China Bans Time Travel (Movies)

[FFHAuthor]

Ah yes, the same country that banned Hearts of Iron because of it's 'portrayal of Chinese History' during WWII decides to go after TV. Marvelous.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The Chinese government coming up with another batshit insane idea for the sake of forcing propaganda? Old hat.

 

[pwnzerstick]

According to their argument, any historical movie would be banned, as it would be treating historical events fivilously.

 

[Something Amyss]

Way to go China. Why ban harmless things the people in your country enjoy?

It gives them ideas about changing things. History, regimes....

 

[gyroscopeboy]

You think you'd consider things a bit more before pissing of 1.3 billion people, stay classy China.

 

[Saviordd1]

This is why communism should stay on the theory table and not in practice

 

[kael013]

I've always known that China is just a 1984-esque regime with shoddy management (oh, wait. Does China have Google Street View?), but [i/]seriously[/i]? This is just retarded, and the funny thing is, there are quite a few loopholes here. Replacing time-travel with alternate dimensions, for starters.

 

[Nouw]

Oh China, you might as well ban television all together.
[sub]But then again, their brainwasheerrrrrr would be gone. Just saying something which could be true or false.[/sub]

 

[Ldude893]

China, you give me yet another reason to frown upon you. Silly bastard government.

[sub]And this is coming out of a resident of Hong Kong.[/sub]

 

[Aeshi]

Well Time Travel movies could always just go back to before this law was in place so I don't really see how it hinders them.

 

[TimeLord]

Well that's just too bad for China that they will miss out on the new Doctor Who series

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

China Bans Time Travel (Movies)

Tired of the frivolous treatment being given to the serious business of history, the Chinese government has imposed a ban on movies and television shows about time travel.

Time travel is apparently all the rage in Chinese films and television these days, typically in the form of fish-out-of-water tales about modern folk transported back to the past, where they must adjust to life without the everyday conveniences they've come to take for granted while finding true love and resolving some previously intractable historical brouhaha. It goes without saying that hilarity ensues.

It also goes without saying that the government of China is not down with hilarity, especially when it comes to weighty matters like history. So at the Television Director Committee Meeting on April 1, which apparently was an entirely coincidental date, the General Bureau of Radio, Film and Television declared that no more history-warping dramas will be permitted.

"The time-travel drama is becoming a hot theme for TV and films. But its content and the exaggerated performance style are questionable," the committee decreed. "Many stories are totally made-up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty. The producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore."

There's a little confusion about whether all such time-traveling movies are verboten or just ones that don't treat famous Chinese historical figures with sufficient respect, although I'm having a hard time imagining how you'd reconcile one with the other anyway. I don't think you can say "this is my boomstick" in any language without it sounding most non-triumphant.

Source: The_root_of_all_evil [http://www.chinahush.com/2011/04/03/no-more-time-travel-drama-authority-says-it-disrespects-history/] for the tip.


Permalink

In the event time travel ever goes from theoretically impossible to proven and practicable, I propose sending a Terminator back in time, armed with a portable DVD player, a copy of Timecop and a megaphone, to interrupt a Chinese government meeting.

"I hear what you're saying, imma let you finish. But Timecop had one of the best plots of all time. Off all time!"

 

[Faladorian]

Looks like somebody's afraid of their history...

*cough* TIENANMEN SQUARE COUGH COUGH

 

[Radeonx]

DEATH TO DICTATORS
ACCEPT DEMOCRACY- OR GET THE FUCK OUT

Yeah, let's force America's retardedly flawed government system on other countries...because we can! Great plan!

OT: That's just plain silly.

 

[Rex Fallout]

China (the government, not the people) is SO fucked up. They need to pull a Libya.

They tried that back in 1989. About 7000 people got killed.

Not entirely true, no one knows for sure how many people were killed or arrested during the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Though when you take a crowd that big and start shooting into it with machine guns, and rolling out tanks to run them over the number cant be a small one.

To this day no one knows how many people are STILL in prison from that day. It's sad, we argue that we need to go to war in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan because of their crimes against humanity, and then we ignore the biggest perpetrator of that crime. If I were to become president I would start a new campaign, I'd call it:

DEATH TO DICTATORS
ACCEPT DEMOCRACY- OR GET THE FUCK OUT

I don't know if you are being ironic or not, but it shouldn't be up to you to decide whether democracy is best for other countries. What happens if the majority of people like the idea of having a dictating theocracy there (as is quite likely the case)? Sure, they don't have the luxury of choice, but if that is what the majority want then by democratic virtue, that is what they should get.

Exactly, but if the people are never given democracy, and NEVER given that choice then how can we know what they do or do not want? You assume the people in China enjoy being oppressed. I assume all human beings yern(sp?) for freedom. Which one of these two opinions do you think is more correct than the other?

 

[Rex Fallout]

In this situation the people did ask for it, got mowed down by machine guns, and the US did nothing. So if I manage the ability to HELP other human beings from an oppressive regime, you are saying I shouldnt do that?

The massacre occurred YEARS ago, and I was 2 at the time. As to why we don't go into China and rip their government out, well, I think that involves the fact that China, for all its downfalls, supports a population of over a billion people. A war would not only kill countless thousands in fighting but could/would destabilize the world marketplace, bankrupting entire countries and killing countless more thousands through secondary and tertiary effects. And that is only as long as we both only use standard weapons, no tac nukes, no gas.

There is what is right, and there is what is possible. Sometimes A =! B. and in attempting A, we would do more harm than good.

I don't like China or N. Korea any more than the next guy, but I'm arguing about FORCING democracy on anybody, not just China.

We dont have to force it on them, we could just stop giving them our @#$%ing money! Its far more peaceful. When we stop feeding the oppresive beast, the people will revolt themselves. Plus it has the added bonus of giving more people back home jobs to make things. We could just have a big embargo on Chinese made goods, just like we do with Cuba.

 

[Rex Fallout]

"The producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore."

Although you're still allowed to pretend any history involving the Tienanmen Square Massacre never ever happened.

DEATH TO DICTATORS
ACCEPT DEMOCRACY- OR GET THE FUCK OUT

Isn't that an inherent contradiction?

A little bit but it was never meant to be taken completely seriously. I just dont approve of dictators, or for that matter people who oppress, enslave, torture, and kill innocent people just because of their ideas. And yet for some reason my country supports these men.

Way to go White House, I'm sure Washington would support your decisions 100%! /sarcasm

 

[Rex Fallout]

Well, all my favorite Trek episodes are illegal in china now...

"Many stories are totally made-up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty."

Gee, China, there's this new thing called 'Fiction', maybe you've heard of it? Its where you make up cool stuff that never happened. It's kinda been big in the rest of the world for, oh, 500 years maybe?

Arguably you could say even longer since ancient Greece. (Mythology is after all fiction right?)

It's disgusting that this is happening, just the CCP tightening their grip on the people. One of these days, its going to come back and bite them in the ass.

Fiction is arguably older than non-fiction. Depending on your perspective, religion is fiction, and that's been around longer than writing or history.

True, but I'm not going to start a huge argument over religion. But yeah you are right. The ancient Egyptians were around in like what, 3000 b.c.? So lets see here... 5000 years. Wow. Thats alot of stuff to cover up China, you better get to work if you want to protect your citizens from the horror known as, 'learning from the past'.

 

[Rex Fallout]

DEATH TO DICTATORS
ACCEPT DEMOCRACY- OR GET THE FUCK OUT

Yeah, let's force America's retardedly flawed government system on other countries...because we can! Great plan!

OT: That's just plain silly.

Ok, then lets just sit back and watch as innocent people are murdered, tortured, oppressed, killed, raped, maimed, beaten, abused, and censored instead, that is a much better idea right? While we are on the topic anywone else feel like freeing those jewish people (and others) from those concentration camps and helping our ally Britain in World War 2 was a mistake? Cuz it is really starting to feel like it.

That, in case you couldnt tell, is called sarcasm.

And for the record, the American government system isn't flawed- the people who run it are. Who the hell thought running ANYTHING at a deficit would work? WTF?!