about romeo and Juliet without showing the romance some rules are just ridiculous to hear Sidenote: this video remind me of the banning of playing games in china because of parents complaint I get that but it is also the parents fault here since they're child is they're responsibility not the government Another Sidenote: thank you, your video taught me a lot on making stories and movies It's good to learn how to make good stories ,so thank you
It's so enlightening to hear about experiences outside one's own. The issues you talk about are strangely familiar. Personally, I feel difficult subjects should be approached (ideally) with honesty and maturity, and not with avoidance. I feel it doesn't promote growth and doesn't prepare for the inevitable. Thank you so much for sharing you thoughts and stories. 😄
“Hip hop culture” 🙄 but dang crying for Chinese horror fans. You make a good point too about the sheltering. It breeds impulses towards temptation. Plus doesn’t give people the tool set to critically think.
"Showcase excessive horror, psychological pain, hysteria, causing strong stimulation to senses and emotions with uncomfortable pictures, lines, music and sound effects, etc." -That is pretty much every horror movies...
When I first read the list of stuff that was banned by first thought was that most of the cool supernatural tales all got taken out in one swoop. The backtracking I've seen in some shows to put a sci-fi spin on something you know is supernatural is something else. And if not for knowing some stories in their original format, you would ask yourself how some movies or dramas got made. The parent pushing bans is no joke,either. After watching an artist almost lose their entire career over a mom catching her kid reading a manhua with kissing in it, just kissing, I'm amazed artists even manage to find a away around the always changing and ever-expanding list of must-nots.
art in general declines in quality when theres censorship. now i think having a baseline is needed (aka snuff films should be banned), but not allowing art to critique society really limits what it can do. music is another huge medium that is undermined a lot when theres censorship.
There is no evidence to support your statement about censorship causing a decline in quality and in fact we have many instances where restrictions produced far better art because they forced artists to think more creatively and come up with things they never would have if they were totally free to make whatever they wanted. In my opinion limitation breeds innovation.
@@transsylvanian9100 "....no evidence to support your statement" (does not even demand evidence, just outright disproves it by the power of a few words) "....in fact we have many instances where..." (no evidence, source: trust me). Your last sentence is just pure oxymoron at its finest. Limitation of creativity limits innovation, not breed it.
@@Sercotani My links and references to articles proving my statement keep getting deleted. Look up Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Buffer articles about Creative Constraints.
6:01 Hmm.. bit of a mistake. The Ultraman Tiga removal wasn't from a ban. What happened was the provincial consumer committee's consultative arm released a survey/statistics report listing parental/consumers/viewers complaints that ended up spooking the cartoon networks. If I understand correctly they're obligated to release the numbers routinely. It's why the screen shows a list of numbers/stats.
It's hurts me so much that there are so many local paranormal folk chinese stories I heard when I was in China, that can be made it into great movies..
Accented Cinema: "Chinese Horror movies are reeaallllyy bad, you know, like, really, super -- Me, a person who has seen and read too many bad Southeast Asian Horror books and films: ✊🏼💥✊🏼 [Slams my fists on the table] ... You've barely even begun ... Tái Horror is merely a lantern-light, illuminating the dark beyond ... (👁_👁). But jokes aside though Accented Cinema, I was traumatized by a lot of the scary and spooky things that I saw and read in films and books when I was younger. Anyways Accented Cinema, the genre of Horror films is very popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore, so, if I may, do you think you could do a video essay or two explaining in more depth, the history, or themes, or narratives, or the socio-cultural contexts of these horror films in Southeast Asia. With all that being said, 👻🍊🌚Happy All Hollows' Eve!🌚🍊👻, And Sweet-Dreams from South-East Asia ....
Mainland Chinese Horror films are pretty much suffering from really bad quality for a long time now. Mostly because Mainland Chinese society is controlled by its own cutthroat elite. In comparison, south East Asian horror movies are steadily getting better in quality instead.
6:02 Technically, ultraman was not "banned". A local government agency (something consumer right something) makes a survey about how parents and teachers think of animation's potential bad influence on children. This resulted in a list of shows that parents and teachers think are bad. The report was sent to the streaming service providers and they are requested to do something about it without much details about what to do. So the streaming platforms directly remove some of the shows from their platforms. Basically to cheapest and easiest way to address the complaint.
Yes, CPC is like a father for Chinese, in the sense that the gov's job is protect the people( to maintain social order which fuels the economy) and they expect the gov to act in cases like those. And the easiest way to "protect" your child is banning, no taking risks.
That last sentence "Film is such a powerful too to educate". That's exactly why the laws exist. Hate me all you want but the extremities of many freely made movies are equally bad if not worse than the results of movies that are heavily regulated. We just don't know it or rather.. don't like to accept it. All our lives we were taught that "taking away" or "censoring" something is bad thing that now we don't even bother to ACTUALLY look in to the reasons and facts behind why things like censorship is a mandatory thing. Of course it doesn't mean that we should completely rip off artistic freedom but that also doesn't mean an artist should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want. Because like you yourself said, it is indeed a powerful tool to educate. And considering current technologies and how easy it is to access these "tools" for anyone including children who does not yet have the mind developed enough to distinguish what is art and what is reality, heavy regulation is a must. And don't think for a second that countries providing full freedom of art especially when it comes to movies are so good and dandy. Because mind you art is not just a good educator but also a very efficient distractor.
That part about parents banning the whole thing instead of doing parenting, that hit hard. And I'm far from Chinese. Thank you, you have what seems like a great channel.
I mean how extensive are these guidelines? I feel you can make a decent horror film that has nothing to do with the supernatural. You can make something like a stalker or killer. Or you can go fully into the hallucination aspect by portraying a horror film where someone is isolated because of their hallucinations and make the isolation the horror.
great video as usual 兄弟! i was always confuse with their censorship on violent content, especially in Theaters, where you can see the obvious cut sometimes ( Django Unchained, Kingsmen's church scene) since China doesn't have a rating system, everybody can watch what they want. but one and only genre, that i saw they never really censors, are war movies ( HACKSAW RIDGE, Nanjing Nanjing was soooooooooo gore for example) where you can see everything blood, guts... you name it. and Kids in the theaters watching it... China should really make a rating system, you don't bring kids to watch a gory "true" historical war movie
It's also a "reputation" issue among Asian culture in general. Chinese parents will generally refuse to believe their parenting methods are flawed, even though some of their methods can cause emotional and psychological distress/harm to their kids. Outright banning children from doing something because it's "bad" will not teach children why it's bad. Do it too often and it will alienate their children. But if you tell the parents their parenting methods are flawed, they will always shift blame to other external sources (thus "saving face" as is the phrase in Chinese). "Movies nowadays are so violent!" "Games teach kids to be bad!" "Their friends in school are a bad influence!" "The teachers are so lazy!" "The system is broken!" While avoiding the fact that they had neglected to understand a child's feelings and what had they done that would've led a child to a certain state of mind, saying "my parents are the same, and I turned out okay!"
Really good point at the end when you mentioned the bikini girls. The US film industry did that for AGES in the 70s and the 80s to sell their new genre of slasher and horror and it became the norm until people got invested in the actual plot of spooky films. I hope one day, you do a video about how China had a social platform fire over why Kung Fu Panda, made by foreigners, was much more passionate and faithful to Chinese culture than even the Chinese film industry could muster
Another factor to consider is the sociological nature of horror films. The best horror films are reflection of societal anxieties over real life things or trends. Take the slashers being made in a time when people were most afraid of serial killers and child predators, then we move in to saw films, a movie franchise focused on an ideologically driven killer being made during the height of the war on terror. Today the horror trend seems to be focused on society itself systems such as companies or businesses abusing people. I doubt most Chinese horror directors feel safe delving into what makes the average Chinese person anxious in the same way.
As a Chinese gamer and otaku, I'm always suffering from the extreme censorship from the government. I believe this is the biggest reason why China struggles to make its modern culture popular in the world.
I’m Latin America, not Chinese, but the entire point about the lack of art education leading to people watching deeply thought out and passionate movies and saying “I don’t get it” is such a frustrating and familiar experience for me
Is there a link to the Chinese content guidelines in Mandarin? I'm in a related industry trying to navigate and having access to that would be helpful.
That cartoon series changing, reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons, where Marge gets Itchy and Scratchy show to change, because Magee hits Homer with a hammer.
Great points! I think it's interesting as I parent how easy it is to ban something and how much more time it takes to actually teach. Not just an asian thing as you allude to sex ed in America :P
I grew up in a white family in the Midwest and they were a bit old fashioned. Their views on violent content are an exact mirror image of what you describe of Chinese parents. This really opens up my perspective on censorship in China. It made me realize a lot of boomers in America would probably support these same regulations here despite the irony.
Speaking in regards to showing why or how something is bad, there's an American movie called Fresh. It can't out in the 90s and it's about an 11 or 12 year old drug runner who's trying to get out of the life. They never show drug use or actual violence. They hint at it then show you the after affects. The director said he didn't want to glorify that lifestyle but focus on the consequences instead
It's quite different in my country. You can watch horror movies on TV at any time, but it make kids so curious about many things. Due to conservatorship of my country, the Philippines, the kids were the ones who find the answers about things.
9:50 Interesting. A couple months ago I picked up Vagabonds, by Hao Jingfang. The premise was pretty interesting, but I had to stop reading halfway through because I felt like I was being beaten over the head with a political allegory that was, at the end of the day, pretty basic, at least to me. I was really confused by the praise the book was getting when it seemed to be arguing against something vaguely resembling North Korean propaganda, rather than any kind of subtler "us vs them" dichotomization, but your video makes me think that maybe the author (or perhaps the translator, Ken Liu) didn't have the media experience to intentionally put together a more nuanced message. I dunno. I'd like to hear from some other people about this; I'm an American, and I've also had issues connecting with Japanese science fiction that don't seem to come up when I read something that is, say, British. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, a textual-translation thing, or even just a matter of genre terms not quite matching up, and I'd like to hear from people who are bilingual or just more experienced with translated genre works.
I’d like to know more as well. I’m not exactly well versed in foreign literature media (or most foreign that isn’t anime or manga), but that would be an interesting topic to listen to.
I feel like the lack of emphasis on critical thinking skills in schools is a scourge that plagues the world in general, but hits East Asia particularly hard. The "I don't get it" phenomenon has an equivalent in Singapore when people use "this is too complex" in place of "I do not have an interest in the subject" in response to another telling them about something. Thanks again for another great film-industry commentary. Hope your issues with cankers has gone away!
I remember the strangest instance of Chinese censorship I personally saw was during my flight back to China to visit family in 2015. One of the options for in-flight movies was Iron Man 3 so I started watching and then came the part where Iron Man has to save everyone from the crashing plane during freefall. But the Chinese version did not show how he solved that problem, it literally just cut to everyone hitting the water. it was so bizarre; one scene everyone is falling out of the plane and the next everyone is hitting the water
This is why I'm kinda sad about Chinese movies - Japan and Korea have SUCH GOOD HORROR MOVIES, I'm sure China would've been able to join them if not for the ban. I feel like the government doesn't understand the cultural impact of movies and soft power by banning stuff, but then again, China doesn't care what other countries think, but this PUSHES people then to find more alternatives outside of China. WIth the budget China has, they seriously could make some dope supernatural horror movies.
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A journalist once asked Takeshi Kitano: "Your films are always full of violence, so aren't you worried about the bad influences? " Takeshi Kitano replied: "There were plenty of beautiful and touching movies, but they didn't make the world peaceful either."
nice quote.
A great reply
wow
To quote Tarantino "Because it's so much fun, JAN!"
That answer still doesn't absolve his social responsibility. Perhaps the beautiful and touching movies didn't change the world because the existence of these violent movies negated their effects.
From this point of view, it is justified for the governent to punish the movie directors for producing such films. In fact, it should even punish them for having such idea in their head, so as to prevent them from making and eventually showing such movies to the society in the first place.
Yo - the line about how parents would rather ban the material than put the effort to teach is TOO REAL.
I know many American parents who behave exactly like this. That’s the most relatable experience I’ve ever felt on this channel as someone who isn’t Chinese.
@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes at 6:02 for example Ultraman Taiga being target by China because "violence content"
@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes Yeah, a lot of weak people act like that.
@@jobansand well not to mention China government ban a "sissy men" and say that men must be masculinity not feminine which most women upset as hell. I guess say goodbye to Chinese drama
@@alamalam5594 Definitely the kind of ban my parents would support if it came to the US.
China's folklore of the supernatural is so deep and interesting, they would have produced immortal gems of the horror genre by now, if not coerced by censorship.
Not to mention Wolf Warrior 2 is pass but Chinese horror film is not. What the hell CCP?
True
@@alamalam5594 dude is the CCP what would you expect, coherence? Nah
CCP is the epitome of buzzkill
There plenty of films with supernatural stuff tho? Including newer ones.
My wife said as a kid she was so scared of a horror movie scene she watch. I asked what the scene was. It was a flying mahjong tile.
How fast was it flying? It could probably do some real damage if it hit you in the head, depending on the speed. 🤣 🤣
@@santos8468 She doesn't remember the name of the Chinese movie but I think it was just floating in the air. It creeped her out and she couldn't sleep.
@@MasonsTurtle are you sure it wasn't her mom's mahjong tiles hitting her in the head when her mom get salty and throw her mahjong tiles everywhere? just like my most frightening thing i've ever seen is a flying sandal coming towards me and hit me in the face
@@aleronhawk Your parents must love you very much if a flying sandal is the most frightening thing.
In all fairness, everyone will find different things scary, and let's be honest, we all had that one stupid fear when we were kids. I thought the winter warlock from "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" was scary after watching the move at the age of seven. I once had a nightmare of encountering a venonat pokemon in my bathroom when I was five. However, I thought the body-horror of Rasputin from "Anastasia" was funny as a six year old.
That "Chinese parents love to ban things" applies to a lot of non-Chinese Asian parents as well. A child ran into a wall, the mother hits the wall in an act of "sympathetic retaliation".
lol here in China we had a cartoon for kids basically about a bunch of girls with colourful hair, and some parents actually reported this cartoon because "colourful hair sets a terrible example for kids"😂
Sounds more like parents in general actually.
@@aaronkelly1762 Right, if we didn't have a first amendment some of things we would have banned include The Last Temptation of Christ, Natural Born Killers, all hip hop music, everything gay, and anything that could have been rolled into the satanic panic phenomenon. All of which would have had a chilling effect on our creative industries.
Don't forget the mother has to say " Bad wall!!" as She hits the wall.
It's not the child that do something wrong. It was the wall's fault for standing there.
@@ridwana4037 Wall: (if can talk) ....but I've always been stucked here over 10 years before you (the mom) even born. And I've never see you got hit by me. MOM: YOU DARE TO SCAPE GOAT MY POOR CHILD!!!!! Wall: Whaaaat??? Your child is the one who bumped first. Also I'm made of brick stones.
Sounds like Chinese horror movies all end like an episode of Scooby Doo. The mask is removed and it isn't a ghost it's just some dastardly old man.
And I would have gotten away with it too if it werent for you pesky *censorship laws*
Or, in this case, an attractive woman who makes herself look ugly.
😂Scooby Doo in china
Those meddling censors!!
A chinese scooby doo sounds like it would be really funny & cool
Given the rich supernatural mythology from China, it's really sad that we can't have actual supernatural elements in Chinese horror.
it is killing his own culture, nothing new in china. we did that in germany to on some point.
There several modern Horor-supernatural Chinese manhwa and anime which great. unlike movie industries
That's why Hong Kong cinema and TV series used to be so rich, both modern or period pieces, because it drew on the deep Chinese history or social commentary. Kinda like Korean films these days, their govt actively support exporting culture as well rather than censoring. I think a lot of movies are well made from China, but entertainment and creative ideas could only be stifled if director need to follow so many guidelines
@@aoshi000 Hong Kong cinema during the 70s and 80s incorporate a lot of Chinese folklore (like A Touch Of Zen, The Imp and A Chinese Ghost Story, etc) and they used to be very creative but now with government restrictions and censorship laws, there's no creative freedom anymore
@@CultureDTCTV I don't think the HK entertainment industry is really censored per se, rather its market & audience just shrank as it's dwarfed by China. In the 80s & 90s, actors from Taiwan or China didn't make it big until they got famous in hk, now it's the other way around. Also language wise they need to make more Mandarin movies than in native Cantonese, like the later Stephen chow movies. Also there's no comparison in budget against Chinese production (like Hollywood), and the talent just not really there compared to decades before.
Yeah TVB used to have tons of great Jin Yong wuxia TV drama. I loved those hopping jiangshi movies too, both supernatural and comedy. I have a feeling the younger generation of HKers are distancing themselves from Chinese history as well, when they embraced it and represented themselves unfortunately
Being a Chinese guy growing up in mainland China, I know that "the sheltered audience are treated as teenagers and stayed like teenagers" is just so true. The censorship of TV shows is just so crazy sometimes that even a song mentioning smoking has to change its lyric in the subtitle. What's even crazier is that enough amount of people actually root for it.
Last time I was in China though, I saw lots of shops selling sex toys and outright hentai manga. They just call it "lifestyle equipment", and there's no way to contain the sexual frustration of hundreds of millions of men if all pornography is banned.
@@real_dddf depriving them is not the answer. U onli delay the inevitable revelation. Instead, u shld teach them different perspective and opinion and search who u r. Bcoz given the same circumstances, 2 different ppl will have different outcome. Chinas method is no different than wat religions have been doing for centuries. I see China will be the next Russia if things continue on the way it is
@@real_dddf Which western movies are too graphic and violent for you?
And this helps to reduce adult smoking by how much?
There's a term for it called "infantilization", which is what it sounds like: if you don't trust your people like responsible adults and handle issues surgically, they'll act like whiny babies who complain about everything. It's a common theme in the military and other environments of toxic leadership that involve things like broad bans, mass punishment, habitual deception against authority, and other such indignant behaviors.
Thanks for clarifying the title on the thumbnail, because my mind tends to go into wild places in microseconds.
Relatable
Got me curious though, what movie is that actually from?
@@davasg96 It's called "Inside the Girls", and you can see clips of it at the 3 minute mark.
No, it's not worth losing your sanity.
@@AccentedCinema it's a shame because China has great mitology about ghost story but CCP dont like "violence" even they produce like Battle Of Lake Changjin and Wolf Warrior.I bet China enforces entertainment to produce more propaganda film.
Its here th-cam.com/video/N4BfWcu0Q00/w-d-xo.html if you're interested.
Local Chinese here, I still remembered being yelled at when I watching Doraemon as a kid. there's something like preventing "japan culture invasion" topic going on back then. but now my parents is happily watching Doraemon with their grandson. people change, young generations come, and things will get better.
We can all rest easy knowing a Chinese family watches Doraemon now, thank you. I am not at all worried about the Chinese government's disregard for human rights, concentration camps and brutal oppression against any form of protest or counter think.
@@KOSJ153 human right this human right that, and pointed at a school say that is a concentration camp, I don't blame anyone buy this stupid narrative if they don't read the chinese words on the building, but if you wanna begin your conversation like this, you are not gonna like what I am about to say next, especially if you came from "The land of the FREE". check out your hometown first then educate others smart boy.
@@hannibalyin8853 Do you deny what the chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs?
We are far more free as a westerner than a constant observed, censored and controlled chinese subject. Careful you don't ruin your social credit by talking against your overlords.
Say it with me, fuck the chinese government. Tiananmen square, democracy, student protests.
@@KOSJ153 dude...Just like propaganda exist on every country, that Uyghurs sht is the propaganda from the western side. Also the social credit meme is really just a meme, in reality it is like fico credit score.
@@NowhereBeats yeah maybe I don't mention it clearly but I said in my childhood that's the 80s so if you were not experiencing those hatred toward japan cartoon maybe you're just not old enough. now it's all normal just as I said the mindset of the people will change, it all depends on specific situation in the history. your last sentence shows how ignorance the way you deal with logic, I just don't want to correct your statement if you're not living in reality or just simply not a local Chinese. it's not your fault though if you've never seen those low-budget anti-japan drama "抗日神剧", which I strongly not recommended.
demonizing a media because of a social issue isn't just a china thing,
the US were pretty fixated on violent cartoons, videogames or even music causing kids/teens to act badly,
everytime there was a school shooting (like every week) for example, you could easily find a politician blaming x game or y artist.
difference is, since the chinese gov is so involved into everything, when something goes wrong -> it's their fault and they have to fix it -> silly censorship
i'm certain that china should be able to produce amazing horror/thriller movies just by diving into their folklore (like japan USE to do)
and seeing them shooting themself in the foot is frustrating. if japanese or south korean horror movies (or just cinema) can find a way to be recognized worldwide, china should be able to do it too
loved the conclusion :)
I'm more baffled by the American willingness to allow gratuitous violence on media while banning nipples.
Even in the UK, media about Ninjas (TMNT was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) and “Video Nasties” (gory horror films) were banned for a while. I’m willing to believe pearl clutching parents reaching to blame anything but themselves is a universal experience. I remember my parents banning me from watching certain cartoons without explaining why all the time as a kid. “Spongebob is gay”, “The telietubby is gay”, the Simpsons for no explanation, the list goes on.
let's also not forget that someone can shoot because. . . they can actually purchase the gun quite easily.
I agree with your statement that banning things isn't just a Chinese thing. But, in China, the communist party gets the final say. And there are deadly consequences for anyone who goes against them. In many western countries, people can push back. They may fail, but they won't die.
@@elsonlam zzzzzzzzzzz
As Indonesian, Our Local "Horor" Genre is also mostly sensual, sexy, movie in disquise
Indonesia dont have strict movie rule like China, but Market demand for such "Horor" Movies is quite high - and so Industry Oblige
2000 horror indonesia really good. jelangkung, kuntilanak, pocong, island etc but they never bring something new to the table so we have this overused folklore not to mention KPI exist lmao
Ehem... "New Order Govt."
It wasn't unusual in the U.S either. Maybe recently it's changed. Or maybe I just ignore low quality horror movies now. But even in the 00s it was like that.
@@DSan-kl2yc cheap low budget horror is typically geared towards teenagers in the US. I won't speak to other countries, but if its the same, then its not really a mystery.
@@reoru4425is still remember the Spoof Horror Indonesian movie from 2000s which is really funny
7:15 As an Indonesian who had to witness a local TV soap opera series literally copy Squid Game for an entire arc with cheap props, this is painfully relevant.
Wait, which one was that? I missed the news
@@Bree420 Dolanan Game perhaps?
Hahaha :v
Removing Ultraman Tiga from Chinese streaming services is so funny because of how popular Ultraman is in China. There's no way you could get away with that and not expect backlash
The equivalent of this would be if the US government suddenly banned Marvel movies or something
I mean what China gonna ban next? A Naruto Series?
@@alamalam5594 im not suprise if they ban naruto... like most of gov official got "old man " mindset and never knew about how this current gen mind...
@@alamalam5594 well, they did ban Snk
Actually, this is how Hollywood failed to stop Passion of the Christ from showing in the US cinema, the smaller independent cinemas were showing it for the longest time and people just go there to watch.
@@alamalam5594 they also banned Re zero, my little pony and peppa pig
One of the scariest, most bone-chilling movies I ever watched is a chinese one: "Blind Mountain" (盲山), and it also had a lot of troubles with censorship, not because it had supernatural elements or gore, but because it dealt with an uncomfortable real topic, it was too realistic.
It is said that horror stories, even the craziest ones, almost always reflect the fears and anxieties of the time they are made. They may indirectly criticize the flaws of an institution, wich is very likely to clash with said institution if it wants to make it appear that everything is alright.
I would really love to watch an inspired chinese director going all out with a horror movie.
Taiwan and Hong Kong cinema have those. They depict authentic culture (also opinions and superstitions) of the people that is banned by the communist regime.
Yes, I watched "Blind Mountain" 10 years ago and it has haunted me til this day. Horror movie doesn't need to involve ghost or spiritual contents. Human act can be a lot more scary.
Thumbnail - *"This is not H3ntai"*
Understandable, have a great day
Another accented cinema upload, the lord has blessed us today people.
BUDDHA BLESS THIS MAN!
Lord?! SUPERSTITION, BAN THIS COMMENT! Hahaha, it was a great video.
I don't get it?
Lord Harambe?
oh don't mind me just looking for athiests
If it was me, I would do an "after credit scene" with the "It was a hallucination from swamp gas" twist ending so that the viewer can choose to ignore it. Basically a wink to the audience to say "we have to include this, but it's not really a part of the movie"
Yes, this is an ignorant white westerners thought. Sorry if it offends. :(
Or do a massive government operation where the secure and contain everything then at the end a friendly yet semi threatening official comes and say that you were under the effect of swamp gas.
Idk... the chinese propaganda team isn't that kind
My mom (who's from China) back in the day didn't allow us to watch the Simpsons because she saw Bart Simpson as a bad influence because he disobeyed his parents.
But she had no problems renting Robocop and Predator for me to watch at age 8. Go figure.
Consider pointing this out to her nowadays if she's still around, see how she reacts.
priority 😂 must not disobey parent
Different Cultures create different responses.
Makes sense, because Robocop and Predator is about the adult world. Bart Simpson makes kids think that if a child can talk to adults that way on screen, than it must be normal. Much like why many Americans have drinking and drug problems, I've never seen an American movie or tv shows when characters drink water, they constantly take beer and hard liquor, and constantly taking pills even though they're not physically sick.
The predator is a family man
as a native there used to be a slang going "there shan't be supernatural entities existing after the birth of PRC".
This was used to dispell superstitions among folks sometime around the cultural revolution, but its definitely funny if you put it under the context of the Chinese Horrorfilm industry.
Wow, working within the guidelines about supernatural elements to make a film where superstition brings out the worst in people and makes the curse a self-fulfilling prophecy without it needing to be supernatural is kind of brilliant.
Chinese parents remind me a lot of American pearl-clutching parents based on your description. Most relatable situation I’ve ever felt on this channel.
reminds me of the people who ban harry potter and DnD because they're afraid their kids will do real magic. 1) just tell them not to do magic and 2) if they did successfully do magic, those parents would be the first to sign the TV deals out of it anyway,
6:29 I'm glad their censorship brought us gems like "Grandma's grave". Cracked me the hell up.
Not all Chinese parents, just some of them, not too different from American parents. People have their concerns. If something bad happens like the kids acting out the cartoon and were roasted, usually someone's head has to roll, just reactionary. Same thing happens in the West.
Check out the Paper Bride series, right up this alley where the horror isn't the supernatural, but the people who believe in it.
@@calamitysangfroid2407 these parents are crazy
Watching Chinese horror movies is terrifying if you watch them with your parent. Like Bam, half-naked women in bath. Bam, romantic intrecorse.
They will be anxious, on constant lookout to cover your eyes
@@0MZetO They just covered my eyes, but I already saw it.
I'm confident the plot twist you described in Chinese Ouija vs. Ju-On is the ending to a Scooby-Doo episode.
no, its the ending to multiple scooby doo episodes
@@Merchantic possibly even most of them lol
Have you guys never watched Scooby-Doo? Its the ending to all of them. All of them.
As a huge fan of the original Ju-On movies, I found just the clips in this video painful to watch.
This happened in Indonesia for a while too, overboard censorship. But then the netizens acted and bullied the "cool-wannabe" film censorship department.
Now films can contain "contextual nudity" when it is strictly adult-rated.
Films can also contain gory scenes, and it is no longer blurred nor de-colourised like pretentious television programmes.
The thing with mainland China probably happened because in their modern cut-throat urban lifestyle, both parents must work to support their household expenditures. This led to less quality and educational time with their children (similar thing happening in the US to certain degree). Thus a lot of parents simply acted like it is either the school or government's responsibility to take care of their situation. The more materialistic-chasing the society is, the more of this problem your society will get.
In Indonesia, the recent generation of urban youths seemingly no longer dreaming nor aiming to be ultra-wealthy or filthy rich - they are a bit less materialistic now. The goal is simply to have "enough" and enjoy good simple life. Thus, more and more young parents nowadays are not too focused on their career, and can have more quality times with their children. This in turn resulted in the easing of censorship due to less complaint received from these affluent and pretty vocal urban parents.
I still remember reading a reader's letter from Kompas back in 2003 about the anime "Great Teacher Onizuka" (GTO), it was from an angry parent complaining about a Singapore-based anime channel airing the series over our local cable TV. If you know GTO, of course it involves a perverted teacher and gratuitous amount of panty shots. I liked the anime, and it was clearly rated mature (15+). Yeah, I mean what kind of demography fits the profile of such cable TV subscriber. I can picture a parent that simply gave their children an iPad to silence them up, while he/she are busy doing something else.
From the movie 'Marlina Si Pembunuh Dalam Empat Babak', I can see potential, a glimmer of hope, that someday I can finally watch a high quality Indonesian movie in teather. I'm pretty sure that can happen, maybe in the next 15 years or more, because majority of Indonesian people love "sinetron", rampant censorship here and there but loosely implemented on "sinteron" and stuff. God I missed the old "Hidayah" series, it has creativity and doesnt hold back at all I love it XD
I could be wrong but wasn't it Indonesia that censor knives?
@@redacted_vombat5742 i can list a lot things that Indonesian censor:
-knive(sometimes)
-blood(turned to black or cut off from film)
-stabbing(from what i recall they will either cut the scene or make the scene into black)
-guns(high chance being cut off from film)
-smoke(blurred out)
-sex scene(i support this because im not in the mood of seeing people having sex lol)
-nudity
-sandy's body(a squirrel wearing bikini got censored off like wtf..........)
-kissing scene(they either cut it off or they play an old scene)
-flying dutchman's girlfriend(she is creepy dude so i support this lol)
And lots of other things that i cant list here.
The censoring mostly happen in tv, but it can occur too in cinema.
Not to mention the amount of things that they cut so they can post more advertisements -_-
Oh yeah also in Indonesia cigarette advertisement doesnt have cigarette in it, so they have to be more creative to sell their product.
@@WhatDoYouExpectToHappen sometimes, the censorship of a lot of southeast Asian shows does get creative after all.
Because of the internet, people can circumvent censorship. But in mainland China, you're almost out of luck. It really sucks for everyone to be in China.
Thank you. Often I get very annoyed when people talk about "China" and "censorship" in the same sentence, because usually the discussion is about "China is evil". Sure, I agree that it stifles creativity and is shooting itself in the foot when it comes to soft power, and I really wonder how these policy makers can be so short-sighted; I genuinely want to see Chinese media appreciated worldwide as much as Japanese, Korean, etc. media is. But finally, here is a discussion that goes into the why and how it became, rather than just "cuz it's China lollll".
I can't tell you how much I agree with this!
YESSSSS
Well I don't think it's a coincidence that both Japan and South Korea media industries took off after their economies stagnated. We often forget that other cultures don't exist purely to produce commodities for consumption. The soft power game is just another facet of global capitalism that doesn't do anything for the people of those countries in the end. I don't think Japanese salarymen are better able to sleep at night or work less hours because some nerdy white kids in America love Attack on Titan.
Yeah totally agree. There are masterful Chinese filmmakers but the censorship doesn’t do them any favours and makes their job so difficult. This reinforces all the negative stereotypes about China in the west.
That's because one of humans' basic free wills to express and create something was born in a politicalism country that is judged only by the criteria of maintaining the government.
Needless to discuss.
You're frustrated because you're not a socialist in nature.
Recently found out about this censorship because of the watering-down of hollywood movie franchises that make money in China, as well as banning anime of certain genres there. But still, it is quite overboard. If a child makes a dumb decision from watching a cartoon, parental guidance and COMMON SENSE should kick in. The Tom and Jerry example was so spot on, I grew up with it as well as Power Rangers and Justice League. I know they aren't real, I knew what to copy and what not to because the adults around me taught me well. "That's TV, that's movies, that's comics, etc". Children should be taught the distinction between fantasy and reality early on to avoid causing unecessary controversy.
the production I'm working on right now had to do some ridiculous changes to water down everything, and the reason actually have very little to do with china. studios are more worry about parents sue them because their kids hurt themselves trying to mimic what happen in the show, the lawsuit wouldnt go anywhere but it cost the studio more money to win the lawsuit than just settle it. which looses money for the studio no matter what and they hate loosing money. the funny thing is, chinese government is going overboard with their censorship exactly because they rather not hear parents complaining. when i use to work for a video game company in china i had to accompany my boss to have dinner with an government official from the same department in charge of censorship. the guy told me alot about the inner working of the censorship and even they themselves find it stupid, and basicly told us that its better for some stupid rules that we can still work with than escalating issue into a protest that force them to make even stupider rules that is impossible to follow and thus shut down our company.
@@nonameisbetter3298 Yeah, you have a legit point, I get where you're at though, nobody wants to lose money let alone their job. Must be a real pain in the neck to get complaints and nitpicks from parents on the most minute details on a hard-to-produce show, probably on a daily basis with rampant social media. But it can be argued their complaints are pointed at the wrong direction, though. Rather than flaming the studio for something they unintentionally caused, maybe they could spend more time with their children, or at least like I said to teach them how to distinguish reality and fantasy. That's why shows are rated, some require parental guidance, and parental guidance should be there when needed.
Dictatorships don't like people thinking for themselves
But it really is sad. From what I got, reading the comments, the parents would rather shutdown a show entirely, a show that had an unintentional effect, than to speak to their children. Feels like walking on thin ice, a wrong move can shatter the surface.
@@GiantGeekGuy exactly. but as long as there are still a minority of karen that can cry loud enough for CCP to hear, CCP will censor. and as long as there are still a minority of karen that is willing to sue a show for having character operate a stove in a campsite, because their kids got burn messing with a stove. we will have to water things down. and yes, our characters currently cook pancakes without fire, its cartoon magic.
I think the horror genre has a special place in my heart precisely for the reasons you mentioned at the end of the videos. When done well it can facilitate conversations about really sensitive, sometimes taboo, topics in digestible and interesting ways.
4:38 ,that transition was too smooth .
Also can i say how refreshing and helpful it is to have a discussion from a chinese person? So often it just gets reported as a big scary thing that is uniquely chinese rather than a thing that happens because of particular cultural/political situation. Sadly it can also be an opening for racists here in the west as well- so im really happy to see you cover this.
I love accented Cinema. Always great, relevant and interesting topics!
Chinese lovecraft be like:
Guys there is no cthulu it was just a log floating which protagonist thought as a god
LMFAO
Admittedly I think most of the chinese horror movies I ever remember watching growing up were from Hong Kong than Mainland China
Agree, early hongkong horror films were more graphic and bloody,they became just as raunchy as 90s j-horror flicks
The J-horror subgenre also has spawned franchises like Ju-On the Grudge, the Ring and Many, many others.
Interesting that Tarantino and other "violent" filmmakers are brought in discussions. He has also said that the 50s is the worst decade for film because it was at the peak of censorship with the Hays Code.
Ultraman (and of course Crayon Shin-chan) has changed over the years because of the few parents who want to censor inappropriate behavior, so it's kinda sad that it's universal. Videogames face challenges from parents and media to prevent addiction and violence, when it should be the parents who should control and follow the rating guidelines given to the work. Should work the same way as age ratings to movies, although it's more of a marketing tool.
Film is a universal language like music, so I agree there should be more focus on 'visual literacy' in understanding how to watch movies.
I was surprised to learn my country, Australia, actually has one of the strictest videogame ratings boards in the world, or at least that's what I've heard. Pretty much any game with drug use is barred from physical retail, and you're only able to purchase it through Steam or other online storefronts, even though the game is technically illegal. Sort of.
The idea is that they don't want any games that 'glorify' drug use through gameplay, but the lines get so blurry and the definition of what is and isn't glorification get so murky... Even when the drugs in question are weaved into the story and gameplay with meaningful consequence for the player character.
Lisa: THE PAINFUL RPG, Disco Elysium and Katana Zero are examples of games banned for this reason I'm pretty sure, even though the drugs in all of these games are undeniably degrading forces in each of their respective characters' lives.
I honestly couldn't tell you why those last two are banned, but maybe in Lisa's case it's because the drug 'Joy' can give you a stat boost during combat, simulating some sort of increased awareness or energy/buzz that keeps you light on your toes, but the come down is hard, and your characters can become addicted easily, meaning that when they're not on the drug they're next to useless... it's hardly glorified in the story context either, with the main character losing track of their surrogate child after relapsing, blacking out after a drug binge. It's honestly baffling.
"He has also said that the 50s is the worst decade for film because it was at the peak of censorship with the Hays Code."
Are you sure he said that and you're not misremembering? He's usually smarter about film history than that - it's a pretty ignorant claim. The Hays Code was much more censorious in the '30s and '40s, and Hollywood in the '50s included some potent critical looks at aspects of American culture that are some of American cinema's all-time classics, such as the films of Douglas Sirk, "Vertigo," "The Wrong Man," "Bigger Than Life," "Some Came Running," "Sweet Smell of Success," "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Defiant Ones," "No Way Out," etc. The narrative you attribute to QT seems based more on crude stereotypes about the '50s as the decade of American conformity than it is on the actual films themselves.
crookedmarquee.com/1950s-cinema-and-the-battle-against-conformity/
Further to my point, here's a detailed history of how the Hays Code weakened starting in the 1950s in the face of a number of cultural and commercial pressures: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code#Decline
"I don't get it" literally is my friend's reaction after deeper movies.
Parents complaint in China works better than anything else, When I was a kid, the running time of an afterschool kids show was halved due to parents filing complaints.
However, I would have to disagree with the notion that censorship of superstitious element is inherently bad, and somehow straying away from Chinese tradition or unusual in the Chinese context.
Censorship of Religious movements have always been one of the top priorities of every Chinese dynasty.
From the famous Yellow Turban Daoist rebellion of Han Dynasty.
to, the White Lotus Revolution of Song Dynasty,
to the Red Turban of the late Yuan.
to the Taiping Christian rebellion, which btw was the 3rd deadliest war in history.
They were all caused by religious cults growing out of control.
Chinese are usually not that interested in religion, but once they jump on a religious or a cult bandwagon, they go all the way to the next dimension.
This is caused by China since ancient times, doesn't really have one single unifying religion, unlike Abrahamic religious countries where their belief in their monotheist religion is very strong, China just doesn't have that, it's more of a civic bureaucratic society than a theocratic society.
Since the Imperial dynasty to the Republic of today, the central power is always held by the bureaucracy, never by the priesthood.
Media is a powerful tool. Even with mandatory basic education, people are still stupid. Therefore media needs to be regulated so that it does not incite the stupidity in people. I support stuff like movie censorship, internet firewall, etc. because it really does stop a lot of bs.
But then you have some smooth brain who thought it'd be a good idea to limit gaming to only and hour on the weekends. He literally deserves to be drawn and quartered. I'm open to surrendering some freedoms for security and efficiency, but I refuse to yield to things that are plain stupid.
@@real_dddf For one, how often have societies with mandatory basic education actually focused on promoting critical thinking? Most of the time, government mandatory education just promotes the STEM fields and force feeds a biased view of history. It has been very rare for mandatory education to actually promote things like research courses, group psychology, and propaganda studies, all valuable courses that actually promote critical thinking. Just because a country uses an education system doesn't mean its good, or even meant to truly educate the masses. The USSR, the PRC, the USA, all have had mandatory education courses that are against promoting critical thinking.
Also, assuming you're not trolling, why wouldn't China ban video games? They ban discussion of actual history, like 1989 and the 1979 Vietnam invasion, to keep the people from questioning the corrupt government. Why would you think they wouldn't take it one step further, and after owning the minds of the people begin to own their free time as well? You can't support autocracy and then act shocked when autocrats overstep their bounds - because they have no boundaries to begin with, they are the ones who make the rules, and they see all the plebeians as their pets to do with what they will.
obsidianstatue, if a cartoon or film that includes ghosts or gods or ancient demons incites religious fanaticism in China, that means that the Chinese people are easily swayed and are uneducated, not that superstitious elements in films are bad. A film using supernatural elements isn't even a religious movement anyways, its just entertainment. This whole argument sounds like US Congressmen blaming video games for school shootings.
@@obligatoryusername7239 As I said it's not about levels of education, it's about having a religious society, China just doesn't have that since ancient times.
in other countries you have the cushion of established religions to prevent the large formation of cults. China promotes an irreligious society, but there are people, regardless of how educated can fall prey to to cults.
Search up "Murder of Wu Shuoyan"
The Chinese government has absolute authority, so people expect absolute accountability and responsibility. Cult killings like that really gets people angry at authorities for not enacting heavier bans on religious cults and new religious movements.
Chinese sees the country as a family, where the government is the head of the family. If you can't get over that cultural difference from the west were the government is seen as a necessary evil, then you'll never understand China.
@@obsidianstatue You weren't talking about religious societies, you talked about how supernatural elements being banned in Chinese media makes sense - but I fail to see how this is so. One of Japan's most famous animes is Evangelion, which borrowed heavily from Christian imagery - the popularity of that anime didn't cause large swathes of Japan to become Christian, Christians are still very rare there. The first zombie movies in America focused on the traditional African style zombie - the dead person brought back to life with dark magic to serve a wizard. Those movies didn't cause Americans of the 1920s and 30s to convert to Wicca just because they featured witchcraft.
I know China hates religion, and I am aware of the Chinese perspective on the country and authority as familial heads, but even taking those things into account, banning supernatural elements in works of fiction makes no sense to me. People don't turn to religion just because they see something supernatural in fiction, and cults don't have to be theistic/supernatural either. They can be entirely materialistic or political - many dictators throughout history established "cults of personality" which had similarities to religious functions (imagery of the leader, rallies as a communal ritual, group solidarity, etc.)
And besides, people turn to cults to begin with because of intense dissatisfaction with something in their lives, and a charismatic leader comes along and preys on them. Aum Shinrikyo is an example of this, it had many brilliant scientists as members who joined anyways because of their dissatisfaction with everything and the leader's charisma, not because of belief in spirits. If China truly does have a cult problem, the CCP should look into the underlying issues causing people to join instead of using a sledgehammer approach.
2:09-2:11 *Scooby-Doo Theme intensifies*
Speaking of censorship, I do hope that one day you could cover the rise in popularity of BL dramas in Asia. This is coming from someone who had little to no insight about it except that the TV show "The Untamed" probably starting this whole craze *(???)* and in Japan the Yaoi genre had been existing since like the 70's.
The Untamed did not start the craze lol. It was a resurgence of Chinese BL, but even Untamed has been censored into brotherhood (dangai genre, not BL). Even before that, and even to this day, Thai, Taiwanese, and Japanese BL have been flourishing with giant fanbases. China could've had this, but they banned BL from cinema after their last megahit BL Addicted (which the govt ban from making a 2nd season).
@@conho4898 Well, it seems that I need to educate myself more on the topic, haha.
@@elizabethlai4952 BL as a genre in the East has a very interesting decades of history in multiple countries, each influencing each other, with a lot of turning points, events and stuff. It's a really cool dig!
@@conho4898 Wow! Thanks for the headstart ya.
@@conho4898 Exactly, one video may be not enough to cover it. He could do country to country, era by era, medium by medium (film vs TV vs anime vs online) or genre (there are lots of interesting types of BL).
Definitely a generational thing. You've got to remember the world that these parents grew up in verses what it is today. They've seen such a dramatic change. I think that the generations growing up in today's world will eventually change many aspects of the cultural and government policies towards censorship.
Definitely, now is a period of clashing between the old and the new. There is hope, you can see the revival of Chinese culture, a regained pride for "made in China", rekindled confidence in China, and more criticism of the stupid stuff that archaic government officials like to pull. It shows that things are shifting towards the younger generation, with their voice gradually being louder and more prominent. But given the meritocracy system in place, it will take a while for the younger ones today to work their way up to a position with enough power to actually make a difference, so we will see quite a bit of lag before the government can really start to make better policies.
My film teachers noted how horror films are defined by the destroying scary, external threats via traditional means. External threats included animals, witches, spirits, monsters, insane people, and various other monstrous outsiders. These same teachers hated horror films for "propping up the patriarchy" etc. So a lot of intellectual work has been done to combat these films by propping up old villains as new heroes who are subjugated by tradition.
One ingenious example of this is the Zatoichi series, which stars a blind yakuza, who would typically be villainized as a scary outsider in Japanese myth, such as the various blind or one-eyed monsters who devour children or destroy villages. These were mythological excuses for killing the lame or blind whenever a human scapegoat was needed. Zatoichi is an amazing antidote to this, showing the meek (and witty) humanity behind a set of eyes once considered inhuman. This is a good example of modern science triumphing over old myth. But perhaps that's only possible within a humbled society, defeated in WWII, and forced to understand what it means to be the outsider in the world.
Taken to the extreme, this sympathy for the underdog in the west has created an endless slush of postmodern garbage. Today we get new "horror" films that are more like polemics against the genre than actual genre films, such as Rob Zombie's Halloween, which is less scary, more disheartening. There's no real thrill in these polemics. Joker rides the line pretty well, but Cruella might be an example of excessive polemicizing against genre.
As an expat currently located in China and with a love of horror, I find this topic extremely fascinating. It's interesting how other Mainland-produced media (animation in particular) have managed to work around the censors and deliver some absolute artistic gems like Ne Zha and Legend of Deification (Jiang Ziya), but not horror. This is very insightful; thanks Accented Cinema!
What is an expat and why are non western people called immigrants when out of their country while western people are called expats when out of their country?
@@BigMoney398 The team of expats were late to pick up my thrash.
@@BigMoney398 you can just google it and find that expats are people who actually have skills and are working overseas, whether independently or employed by a company (either local or also overseas). They're not immigrants looking to live there and build generations of their family in a foreign land. They're just skilled workers, who will return to their home country one day. There is a genuine difference between legal and illegal immigrants, and the difference between an illegal immigrant and an actual expatriate is obviously bigger.
Of course, if you're being disingenuous, acting like you don't know and are simply poking fun at how people are biased against non-Western people (immigrants) and talk about Western people in a more positive light (expatriates), then.... you've been reading too many racist comments and are probably just frustrated. Ignore these kinds of people.
Reminds me of when I learned about the Comics Code Authority, and how it banned any horror related content. No vampires, no werewolves, nothing, basically killed off horror comics for the longest time. So that's how you get the Silver Age and wonderfully bizarre concepts like the X-Men villain Sauron, the Pterodactyl man that can hypnotize people and drain life energy. Totally not a Vampire or a Werebeast.
being someone who was born in china and immigrated to the states when i was young, my parents kept their chinese mindset while i grew up with many american influences. you can probably see where this is going. your videos make me feel like i’m not alone, and that someone else feels the same way as i. i am saddened by the fact that this is just how chinese society is. i hope young people in china learn to think for themselves .
I'm a simple person. I see Accented Cinema video. I click. I enjoy. I like.
I spoke with my Chinese neighbor about the "Grandma's grave" comment and she told me that the generation of her grandmother did not actually have individual names.
She said she spoke to her grandmother on both her mother's and father's side and they both told her that when they were little girls they were only called "little sister", then when they got married they were only called "so-and-so's wife" and then since their husbands died they were only known as "grandma."
According to my friend, women in China were recognized as individuals with their own legal names only after the Communists took over the country, but that only applied to younger generations and not her grandma's generation (who grew up without individual names). My friend does not have much good to say about the Communists, but she does give them credit for that.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
I watched Bunshinsaba (Bixian vs. Kayako) on a horror cable channel. It was hilarious. The Korean 'Bunshinsaba' movie though, that was so good.
Korean movie industry used to be trainwreck as well.
They really need to stop supporting the parent for simple complaints like this and I kinda hated when the parent blame the company because their child follow the thing shown in the film shouldn't it be their own fault because they didn't take good care of they're children these type of parent are what I used my own interpetation called karen
The censorship with some are making sense while others are just ridiculous for me this sort of limits the creativity that the movie may become if they are allowed to show how the director had originally in tended to be , it's like told to make story about romeo and Juliet without showing the romance some rules are just ridiculous to hear
Sidenote: this video remind me of the banning of playing games in china because of parents complaint I get that but it is also the parents fault here since they're child is they're responsibility not the government
Another Sidenote: thank you, your video taught me a lot on making stories and movies
It's good to learn how to make good stories ,so thank you
It's so enlightening to hear about experiences outside one's own. The issues you talk about are strangely familiar. Personally, I feel difficult subjects should be approached (ideally) with honesty and maturity, and not with avoidance. I feel it doesn't promote growth and doesn't prepare for the inevitable. Thank you so much for sharing you thoughts and stories. 😄
"Blood stained shoes" sounds like a really intriguing psychological thriller. The other movies sound like freaking cartoons.
Please do an episode on how Chinese animation looks even better than before! Show off all the best Donghuas of every genre.
But the manhwa still has the same F*cking style,Same f*cking face with no variety at all like Most Shounen/Shoujo/Isekai manga.
This type of constructive critique is much needed in our world.
“Hip hop culture” 🙄 but dang crying for Chinese horror fans. You make a good point too about the sheltering. It breeds impulses towards temptation. Plus doesn’t give people the tool set to critically think.
"Showcase excessive horror, psychological pain, hysteria, causing strong stimulation to senses and emotions with uncomfortable pictures, lines, music and sound effects, etc." -That is pretty much every horror movies...
9:31台灣也是這樣...所以才變成藝術沙漠，有時候我很討厭當台灣人，都沒有人會去用心感受、欣賞藝術品，因為台灣學校從來不把藝術領域的知識當作一回事，沒有人教也就沒有人會懂....
到現在除了我姐以外，我認識的人都對藝術毫無概念，現代台灣影業如此委靡也不是沒有原因的，我知道這一長串有點離題，但這段話真的讓我感同身受
其實我覺得近年來還是有進步的或許有少部分還有你上述說的情況，但我認為多數都有漸漸重視的，雖然我們還比不是人文或藝術氣息濃厚的國家，但至少我們應該有能培養的環境，只要在引導之下慢慢成長，我相信會朝向你所希望的。
正好相反吧~台灣影業如此委靡不就是因為太愛拍藝術片?
@@leegunring 共三小，電影就是一門藝術，不理解電影藝術就拍不出好作品
況且台灣什麼時候太愛拍藝術片了
@@不要問-n2p 滿口藝術藝術然後拍出一堆沒人懂的自酖玩意
你看看罪夢者都把網飛嚇跑了
恐怖片都沒這麼恐怖
When I first read the list of stuff that was banned by first thought was that most of the cool supernatural tales all got taken out in one swoop. The backtracking I've seen in some shows to put a sci-fi spin on something you know is supernatural is something else. And if not for knowing some stories in their original format, you would ask yourself how some movies or dramas got made. The parent pushing bans is no joke,either. After watching an artist almost lose their entire career over a mom catching her kid reading a manhua with kissing in it, just kissing, I'm amazed artists even manage to find a away around the always changing and ever-expanding list of must-nots.
art in general declines in quality when theres censorship. now i think having a baseline is needed (aka snuff films should be banned), but not allowing art to critique society really limits what it can do. music is another huge medium that is undermined a lot when theres censorship.
not sure about snuff films
There is no evidence to support your statement about censorship causing a decline in quality and in fact we have many instances where restrictions produced far better art because they forced artists to think more creatively and come up with things they never would have if they were totally free to make whatever they wanted.
In my opinion limitation breeds innovation.
@@transsylvanian9100 "....no evidence to support your statement" (does not even demand evidence, just outright disproves it by the power of a few words)
"....in fact we have many instances where..." (no evidence, source: trust me).
Your last sentence is just pure oxymoron at its finest. Limitation of creativity limits innovation, not breed it.
@@Sercotani My links and references to articles proving my statement keep getting deleted. Look up Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Buffer articles about Creative Constraints.
This shit is happening in Vietnam too. 100% similiar situation, Vietnam horror movie is also pretty suck.
6:01 Hmm.. bit of a mistake. The Ultraman Tiga removal wasn't from a ban. What happened was the provincial consumer committee's consultative arm released a survey/statistics report listing parental/consumers/viewers complaints that ended up spooking the cartoon networks. If I understand correctly they're obligated to release the numbers routinely. It's why the screen shows a list of numbers/stats.
Thank you for the quote "A honest discussion about sensitive topics is required" I needed that.
Wow, that Sponsor message transition was really smooth!
It's hurts me so much that there are so many local paranormal folk chinese stories I heard when I was in China, that can be made it into great movies..
Thank you bro for everything you do on this channel, you are a youtube gem!
非常感谢作者！在提到“在这么严苛的审查之下，依旧有优秀的作品诞生”时，选取了胡波的《大象席地而坐》！
Horror movies with no fear of the unknown... What?
The true fear of unknown is the friends we made along the way.
@@AccentedCinema lol
I actually felt pain when reading that little disclaimer at the thumbnail
Accented Cinema: "Chinese Horror movies are reeaallllyy bad, you know, like, really, super --
Me, a person who has seen and read too many bad Southeast Asian Horror books and films:
✊🏼💥✊🏼 [Slams my fists on the table]
... You've barely even begun ...
Tái Horror is merely a lantern-light, illuminating the dark beyond ... (👁_👁).
But jokes aside though Accented Cinema, I was traumatized by a lot of the scary and spooky things that I saw and read in films and books when I was younger. Anyways Accented Cinema, the genre of Horror films is very popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore, so, if I may, do you think you could do a video essay or two explaining in more depth, the history, or themes, or narratives, or the socio-cultural contexts of these horror films in Southeast Asia.
With all that being said, 👻🍊🌚Happy All Hollows' Eve!🌚🍊👻,
And Sweet-Dreams from South-East Asia ....
Mainland Chinese Horror films are pretty much suffering from really bad quality for a long time now. Mostly because Mainland Chinese society is controlled by its own cutthroat elite.
In comparison, south East Asian horror movies are steadily getting better in quality instead.
Dang the idea Blood Stain Shoes is really brilliant. No horror from ghost, alright then just show horror in living people, in the name of ghost.
Can you make a video about Good chinese films under the censorship ?
Man that outro lines is so inspiring. Thank you
0:26 Did they really typo/misspell Film and ***Television*** with Trlevision?!
Yeah. There are grave misspellings everywhere.
6:02 Technically, ultraman was not "banned". A local government agency (something consumer right something) makes a survey about how parents and teachers think of animation's potential bad influence on children. This resulted in a list of shows that parents and teachers think are bad. The report was sent to the streaming service providers and they are requested to do something about it without much details about what to do. So the streaming platforms directly remove some of the shows from their platforms. Basically to cheapest and easiest way to address the complaint.
That abstinence only sex-ed analogy is 100% on point
After listening to the passage after 9:30 , my tears came out
Yes, CPC is like a father for Chinese, in the sense that the gov's job is protect the people( to maintain social order which fuels the economy) and they expect the gov to act in cases like those. And the easiest way to "protect" your child is banning, no taking risks.
Well, I already have a dad, don't need another one.
That last sentence "Film is such a powerful too to educate". That's exactly why the laws exist. Hate me all you want but the extremities of many freely made movies are equally bad if not worse than the results of movies that are heavily regulated. We just don't know it or rather.. don't like to accept it. All our lives we were taught that "taking away" or "censoring" something is bad thing that now we don't even bother to ACTUALLY look in to the reasons and facts behind why things like censorship is a mandatory thing. Of course it doesn't mean that we should completely rip off artistic freedom but that also doesn't mean an artist should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want. Because like you yourself said, it is indeed a powerful tool to educate. And considering current technologies and how easy it is to access these "tools" for anyone including children who does not yet have the mind developed enough to distinguish what is art and what is reality, heavy regulation is a must. And don't think for a second that countries providing full freedom of art especially when it comes to movies are so good and dandy. Because mind you art is not just a good educator but also a very efficient distractor.
I would love for there to be a Chinese horror movie that's like a 90s Hong Kong horror movie, and go absolutely batshit crazy.
That part about parents banning the whole thing instead of doing parenting, that hit hard. And I'm far from Chinese. Thank you, you have what seems like a great channel.
I mean how extensive are these guidelines? I feel you can make a decent horror film that has nothing to do with the supernatural. You can make something like a stalker or killer. Or you can go fully into the hallucination aspect by portraying a horror film where someone is isolated because of their hallucinations and make the isolation the horror.
I have to admit, that transition to the sponsor was great.
great video as usual 兄弟!
i was always confuse with their censorship on violent content, especially in Theaters, where you can see the obvious cut sometimes ( Django Unchained, Kingsmen's church scene)
since China doesn't have a rating system, everybody can watch what they want.
but one and only genre, that i saw they never really censors, are war movies ( HACKSAW RIDGE, Nanjing Nanjing was soooooooooo gore for example) where you can see everything blood, guts... you name it. and Kids in the theaters watching it... China should really make a rating system, you don't bring kids to watch a gory "true" historical war movie
It's also a "reputation" issue among Asian culture in general.
Chinese parents will generally refuse to believe their parenting methods are flawed, even though some of their methods can cause emotional and psychological distress/harm to their kids. Outright banning children from doing something because it's "bad" will not teach children why it's bad. Do it too often and it will alienate their children. But if you tell the parents their parenting methods are flawed, they will always shift blame to other external sources (thus "saving face" as is the phrase in Chinese).
"Movies nowadays are so violent!"
"Games teach kids to be bad!"
"Their friends in school are a bad influence!"
"The teachers are so lazy!"
"The system is broken!"
While avoiding the fact that they had neglected to understand a child's feelings and what had they done that would've led a child to a certain state of mind, saying "my parents are the same, and I turned out okay!"
Really good point at the end when you mentioned the bikini girls. The US film industry did that for AGES in the 70s and the 80s to sell their new genre of slasher and horror and it became the norm until people got invested in the actual plot of spooky films.
I hope one day, you do a video about how China had a social platform fire over why Kung Fu Panda, made by foreigners, was much more passionate and faithful to Chinese culture than even the Chinese film industry could muster
He's done that video on Kungfu Panda! th-cam.com/video/tCCRuUlJ_nA/w-d-xo.html
Another factor to consider is the sociological nature of horror films. The best horror films are reflection of societal anxieties over real life things or trends. Take the slashers being made in a time when people were most afraid of serial killers and child predators, then we move in to saw films, a movie franchise focused on an ideologically driven killer being made during the height of the war on terror. Today the horror trend seems to be focused on society itself systems such as companies or businesses abusing people. I doubt most Chinese horror directors feel safe delving into what makes the average Chinese person anxious in the same way.
Awesome take, AC. Awesome take! =)
"This is not hentai"
Uh, why would anyone think it was..? It's not only non-animated, but it's Chinese!
As a Chinese gamer and otaku, I'm always suffering from the extreme censorship from the government.
I believe this is the biggest reason why China struggles to make its modern culture popular in the world.
I’m Latin America, not Chinese, but the entire point about the lack of art education leading to people watching deeply thought out and passionate movies and saying “I don’t get it” is such a frustrating and familiar experience for me
Is there a link to the Chinese content guidelines in Mandarin? I'm in a related industry trying to navigate and having access to that would be helpful.
That cartoon series changing, reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons, where Marge gets Itchy and Scratchy show to change, because Magee hits Homer with a hammer.
Great points! I think it's interesting as I parent how easy it is to ban something and how much more time it takes to actually teach. Not just an asian thing as you allude to sex ed in America :P
as a chinese and a horror fan,im so frustrating what horror film become in mainland.
I grew up in a white family in the Midwest and they were a bit old fashioned. Their views on violent content are an exact mirror image of what you describe of Chinese parents. This really opens up my perspective on censorship in China. It made me realize a lot of boomers in America would probably support these same regulations here despite the irony.
Where's the irony exactly? Is it different ideology and religion but still same old humans repeating same old history?
Speaking in regards to showing why or how something is bad, there's an American movie called Fresh. It can't out in the 90s and it's about an 11 or 12 year old drug runner who's trying to get out of the life. They never show drug use or actual violence. They hint at it then show you the after affects. The director said he didn't want to glorify that lifestyle but focus on the consequences instead
_"laugh in Taiwanese"_
It's quite different in my country. You can watch horror movies on TV at any time, but it make kids so curious about many things. Due to conservatorship of my country, the Philippines, the kids were the ones who find the answers about things.
9:50 Interesting. A couple months ago I picked up Vagabonds, by Hao Jingfang. The premise was pretty interesting, but I had to stop reading halfway through because I felt like I was being beaten over the head with a political allegory that was, at the end of the day, pretty basic, at least to me. I was really confused by the praise the book was getting when it seemed to be arguing against something vaguely resembling North Korean propaganda, rather than any kind of subtler "us vs them" dichotomization, but your video makes me think that maybe the author (or perhaps the translator, Ken Liu) didn't have the media experience to intentionally put together a more nuanced message. I dunno. I'd like to hear from some other people about this; I'm an American, and I've also had issues connecting with Japanese science fiction that don't seem to come up when I read something that is, say, British. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, a textual-translation thing, or even just a matter of genre terms not quite matching up, and I'd like to hear from people who are bilingual or just more experienced with translated genre works.
I’d like to know more as well. I’m not exactly well versed in foreign literature media (or most foreign that isn’t anime or manga), but that would be an interesting topic to listen to.
I’m better versed in both anime and manga now than I’ve ever been for much of my childhood and youth.
2:10 you forgot to make a Scooby-Doo joke there
I feel like the lack of emphasis on critical thinking skills in schools is a scourge that plagues the world in general, but hits East Asia particularly hard. The "I don't get it" phenomenon has an equivalent in Singapore when people use "this is too complex" in place of "I do not have an interest in the subject" in response to another telling them about something.
Thanks again for another great film-industry commentary. Hope your issues with cankers has gone away!
I remember the strangest instance of Chinese censorship I personally saw was during my flight back to China to visit family in 2015.
One of the options for in-flight movies was Iron Man 3 so I started watching and then came the part where Iron Man has to save everyone from the crashing plane during freefall. But the Chinese version did not show how he solved that problem, it literally just cut to everyone hitting the water. it was so bizarre; one scene everyone is falling out of the plane and the next everyone is hitting the water
所以鬼吹灯的影视化另辟蹊径，把里面的怪力乱神全都扔掉，变成像夺宝奇兵一样的冒险电影
This is why I'm kinda sad about Chinese movies - Japan and Korea have SUCH GOOD HORROR MOVIES, I'm sure China would've been able to join them if not for the ban. I feel like the government doesn't understand the cultural impact of movies and soft power by banning stuff, but then again, China doesn't care what other countries think, but this PUSHES people then to find more alternatives outside of China. WIth the budget China has, they seriously could make some dope supernatural horror movies.