Monsters unite! Seems like a case for the anti-discrimination board: ghosts and monsters are not welcome at the Beijing Olympics!
In an attempt to make the city respectable in the lead up to the Olympics — that symbol of Unity, Freedom and Right Behaviour — the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publications has banned the production of films that feature such anti-social subjects as “wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror.”
The aim is to “control and cleanse the negative effect these items have on society, and to prevent horror, violent, cruel publications from entering the market through official channels and to protect adolescents’ psychological health.”
Ah, yes… horror films and books will rot your brain and destroy society. Life was much safer, more decent and more moral before Dracula.
For the full story as reported by Reuters, go here.
Whaaat? Are they stopping these films entirely, or only for the duration of the Olympics? If the latter, I hardly see how stopping the film industry is helpful. If the former… bah. Clearly what we need are some supernatural films centered around athletics and other sports. Ghosts haunting a high-diver, fox-spirits competing in the gymnastics, demons eating people at the Athletes’ Village, that sort of thing.
Who knows, Jess? I get the impression that the Olympics are not being directly mentioned as a motivation, but everyone knows that the Government is trying to clean up the city’s image as the Event approaches — originally the emphasis was on all those pirated Chinese DVDs of western movies that everyone knows you can buy on the street throughout Asia. But that’s a different thing.
I don’t really see how they could maintain an anti-ghost film production stance in the long term, especially in a country that takes its ghosts seriously enough to leave them a row of seats at the opera. Also some of China’s most prestigious film exports have been ghost films, such as “A Chinese Ghost Story” (Sien nui yau wan, 1987) and its sequels — though, of course these are Hong Kong productions, and presumably the ban doesn’t apply to the HK industry. I’m not sure how the politics is working these days.
But what are they worried about anyway? They don’t want to be seen as “superstitious” to the West? The US is absolutely infested with superstition!
Your “haunted Olympic Village” idea is a terrific one though!