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?

Romantic Regrets

A couple days ago, a study was reported on in which 44% of the women surveyed had regrets about their romantic relationships. I thought it was pretty remarkable that so many people are unhappy in their relationships or felt that there was a "one who got away" that they wished they were with. However, it first bears mentioning that the only methodology mentioned was that 370 adults were surveyed ranging in age from 20 to 80, but no details on how many of those people were women or how many women were in each age range.

In any case, this story made me think about society's expectations for romantic relationships, and whether we're getting in our own way. If you see your significant other as a "stomach-scratching blob," I could see why you wouldn't be happy; but regretting the one who got away just keeps you stuck in a fantasy world of what might have been. In all likelihood, you would still have had the same number of problems with "the one" that you do with your current partner, you only think things would be better because you weren't with "the one" long enough for those problems to arise. Many people have this strange notion that the right relationship is supposed to be easy, but that's just wishful thinking. No relationship is like that because everyone has their flaws and faults. The real question is whether you love that person enough and have patience enough to work through it.

Sometimes, things just can't be worked out, which is well and good when you're dating since you can go your separate ways and deal with your issues or not as you see fit. But what about what this means for a marriage? What if you have children? How do your regrets play into that scenario? Do they get so in the way of your relationship that you don't try as hard to be a good spouse and parent? I've heard it said that if you're married without kids, then you're really just dating; you don't know what a marriage is actually like. Obviously I can't speak to that with experience, but it makes some sense to me. Maybe so many women had regrets about their romantic relationships because they didn't consider how kids would change the relationship? Maybe both sides are just so tired from raising their children that they can't even think about romance?

I think maybe the real problem is that people change. It's unrealistic to expect yourself and the person you're with to stay the same for forty years or more. Every experience we have changes us a little bit, and maybe it happens that couples change into people that they don't want to be with anymore. We place so much weight and importance on falling in love and feeling that strong connection, but maybe we should be thinking about whether we can change along with the person we're with rather than grow apart. That's not to say that I don't believe in falling in love or that I think we should settle for the best that's currently available. I feel so sad for people I know who settle for someone who's obviously wrong for them because they don't believe in real, honest love. Even though I don't believe in "the one," I do think it's important to hold out for someone who not only makes you feel good, but makes you feel good about yourself.

So are people making bad decisions with their relationships that they regret? Or are they just not working hard enough to keep the romance alive, and so they regret their choice? It's difficult not to look back and think, "I should have done that differently," but could you have? I guess this "study" bothers me because I don't see the point in dwelling on regrets. You can't know how things will turn out, and it's statistically impossible to make the right decision every time.

I am at a disadvantage here, however. My longest relationship lasted a little over two years, and that ended over four years ago, during which I haven't been in a relationship at all. So maybe those of you in long-term relationships could weigh in? What do you think about the high instance of women who regret their romantic relationships?