Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Lot o' Hotpot: Three Travellers
Interview: Kerry Ann Lee, culture shock = inspiration
Garbage burning protests: The online life of dissent
Coming soon to a police checkpoint near you
Jackie Chan, China's most famous actor/singer/producer/cartoon character/matchmaker (whew!) finds himself one sino-franchise poorer this week, as government officials have blocked mainland distribution of his newest flick, Rush Hour 3. E! News reports:
The official word on why the Brett Ratner-directed sequel won't be making it to the big screen is that the country has already imported too many American films this year for it to be a profitable acquisition, but some officials are attributing the ban to government censors, who supposedly understood what was coming out of Chris Tucker's mouth and didn't like it one bit.Meaning, the film's racial humor, as well as its depiction of a Chinese organized crime family called the Triad, were judged to be anti-Chinese...
Government policy allows no more than 20 foreign films to hit the big screen each year, so the possibility of a rejection based on import economics holds water, especially in the wake of blockbuster importsTranformers and Spiderman 3. But given previous approvals for Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 -- as well as the franchise's popularity here, which we don't claim to understand or condone -- the decision came as a surprise.
The movie opens on August 16 in Hong Kong, which remains outside mainland Film Bureau jurisdiction. As for us, we just hope Chan's next project, a vocal role in the animated Dreamworks movie Kung Fu Panda, makes it past the censors. Slapstick Chris Tucker we can do without. But CGI marsupials* with nun chucks, voiced by the likes of Chan, Jack Black, Lucy Liu, and Angelina Jolie? Must-see.
Related links
E! News: No Rush for Chan in China
Variety Asia: China Film says no release for "Rush Hour 3"
Counting Down: Kung Fu Panda
Poster via IMDB
Editor's note: As guest #2 points out, we mistakenly referred to pandas as marsupials in this post! Pandas are, of course, mammals of the family Ursidae (bear), and though their taxonomic status is oft contested (though belonging to the order Carnivora, they subsist on precisely one plant, bamboo), they are definitely not marsupials. To hide our shame, we will now divert your attention to this adorable clip of baby pandas frolicking in the snow.
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No government insults it's citizens more than China's. Does the government here actually think that if people here see something on screen, they will automatically believe it to be true and their brains will be washed? When I want to see Transformers here, I thought it HILARIOUS that when the US government was preparing to go to war in the movie, because they didn't know who was attacking them, the censors had every mention of China blurbed out. So instead of "Do you think it's China doing it?" we got a very subtle, "Do you think it's LAKDFLAWEJTASLKJFADSFJ doing it?" How stupid can people in government be?
um, pandas are not marsupials
While I mostly agree with commentator #1, the rant takes on a little bit of foolishness since the bleeped countries are North Korea and Iran . . .and not China.
hth.
Hard to know since it was censored out! The fact that they did censor out Iran and NK is pretty illogical and doesn't make any sense. If it was the mention of China blurbed out, most people would have dismissed it as "oh, typical saving face of the government" but why Iran and NK? The mind is boggled.
T - the bleeped country is China. Duh.
That's got to leave a stone in Chan's shoe since he's one of the biggest stooges for the Chinese government.
Maybe he'll reconsider his ban on Taiwan.
The problem that this ongoing hilarity of censoring stuff in the movies because they don't give the 'desired' image of China is that the image that does get out gets further and further from the truth. As long as noone's feelings are hurt, I suppose it's yet another brilliant masterstroke by the powers that be.
BTW, Britain never invaded half the earth, Napolean didn't exist, and 'China' (5000 years of what constitutes the land area of China) has never ever even thought of going on wars, expansions, and so forth, and the Nanjing Massacre never took place. There we go, no-one's feelings are hurt now.