Thursday, June 14, 2007

Censorship Strikes Again



China censorship strikes again! Targeting foreign films is no surprise, but this time China has censored one of its own. Though no one is willing to admit it, most of Chow Yun Fat's scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End have been deleted in its China theatrical release. Now, them silly China internet folk are complaining about how Chow's role is depicted in the movie. They disapprove of his hair, his clothes, his behavior, claiming that it is a skewed Hollywood view of Chinese people.
Well, this may hold some truth, but then I challenge Mainlanders to tell me what a westerner of the 1500s looked like. Ninety-nine percent of them will derive their answers from movies or the internet. You can't expect a Chinese person to know what Westerners looked like 500 years ago, and you can't expected Americans to what Chinese pirates looked like 500 years ago. Plus, if Americans see Chow's image hair and clothes, and see a "Chinese pirate", then the filmmakers have reached their goal. Its no one's fault, but why remove footage of your own actor from a foreign film? Let the people see and decide for themselves what's right and wrong.
I guess the only way to see the complete version of Pirates is to watch the pirated version.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just saw the film last week, it was the worst one out of the 3, I actually slept through the first 30 mins.

Maybe I should of watch the China version and I could of gone home a little earlier LOL