Posted on 12/20/2012 3:38:13 AM PST by Olog-hai
Television audiences across China watched an anarchist antihero rebel against a totalitarian government and persuade the people to rule themselves. Soon the Internet was crackling with quotes of “V for Vendetta’s” famous line: “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
The airing of the movie Friday night on China Central Television stunned viewers and raised hopes that China is loosening censorship. …
The 2005 movie, based on a comic book, is set in an imagined future Britain with a fascist government. The protagonist wears a mask of Guy Fawkes, the 17th-century English rebel who tried to blow up Parliament. The mask has become a revolutionary symbol for young protesters in mostly Western countries, and it also has a cult-like status in China as pirated DVDs are widely available. Some people have used the image of the mask as their profile pictures on Chinese social media sites. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The Chinese government obviously has more faith in their population being able to recognize “V” as being one of the most ignorant movies ever made than this breathless reporter does.
V was fabulous. It demonstrates time and again how to cdeal with authoritarian, psuedo-moral bullies. Stand up to them.
As a right-wing Christian, I see the central message of "V for Vendetta" transcending the weird politics of its author, and I see it as a message that I support. I'm very surprised that China showed the movie on TV.
Methinks a former manager of broadcast media has been taken to Room 101 and all traces of his existence are being scrubbed.
Remembering the reports pf the Chinese response to the movie “2012”, I think the ripple effect from “V” should be interesting.
The big flaw of the movie is that V is the hero. In the book there are no heroes. It’s anarcho-terrorist vs fascists with a whole bunch of innocent victims caught in the middle.
Getting to be the other way around here. China gets the freedoms America used to have before idiots threw them away in exchange for stuff and safety.
“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
Yup. The old ‘Checks and Balances’ comes to China.
Concur. As an avid collector I’ve found many of the writers/editors outwardly professing one thing, but they can’t seem to prevent themselves from writing the inherent truth of liberty, freedom, and self-determination against evil. Thus producing some wonderful stories. The crappy guys try to build in their views to the plot line and end up not being able to continue without backtracking or destroying a character and/or sales.
In the late 70’s I recall seeing a Soviet-made movie called Autumn Marathon. It was about a college professor in Leningrad who had built his entire existence around an intricate series of lies. A perfect allegory for Soviet society at that time. It won awards in the West and many were stunned that a film clearly referencing this could make it past the censors.
I rather suspect whoever was running the Censorship Office earned a one-way trip to Siberia by missing this one.
***Some people have used the image of the mask as their profile pictures on Chinese social media sites***
Is DU now a Chinese media site?
just a guess on my part, but I assume that Chinese TV ownership and network connections are pretty much limited to the ruling elite, bureaucrats and other supporters of the regime. IOW, little chance of the peon rabble being inspired to revolt.
As of ten years ago, 90% of Chinese households had at least one TV. In urban areas, it’s 1.2 TVs per household.
Thanks for the update. Some of us old guys tend to think 40 years in the past!
The movie was ok... The graphic novel better.
It should be required reading.
Why is it that the left loves this movie but they are in favor of gun control?
How much would any government fear an unarmed populace?
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