censorship: the red book definition
So I was in the mood for a movie the other day and decided to spring the cash. Of all the leisure things to do in China going to a legit theater to catch a flick does not make the top 100 of cheap things to do. I had been wanting to see Babel for quite some time and as luck would have it, it was still playing. Of course i made the mistake however of choosing to watch this movie in CHINA! The entire premise of course revolves around not being able to understand through language barriers. A fascinating story really. But as most know 70% of it is in... not English with friendly little subtitles. However, English subtitles are quite useless to Chinese here in China. My poor friend Judy had to translate nearly the ENTIRE film for me on the fly. Luckily, we were only 2 of the 4 people in the theater.
While watching this movie something interesting happened. I could tell that the movie had been cut! At first i thought it was just an error in the film reel. But when it happened a second, third, and fourth time, i knew. During the movie apparently there are some scenes where the Japanese girl is wearing a bit less than the CCCP deems "appropriate."
Me: did you see that?
Judy: what?
Me: This film... its been cut.
Judy: what? how can you tell? Have you seen this before?
Me: No, but a second ago we were in the Japanese girls apartment and now we are in the desert. Judy:...
Me: didn't you hear the film track skip?
Judy:... no.
Being that China is the motherland of "great and not so great quality knock off... anything" they are quite accustomed to glitches here and there so it never registers to them when something has been modified. A fact i found fascinating.
Before you sit there and think to yourself, "well, that is communism for you!" consider this. For years Blockbuster (founded by a Mormon) did the EXACT same thing with every single rental on its shelves. In fact it was part of their distribution contract. If you want us (the biggest flippin rental house ever) to stock your movie for home rental WE get to make sure it is "suitable."
Stay tuned for my next update to find out why Beau is on bike #3!
posted by beau danner at 3:46 PM
3 Comments:
Beau! It's so great to hear from you; know that you're alive and well, loving China and to hear about some of your experiences.
Love you and miss you! Don't forget to stay in China another year so I can come visit after the Corps. ;-)
Now, let's see if I can post this comment...
4/05/2007 05:44:00 PM
dude. Lydia's Nagging: drink water. take care of your bike of christ's sake. or for your sake.
Any chance of pixie updates??
4/08/2007 07:58:00 AM
Hey - nice thoughts here. I saw Babel myself finally just a week or so ago. Really appreciated its subtlety and terrific disturbing qualities. And yes, some of it must have been cut - she wasn't just wearing "less" - she was wearing nothing and you could see EVERYTHING... but it was to make a point and for that seems silly to have censored it. But, I'm not there nor ever have been - can't imagine what it must be like. Either way, very ironic that you watched a movie about language/communication barriers whilst suffering through a few of your own. What did you think of the film overall? I thought it was provocative like Crash, but beat you over the head less (let me figure it out more). I really appreciated the nuances of what was trying to be conveyed regarding communication - and the saddest part was the in all respects, the "Americans" ended up fine in the end. Heartbreaking.
4/08/2007 09:55:00 PM
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