China Hates Fiction

I heard today that China is outlawing any and all time travel stories because they're "disrespectful towards history" and "many stories are totally made up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty."

Wow.

Alright, let's put aside the fact that they apparently have just realized what the word "fiction" means and instead talk about what kind of impact this may or may not have on the way Chinese people think from now on. The author of this article states that time travel dramas are growing in popularity in China, so obviously they are successful and widely watched. How is a viewing public of hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) going to react to their government outlawing their favorite form of entertainment? Presumably, they'll just take it and not start an outcry, otherwise the Chinese government probably would not have done this in the first place.

The way the article is written gives way too much credit to the Chinese government. The author talks about how they have "a good reason to go against the genre" just because it takes liberties with history and historical fact. Of course it does! It's. Not. Real. It's a drama created to entertain people and make money. Additionally, "many people complain there’re too many mistakes on history facts, making it unbearable to watch"? Welcome to the world of television and movies! If it was completely faithful to the source material, it wouldn't be as interesting to watch. If you don't like it, why don't you just refrain from watching it? I refuse to watch television shows and movies that I know will piss me off due to inaccuracies for that very reason.

But, this is missing the point entirely of why China's governement is doing this. They don't want it to exist because they want to control the type of information that their people consume. It's not such a huge step from this to outlawing fiction entirely, or at least fiction that is only approved by the General Bureau of Radio, Film and Television. When that happens, what will become of an entire country's ability to think independently and creatively? What will happen to the people's ability to lose themselves in a form of entertainment they enjoy? If America outlawed science fiction for some bizarre reason, I would be devastated. Not only am I barred from enjoying this genre when I want to relax, I can't even write in this genre without fear of being brought up on some sort of felony charge.

As a creative person, I can hardly wrap my mind around the reality that the Chinese people live in. If this is an indication of the direction that Chinese censorship is moving towards, how far is it actually going to go? I don't believe that it's possible to wipe out story telling completely, but they don't need to do that; all they need to do is to control the stories that do exist. Will that result in a country of people who can't use their minds, who have no sense of imagination or independent and creative thought? What kind of country will that look like?

Perhaps I'm making more of this than there actually is, but as much as I hate reality television, it would never occur to me to outlaw it if I possessed that power. People should be allowed to make their own choices in the products they create and consume, yet China moves in the opposite direction every day. Anecdotally speaking, I was once warned against typing the word "Tibet" in a chat screen to my friend in China because she thought that perhaps there was a chance that even that line of communication could be monitored, and she didn't want her Internet shut down in that unlikely event. Whether her fears were well-founded or not is beside the point--that fear exists for people.

I don't really know what I expect of the world in general, or what I want to happen instead, but hearing that silly time travel stories are being outlawed concerns me. This isn't something that threatens society or social mores; it's not vulgar or dangerous to delicate sensibilities. If they're intent on getting rid of dumb TV like this, how much further is it going to go?

True Blood

I started watching True Blood this week because I kept hearing that it was freaking amazing. I'm behind the times, I know. Even though I'd heard good reviews, I wasn't entirely keen on watching it because 1) I've been burnt out on vampires since before Angel went off the air, and 2) it seemed like a depressing show. Although I'm only two episodes into the first season, I'm already really into it.

 

One thing I always appreciate about fantasy/science fiction is when it approaches an old idea in a new way. I don't need more Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque shows and movies where vampires are all evil and in hiding, and there's only a select few who can save us; we already have seven seasons of that. And I certainly don't need the melodramatic teen angst of Twilight; I'm not twelve.

True Blood, however, is very different. I won't say it's completely different, because it definitely utilizes the vampire cliches that have made the whole genre a big fat cliche; but it's the differences that make this show so compelling. Though vampires have been in hiding for centuries, they live out in the open now and are even working towards establishing civil rights for themselves as people. So far, each episode shows this political battle going on in the background in the form of pundits talking on CNN and Bill Maher. While they do need blood to live, there's a synthetic product on the market called "True Blood," apparently manufactured as a way to ensure that vampires and humans can live side by side without fear.

Apparently, this is his only expression.

I like that the show sets up vampires as sort of a downtrodden class of people who just want civil rights, but it still makes a point of showing that they're dangerous. They look like normal people until their fangs drop down, and even then that's the only change in their appearance (unlike in Buffy where their entire face becomes more demonic-looking). For the most part, they aren't super pale, wasted, emo people, which is emphasized in the opening scene of the series wherein a portly Southern guy in a hunter's cap and camo reveals himself as a vampire.

However, the main vampire character, Bill, plays up every cliche in the book, constantly staring down Anna Paquin's character, Sookie, with a smoldering gaze beneath hooded eyes. I don't know if it was their intention to make it so ridiculously over-the-top, but I found myself laughing at just how often he stared at her like that. I suppose being immortal and seeing everyone you know and love grow old and die would make a guy depressed, but his angst is overplayed. The character is primarily saved by the fact that Stephan Moyer is undeniably hot, and he has incredible chemistry with Paquin.

Since the show revolves around Sookie, it makes sense that her character is the most well-written and complex. The audience needs to sympathize with her right away, and this is accomplished very well by her courage and sense of right and wrong. She isn't intimidated by Bill, and actually teases him because he can't fly or change shape (which I guess some vampires can do). In those situations, Bill's character is redeemed because he is so obviously out of his depth around Sookie, easily embarrassed and flustered by her teasing. I really appreciate that the writers threw that into his character development because it shows vulnerability and that he's more than just a brooding hot guy.

Though I've only seen two episodes, I like where it's going; and there are lots of little hints that suggest there may be more than vampires out there. If you've already seen a ton of True Blood, NO SPOILERS!!! Even though I can usually anticipate what's going to happen because I've consumed so much fiction over the years, I still like to get there on my own without it being told to me before hand. If you haven't seen it, then I would recommend it, especially if you like shows such as Dexter and Battlestar Galactica.

WARNING: Since this show is on HBO, there are a ton of graphic sex scenes. That's actually another thing I don't especially like about the show; in my opinion, a good story doesn't need graphic sex, but I guess they felt that they might as well write it in since they're on HBO and they can get away with it.