MCLC: fans paint US tv shows as Party-friendly

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: fans paint US tv shows as Party-friendly
***********************************************************

Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (4/28/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/fans-paint-u-s-shows-as-frie
ndly-to-the-party/

Fans Paint U.S. Shows as Friendly to the Party
By MIA LI AND BREE FENG

Chinese fans of American TV shows that government censors recently ordered
removed from video websites have put their frustrations to creative use,
writing parody descriptions of shows they hope to save from the ax by
incorporating Communist Party-friendly phrases.

Last Friday, China’s top broadcast watchdog, the State Administration of
Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued takedown orders for
the “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Wife,” “NCIS” and “The Practice.”
Employees at the streaming video websites said that, unlike in similar
cases in the past, censors did not provide a reason.

Many Internet users were surprised that “The Big Bang Theory,” in
particular, was hit. The CBS show, now in its seventh season, follows the
lives of three physicists and an engineer as they form an unlikely
friendship with their attractive female neighbor. The sitcom rarely
ventures into political territory, though references to a “prisoner in a
Chinese fortune cookie factory” in a fourth-season episode may have hit
too close to the mark. The show has gained an avid following in China in
recent years, scoring more than a billion views on Chinese video streaming
websites before it was pulled.

Now the series’ page on Sohu, where all seven seasons had previously been
available, simply reads
<http://tv.sohu.com/s2013/4402/s383695385/?src=play_nav_tj4>: “For policy
reasons, we are temporarily unable to provide viewing service.”

As news of the ban trickled out over the weekend – prime TV viewing time
for many – fans took to social media to express their surprise and, in
many cases, anger. But they also displayed a flair for politically correct
rhetoric as they posted arguments for keeping other favorite shows online,
if only as cautionary lessons for Chinese viewers.

For example:

“‘House of Cards’ tells the cruel story of how presidents of capitalist
countries can kill without blinking.” By @新闻传播学研

“It is easy to tell from the title of the show, ‘The Walking Dead,’ that
the TV series satirizes the empty lives of people living under capitalism.
All they know is a corrupt way of life, making them ‘the walking dead.’ ”
By @衣锦夜行的燕公子

“‘Friends’ shows the loss of humanity, social degeneration, rotten
morality and overflowing lust typically caused by capitalist private
ownership. All six main characters in the show have severe life discipline
violations. Buried in the stupefying lust for money and sex of a
capitalist society, the characters have lost all direction in life. All
they are capable of doing is drown in that lust and indulge their own
selfish desires. They have sex at will, live together without marriage,
and frequently change sexual partners. Some of them even sleep with each
other. This show serves as a slap in the face for those who blindly long
for the capitalist lifestyle.” By @刘毅

“The female secret agent in the TV show ‘Homeland’ suffers from severe
mental illnesses. Amazingly, she was able to keep her job by lying to her
supervisor. What’s more absurd is that her lifestyle is extremely corrupt.
She had a long-term inappropriate sexual relationship with the enemy, and
became ‘the other woman’ in the family of said enemy. The show depicts the
highly chaotic state of the American intelligence agency. It reveals the
ugly and brazen acts of terrorism imperialist America conducts around the
globe in the name of the war on terror.” By @刘毅

“‘Modern Family’ shows the kind of twisted family relations typical of a
capitalist society. In order to escape from the slums, one poor Latino
immigrant woman was forced to sleep with a rich man old enough to be her
father. One middle-aged couple becomes extremely twisted under the
economic burdens and social pressures of raising three young children. Two
young men live together for a long time to satisfy their improper
appetites. To fill their empty and lonely lives, they adopt a little girl
from a third world country. This show serves as an important negative
example for the construction of our socialist civilization and new
socialist family.” By @刘毅

“The owner, cashier and waitresses in the diner in ‘Two Broke Girls’ spend
their days tormenting and attacking each other. The show portrays the ugly
acts of cheating, sabotaging and back-stabbing between people in a
capitalist society, where sympathy and love don’t exist. It also reveals
the irreconcilable conflict and class struggle between the poor
proletariat (Max and Caroline) and the capitalist (Han Lee). The show
serves as a reminder for the further solidifying of the construction of
our socialist state.” By @刘毅

In the absence of an official reason for removing “The Big Bang Theory,”
one commenter on Sina Weibo provided his own version of the government
censors’ thinking:

“‘The Big Bang Theory’ tells the story of four young men of science who
made the mistake of devoting their lives to scientific research in a
capitalist country. Despite their age, they still can’t get married or
afford to buy their own apartments. Instead, they live in a small
apartment of less than 150 square meters and subsist on junk food. There
are heartbreaking scenes of a disabled Indian immigrant forced to eat
sitting on the floor for a long time. The show explores the racism, social
inequality and the degenerate, promiscuous sexual lives of women in a
Western society. It sounds a piercing alarm for the many young people in
China who blindly seek to immigrate to the U.S.” By @赤木辛未

As for “The Good Wife”:

“‘The Good Wife’ tells the story of how a housewife with a cheating
husband in a capitalist society decides to turn her anger into the
strength of independence, and finally become a successful lawyer. It is a
show meant to inspire women. What’s more, the show also reveals the
darkness, corruption and flaws of so-called ‘capitalist democracy and the
rule of law,’ which makes it perfect for CCTV’s legal channel.” By @万戈杂记

Censorship of foreign television shows online has happened before, and
website employees said they have been told that the government is planning
to issue further regulations this year aimed at online foreign series.
Earlier this year, two episodes of “The Blacklist” were pulled from video
websites, possibly because their plot lines involved a Chinese spy and
germ warfare. But the latest cancellation of popular series reinforces the
impression that censorship of foreign shows can be arbitrary. Sunday
evening, the state broadcaster, CCTV, began airing the nudity- and
violence-laden “Game of Thrones” dubbed into Chinese on a free channel.
(Previously, it ran with subtitles on a paid channel.)

But though fans of the shows may be disappointed, it may be the streaming
video websites themselves that ultimately suffer the greatest damage.
Unusually for the Chinese entertainment sector, the streaming video
industry is dominated by private companies that enter into licensing
contracts with foreign networks like NBC and CBS. The contracts are often
multiyear, meaning that the Chinese websites may take a considerable loss
if, for any reason, they cannot continue to broadcast the shows.